In just a few days, family and friends will gather all around our nation to celebrate Thanksgiving.
In just a short time, the family of God will gather for the most significant meal ever served: the holiest of Communion shared with Christ, who has long been waiting for His joint-heirs to partake with Him of the Bread and the Wine. No Thanksgiving table here in the USA will be quite as laden and life-giving as that of The Table of Thanksgiving and Praise around which the redeemed of the Lord Jesus Christ will gather.
Presiding over that Feast of all Feasts will be Father God, to Whom all our glory, honor, and sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving is due.
Between Thursday’s turkey and that yet to be announced long-awaited Day, there is a course of life for each one of us to walk out. Psalm 50 is a declaration of one of the most beautiful promises of God to those who offer a true sacrifice of thanksgiving…
“HE WHO OFFERS A SACRIFICE (slays, by extension: flesh nature) OF THANKSGIVING (avowal, adoration, confession) HONORS (to be heavy (in a good sense); make weighty: numerous, rich, honorable, abounding more) ME; AND TO HIM WHO ORDERS (commits, considers, determines) HIS WAY (a trodden road, a course of life, a mode of action) ARIGHT, I SHALL SHOW (make to enjoy, perceive, gaze upon, have experience, have respect for) THE SALVATION (liberty, deliverance, prosperity) OF GOD.”Psalm 50:23 (NASB+)
A table of sacrifice is set before each of us. Like a veritable loaded buffet, choices abound as to what we may select for our flesh nature to indulge in – or put to death. Ultimately, it boils down to two choices. To follow Holy Spirit’s prompting which leads to God’s salvation that brings liberty, deliverance, and prosperity of spirit, soul, and body. The other choice, driven by our wanting what we want, leads too often to complacent captivity or struggling defiance, a non-prospering soul, and flaccid spirit and body.
God in His kindness, mercy, justice, and love has already instructed us as to how we should rightly order our choices – be it a road we travel for a time, specifically determined actions taken, or a course we set for our life with no looking back. Will we be tested on these instructions He has given? No doubt. He said we would be and He does not nor can He lie. He always remains true to Who He is and what He has said, yet He who loves us most gave us the answer key in advance of the testing, His Holy Word. If we study it, hide it in our hearts (Psalm 119:11), and put it into practice, we will begin to order our way aright more frequently each time we find ourselves seated at the table of sacrifice.
The LORD describes what even He receives as we offer that difficult but sweet savor sacrifice of thanksgiving: we actually burden Him – as in lading and weighing Him down, with numerous accolades; we make Him rich; we proclaim Him honorable and we cause Him to abound even more. He’s the Payload! And in His unending lovingkindness that can never be outdone, He receives it all then lavishes us with yet more understanding of Him and His endless store of treasure for mind, heart, body and soul.
What has been the hard seat in the house at the table of sacrifice becomes the couch of reclining at the feet of the Master – relishing in His nearness, His voice, and His intimate presence.
The one “…who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving” willingly and in humble obedience will bring honor to the LORD. In return, Holy Spirit – that wonderful seal and guarantee of our inheritance – will transfigure our table of sacrifice into The Table of Thanksgiving and Praise. And that’s this side of eternity!
“And you also became God’s people when you heard the true message, the Good News(Gospel) that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit he had promised. 14 The Spirit is the guarantee that we shall receive what God has promised his people, and this assures us that God will give complete freedom to those who are his. Let us praise his glory! 16 I have not stopped giving thanks to God for you. I remember you in my prayers 17and ask the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, to give you the Spirit, who will make you wise and reveal God to you so that you will know him.” Ephesians 1:13-14, 16-17 GNB
With thanksgiving and the song of the redeemed upon my lips,
Nancy Charlene – Praisefully Free
Nanc,
How can we not sacrifice what would keep us from partaking of His Feast? Is it not but a momentary discomfort?
Yet He understands and encourages every step of the way!
Amen & Amen
We received your thanksgiving card in the mail on Wednesday. Thank you soo much. It meant a lot to both of us. We are able to comfort those who are walking through the same losses. Thank you for your words and prayers that have brought us comfort even in the midst of your own losses. Thank you also, for this beautiful Thanksgiving devotional.