With the Thanksgiving holiday upon us once again, it is good to be reminded to count our blessings—even in the midst of difficult circumstances.
The Apostle Paul—who had encountered and endured every form of suffering imaginable (2 Cor. 11:22-29; 12:7-10)—instructed us to be thankful at all times.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thess. 5:16-18)
Many years later, in the middle of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was counting blessings and taking stock of the good that could be seen even while there was so much pain and chaos transpiring throughout the country.
On October 3, 1863, in a proclamation that is often viewed as the beginning of the national holiday of Thanksgiving Day, President Lincoln issued:
No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
We ask God to heal our wounds—globally, nationally, and personally.
We ask God to lift up and protect those who are suffering.
We give thanks to our God for each and every one of His gracious gifts.
He is indeed beneficent and merciful. We are blessed.
