Thanksgiving Week - Day 5

 This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118: 24

Waking up this Thanksgiving morning, looking out the window at yet another gloomy, dark, grey, wet day, when all I want to do is stay in bed and complain, I read my devotional and it leads me to the Lord's proclamation on Psalm 118: 24.  And, as always, the Word brings to me exactly what I need:  the hope of Thanksgiving.

I'm not talking about the hope that comes once a year on Thanksgiving day.  The hope wrapped in verse 24 of Psalm 118 is the hope that comes with another day of life, for each new day yields "precious gifts and beneficial training" as we walk along the high road of thanksgiving with Our Lord Jesus the Christ. (Jesus Calling by Sarah Young)

And that's the hope I want: the hope that endures, the hope that is renewed every morning.  However, this is a hope that might be fragile and easily dissolved if we forget that we live in a fallen world.

Waking up to bad news may threaten our hope.  Waking up in darkness may deceive us into believing that there is no hope left in this world.  Waking up in sorrow may push us into thinking that hope is not possible in the evil days we live in.  The trick is to continue to walk on the highway of Thanksgiving.  Even in the midst of bad news...even in the darkness and sorrow of our evil days...Thanksgiving must light up the way as I remember that...

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. Psalm 23

Today, on this Thanksgiving Day of the year 2020, a very challenging year for the entire world, I lift up my eyes to the Lord and thank Him for the Cross, our everlasting source of hope.  I thank Him for being Our Good Shepherd.  I thank Him for the Holy Spirit, God in us.  And I thank Him for the promise of His return. As we wait in thanksgiving, we rejoice for the day that He has made, so let us rejoice and be glad in it!  In Christ Name.  Amen!