And when the Lord your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give you, with great and goodly cities, which you did not build, and houses full of all good things, which you did not build, and cisterns hewn out, which you did not hew, and vineyard and olive trees, which you did not plant and when you eat and are full, then take heed lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall fear the Lord your God; you shall serve him. Deut. 6:10–13

Our God is a great Giver. Giving is a characteristic of His very nature, because giving is an act of love. Overwhelming are His gifts in nature all around us. And the greatest gift, of course, is Jesus Christ, the Savior. He gives and gives.

During the Thanksgiving season we are reminded in a special way of His material gifts, even though one cannot really separate the spiritual from the physical. Material things have a big place in the lives of men, in the lives of Christians as well as others. Paul says that God has given us richly all things to enjoy (1 Tim. 6:17). Here He definitely is speaking of material gifts. As one who has been born and raised on a farm, I remember that when at times it was terribly dry the farmers were watching the sky every day, listening to forecasts and praying for rain. When would rain come? And usually it did come, often in abundance. Watching that rain come in a down pour, one couldn’t help but be impressed by the testimony of God being a God of good and abundant gifts to man.

In the passage quoted we don’t read about God’s general gifts to mankind, but about what He is to give to Israel, His chosen nation. (And in the Old Testament Israel as nation is what we today call the church.) He is going to give Israel the land of Canaan. All of that real estate and what went with it was to be a free gift. There were the land, the houses, wells, vineyards—everything they needed and more. And it is emphasized that none of this was the work of their hands; everything was a gift. All for nothing.

Also during this past year, in spite of recession and unemployment and slow business, God has given us much. I’m sure that none of us knows even today what it really means to be in need. Or even to have only what we pray for in “daily bread.” There are our homes, much bigger and more beautiful than what we need and much more food and clothing than we need. Think of all the extras and luxuries of life, better cars than we need, good and often expensive vacations, recreations and “playthings”—we could go on and on. All these are gifts. For the Christian they are gifts from his heavenly Father. Essentially they also are gifts “in Christ.” One may say, “I worked hard for what I have” but who gave you the ability to work, or do business to accumulate what you have? Everything is given to us! All for nothing, imagine!

In times of inflation we say, “You don’t get much for nothing anymore.” But with the Lord things don’t change. He gives and gives. And these gifts all culminate in and serve the great gift of Jesus Christ.

The Lord wants us to respond to all these gifts!

First of all He reminds us several times, in Deut. 6 and 8, not to forget Him. One could ask, “Is it possible for man and even the Christian to receive so much for nothing and to forget Him, and to forget to be thankful?” Anyone who knows himself and the power of sin with its ingratitude has no difficulty at all in understanding this. We forget God so easily. Often the more we receive, the more we forget Him. Spurgeon said more than once that prosperity is the greatest trial for a Christian, implying that it really is more difficult to be a good Christian in times of abundance than in times of need. Also that it is more difficult to be thankful from the heart in times of prosperity than to be patient in times of adversity. Calvin wrote, “Scarcely shall we find one person in a hundred in whom full satisfaction does not generate headiness. Prosperity intoxicates almost all of us, so that we temperately grow wanton against God and forget Him. Examples of moderation in prosperity ARE RARE. O the danger of pride and self-complacency and satisfaction and lack of need of God. If we truly desire to steer a straight course we ought to strive after the healing of this most deadly disease of pride.” Rarely has the church flourished spiritually in times of prosperity.

Either we often don’t thank God at all for all these free gifts, or we do so rarely. If we do pray, the prayers are often formal, and our hearts are not in them. It is easy to take all these free gifts for granted, or even think that they are “coming to us.” This plight of millions of poor people, which contrasts with our abundance, hardly gets a passing thought.

I think of a small child who has been taught by his mother to say “thank you” when he receives a gift. After he has been told this many times mother still has to ask him when he receives something for nothing, “What do you say now, Jimmy?” It just doesn’t come naturally to this child to be grateful from the heart. Isn’t this true of all of us, by nature? David apparently feels this when he begins writing Ps. 103. He says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” and then he adds, knowing himself, “and forget not all His benefits.” I’m glad that this, too, is in the Bible.

“Forget not, forget not,” is the admonition that often comes to us. It is “when we have eaten and are full” that we come to the “danger point” of this temptation to forget the Giver. Because the wise, wealthy Solomon fell before this temptation he later repeatedly warns us about this danger in the book of Proverbs. When we are full we think that we have “need of nothing.” Then we feel secure for the future and have little consciousness of dependence upon the Lord.

The opposite of forgetting God is remembering Him. Remembering Him means that we acknowledge Him and thank Him. The Scriptures are full of examples and admonitions to thank Him for all His gifts.

True thanksgiving is more than mere lip worship. The world also celebrates national thanksgiving days. But how? It’s easy to be thankful for ourselves, when we have received much. Of course, we are thankful for living in countries where we still have holidays of national thanksgiving. But that doesn’t mean that everybody commemorates such a day in a God–pleasing manner. Selfishness is deeply rooted in all of us, also in the lives of redeemed sinners. Asaph is also aware of this, as he expresses it in Ps. 73:21 where he confesses that he was “like a beast” before the Lord. What he really says here is that he was like a pig (a greedy animal) before His God.

The question must be asked, “How does God want us to be thankful?” Everything of course has to come from the heart. First of all, the awareness of the need of true gratitude causes us to realize our lack of it. On Thanksgiving Day (whenever that is, in the U.S. or in Canada) it is proper to confess our failures and to see the need of pardoning grace. A broken and contrite spirit is surely a part of the true gratitude of a Christian.

I well remember visiting one of my former parishioners, an old saint of some 80 years. She was eating her meager noon lunch, just a sandwich. I had hardly entered the door, and she said to me, “Dominie, you know what just happened to me? I was eating my sandwich and I was reflecting upon the prayer I just offered. I didn’t even remember what I said in my prayer, and my heart was not in it. So I laid down the last half of my sandwich and prayed all over, also really asking God for forgiveness, and thanking Him from my heart. What honest, humble godliness! It is proper to spend time at Calvary, asking for forgiveness for all our lack of heart-felt gratitude.”

But not forgetting Him and remembering Him also mean that we often say, “Thank You.” And not just on the national holiday.

However, there is still more, much more in expressing real gratitude as it is taught in the Bible. In Deut. 6 and 8 (the passages previously referred to) Israel is solemnly warned not to forget God for all He has given to it, or that He will give to it, and positively to remember Him. How? By fearing Him and keeping His commandments! That’s a lot more than merely saying, “Thank You.” It implies actions expressing gratitude and love. In t hem we are looking away from ourselves, the very opposite of being so thankful for ourselves. Fearing the Lord implies that we lose ourselves in His service. Well and beautifully the Heidelberg Catechism captures this thought in its third part where it explains in detail how thankfulness to God is shown in keeping His commandments, the law of love. That is t he proper response to all the gifts of free grace given to us in Christ Jesus our Savior and Lord. Again and again the Bible tells us that thanking God means that we fear Him.

It is good to have a special day for thanksgiving. But that should help us learn to be more thankful every day of our lives. That thanks should be expressed in words and God-fearing deeds to the God who gives and gives for nothing in Christ.

Who is sufficient unto all this? The fact is that the Lord has to give us this kind of gratitude. And He does give that too. How good He is! But He wants us to ask for this gift of His Spirit.

May we all have a good Thanksgiving Day, and may it help us to have more thanks–living in His fear.