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"We Choose to Give Thanks?" Page 1  | 2 | 3
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Mike Slaughter  |
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 This
Thanksgiving takes on a whole new significance, wouldn't you agree?
Time magazine stated this past week, "This is the kind of holiday we
need right now, a holiday of paradox that comes at the end of a bitter
harvest and yet finds something sweet to celebrate." The first Thanksgiving
in 1621 was born in paradox. About half of the 102 people who traveled
from England to America died before summer. Yet after that first fall
harvest about 50 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans chose to give thanks.
Since September 11, we are pilgrims again, trying to figure out how
to navigate life in an unknown new world. What do you do when bad things
happen? Remember that old expression, when it rains it pours? Just Monday
another plane went down in Queens, New York. Do you ever ask this question,
"How does a merciful, loving God, who is all powerful, allow this stuff
to happen?" As a matter of fact, when I went to the gym on Monday night,
several people at the gym asked me that same question.
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Job 1:6-11 6: One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7: The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it." 8: Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." 9: "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. 10: "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11: But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." |
I. When Bad Things Happen  If you
have your Bible, open it to the first chapter of Job. This is written
as a parable or a story. It was probably never intended to be historical
fact, but to give us insight into the nature of God and this very question,
"Why does God allow bad things to happen to innocent people?" First
chapter of Job, verse 6. "One day the heavenly beings came to present
themselves before the Lord and Satan also came among them. The Lord
said to Satan, 'Where have you come from?' Satan answered the Lord,
'From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on
it.' The Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job, that
there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who
fears God and turns away from evil?' Then Satan answered the Lord, 'Does
Job fear God for nothing?  Have
you not put a fence, a hedge of protection, around him and his house
and all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his
hands and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out
your hand now, remove that hedge of protection, touch all that he has
and he will curse you to your face.'" I
think you would agree with me that Americans have experienced a long
run of blessing. God has blessed the work of our hands and increased
our possessions in the land. We have been surrounded by a hedge of protection.
We have been isolated from many of the devastating effects of disease,
famine, war, and natural disasters that affect much of the rest of the
world. We have experienced unprecedented wealth and health. The blessings
on America have been so great that they have overflowed as blessings
on the world around us. Look at how America has blessed the world through
technology, industry, science, education, and faith. |
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