Since we are in the “thanksgiving” season, I thought I would spend some  time today on the subject of “giving thanks.”  For the most part I believe we have become a thank-less society.  We tend to take things for granted and develop the attitude that we are “deserving” and most of the time we don’t get what we deserve and life “just isn’t fair!”
That brings me to a favorite saying of a former pastor; “don’t talk about life being unfair.  If you want “fair” then you want justice.  If you want justice, you want what is coming to you.  If you want what is coming to you then you will get what you deserve.  And, if you get what you deserve, you will get hell!  As for me, I want mercy!  Lord, have mercy on me!”
In America, I believe we have lost sight of why we even celebrate the holiday of Thanksgiving.  We now have relegated it to just another opportunity to “sell products” and gorge ourselves with fine foods.  We are taught by revisionists that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to the Indians for their help.  In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This harvest meal has become a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. Although this feast is considered by many to the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bounty of crops. Native American groups throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Creek and many others organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America. (ref. The History of Thanksgiving – History.com) Although this was a long standing tradition among the natives, the Pilgrims had a higher purpose in this time of thanksgiving, they were celebrating the providence of God in delivering them to a new land and providing for their needs. Historians have also recorded other ceremonies of thanks among European settlers in North America, including British colonists in Berkeley Plantation, Virginia. At this site near the Charles River in December of 1619, a group of British settlers led by Captain John Woodlief knelt in prayer and pledged “Thanksgiving” to God for their healthy arrival after a long voyage across the Atlantic. This event has been acknowledged by some scholars and writers as the official first Thanksgiving among European settlers on record. (ref. The History of Thanksgiving – History.com)
We have early references of “thankfulness” in Leviticus 7:11-13 as Moses lays out the “thank” offerings to the people.
” ‘These are the regulations for the fellowship offering a person may present to the LORD :

” ‘If he offers it as an expression of thankfulness, then along with this thank offering he is to offer cakes of bread made without yeast and mixed with oil, wafers made without yeast and spread with oil, and cakes of fine flour well-kneaded and mixed with oil.  Along with his fellowship offering of thanksgiving he is to present an offering with cakes of bread made with yeast.

We ought to always be thankful to our loving God who made us and cares for us.  The references to giving thanks, thankfulness, being thankful, fill the Scriptures.  So why is it that we tend to become unthankful and ungrateful?
I believe the foremost reason is that we forget where we have come from and all that the Lord has done for us.  For the believer we have no excuse for this.  We just simply allow our focus to become self-centered and self-sufficient.  We develop an attitude of smugness and arrogance, especially when things are going well, unless we maintain a proper perspective.  I like what David would do when he started feeling like God had forsaken him or was mistreating him; he would “remember”  all the times God had shown himself faithful and all the times God had delivered.  He would remember and proclaim those times to all the people.  He would begin “giving thanks.”
For the lost person, forgetfulness is also the issue.  In Romans 1 Paul puts it this way:

“For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, ?but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like ?mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts ?to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ? They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things ?rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen. “

Remember when David wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem?  (ref. I Chronicles 13)  The first attempt went terribly awry.  What was the problem?  David forgot to get the Lord’s direction in how to handle the Ark.  When David finally “got it right” and brought the ark into the “tent of meeting” he wrote and sand this psalm of thanks that is recorded in 1 Chronicles 16:

“That day David first committed to Asaph and his associates this psalm of thanks to the LORD :

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.? Glory in his holy name;
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.?  Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always.
Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
O descendants of Israel his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones.? He is the LORD our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.? He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded,
for a thousand generations,? the covenant he made with Abraham, ?the oath he swore to Isaac.
He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant:
“To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit.”
When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it,
they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another.
He allowed no man to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings:? “Do not touch my anointed ones;
do my prophets no harm.”? Sing to the LORD, all the earth;
proclaim his salvation day after day.? Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.? For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.?  For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place.
Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength,
ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.  Bring an offering and come before him;
worship the LORD in the splendor of his  holiness.?  Tremble before him, all the earth!
The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.?  Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;
let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”?  Let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!?  Then the trees of the forest will sing,
they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
Cry out, “Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name, that we may glory in your praise.”
Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, ?from everlasting to everlasting.
Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the LORD.”

Paul admonishes us to “give thanks” over and over again in Scripture.  Here are just a few instances:

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him,
rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught,
and overflowing with thankfulness.” Colossians 2:6-6

“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
since as members of one body you were called to peace.
And be thankful.” Colossians 3:15

“pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances,
for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Do not put out the Spirit’s fire;” 1 Thess. 5:17-19

As we enter this week that we set aside for the holiday we call Thanksgiving let’s not get caught up in the events of “Black Friday” and all the hullabaloo that the world throws at us to “move” us to purchase more stuff we don’t need.  Let’s remember all God has done for us.  And truly “give thanks.”