Thursday, November 27, 2014
Psalm 104:24 O Lord, how manifold are Your works!
O GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD!
There are foods on our Thanksgiving tables that remind us of the manner in which the Lord provides for our daily needs.
Think for a moment of the potatoes. There are so many different ways to prepare them, so many different dishes. This humble edible reminds us of the many different gifts and blessings the Lord provides for our bodily welfare.
The variety is really quite amazing. We would be stunned every time we went to the grocery store, if we were not so used to the way that God provides for us. The psalmist has it right (Psalm 104:24-25): "O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth (and the great wide sea) are full of Your creations."
Consider also what is often the first thing we eat-- salad. It's a dish that can be used to prepare the palate for the meal to follow. There can be a connection here with the preparation of the heart for true thanksgiving. It's not the most obvious connection but an extremely beneficial one.
When the Israelites marked their door posts with the blood of the Passover lamb, they were instructed to use a sprig of greenery from the hyssop plant. Later in those Temple services in which the blood of a sacrifice for sin was sprinkled on the people -- the hyssop plant again was used. This indicated that when the people in faith took God at his word and made sacrifice as He commanded, the LORD in turn accepted the sacrifice He had appointed for sin's cleansing -- accepted it with a view to the sacrifice which would be made by Jesus. So the hyssop plant was an herb, a green, associated with blood-bought forgiveness.
Salad greens on our Thanksgiving tables can remind us that true preparation for thanksgiving is a preparation of the heart -- one made through confessing our sins -- our sins of ingratitude, our sins of the misuse and abuse of God's gifts, as well as all our other sins.
When we confess our sins to our heavenly Father and rely upon Jesus' bloody sacrifice for forgiveness, God cleanses our hearts, gives us Christ's own righteousness, and as the psalmist says:
"The righteous give thanks to God" (Psalm 140:13).
