Pro Rege Papers

On October 3, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln sent out a proclamation that a day in November should be set aside for thanks to God for the blessings that He had given to this country. It is hard to believe that Pres. Lincoln could be thankful in a time of gruesome civil war, but he pointed out that the country was bestowed with many blessings. They had abundant crops and plentiful industrial production that had kept the country afloat during battle. No enemies had attacked them at this time of weakness, either. This example of thankfulness shows us that we always have something to be grateful to God for, no matter what our situation.

Anyone who watches TV at all during Thanksgiving will hear the commentators remarking that we should be thankful. But the pressing question presents itself, “To whom are we thankful?” Many people today are thankful to themselves for their blessings, and attribute their prosperity to their own flesh. But are we really responsible for good weather? Are we really the cause of our good friends and family? Are we really the source of our good position or pay at work? No. All of those things are beyond man’s control, and in the hands of God. God upholds all things by his providence in his “holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures, and all their actions.” (Shorter Catechism, Q. 11) Everything that comes about, good or bad, is the result of God’s work in creation. He is the One we are to be thankful to.

Abraham Lincoln and many other leaders in our nation’s history recognized this. Mr. Lincoln said in his proclamation, “no mortal hand hath worked out these great things.” We have a country with some of the greatest natural resources in the world, we have the highest per capita GDP of any nation, we don’t have foreign invaders at our borders or in our towns, we have a system of government that keeps us free from tyranny, we have many, many gifts that only the hand of God can give a country. We need to bend on our knees before the all-powerful God and thank Him for the blessings that he has given us.

(Psalm 100:4-5)

Some of the material for this article was taken from an editorial in World Magazine.