Today in the United States is Thanksgiving, an annual celebration officially recognized by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. It is on this day that Americans traditionally join together and celebrate the heritage of one of the first people who colonized this land. These people were known as the Pilgrims.
The Pilgrims were a group of devout Christians who left Europe to worship God in accordance with His word, rather than by the rules of European governments. The Pilgrims wrote a compact to England stating they undertook their journey from Europe to an uncolonized America, "for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith and honour of [their] King and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia."After an awful time crossing the Atlantic Ocean where many Pilgrims passed away due to illness, the Pilgrims landed in Massachusets. They would have likely not survived, but thanks to God's providence, they met the native American Samoset who would introduce them to a man named Squanto.
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| A depiction of Squanto |
When Squanto was young, he was captured by Spanish slavers. He was brought by the Spanish from America to Europe, and was sold as a slave. This would not be Squanto's final fate, though. As God would have it, Squanto was bought and set free by a group of Christian monks. According to historians, Squanto learned the reason behind his being set free was the monks' love for Jesus, the man of God who sets every captive free (Luke 4:18). Squanto embraced the Christian faith from the monks, and became a devout follower of Christ. Later in Squanto's life, after years of working as a guide for sailors on the ocean, Squanto made it back home to his village. Tragically, though, everyone in Squanto's home village had recently been wiped out by a plague that likely originated from other European explorers. It is probable that Squanto's anger towards the Europeans, for bringing the plague that wiped out his village, is why he did not greet the Pilgrims when they arrived a year or so later. He hid from them in fear, but his friend Samoset introduced the Pilgrims to him, assuring Squanto that these Europeans were much different from previous Europeans and were in need of help. By the grace of God, Squanto and some otehr native Americans came to unite with the Pilgrims, and they worked together in the love of Christ to create and run a small village.
The Pilgrims, Squanto and the other native Americans endured a harsh first year together. The winter, to be brief, was brutal and many people died. When the air got warmer, the weather nicer and the grounds more fertile, the Pilgrims and the Native Americans sewed seeds that reaped an abundant harvest. In the autumn of 1621 all of the Pilgrims and the native Americans with them had a grand harvest feast, and they likely invited other neighboring people to join with them in their feast. It is not known or recorded what the Pilgrims and native Americans prayed at this feast, as their prayers were spontaneous. A typical prayer the Pilgrims may have prayed could have been similar to this one (written in its original English):
O Lord our God and heavenly Father, which of Thy unspeakable mercy towards us, hast provided meate and drinke for the nourishment of our weake bodies. Grant us peace to use them reverently, as from Thy hands, with thankful hearts: let Thy blessing rest upon these Thy good creatures, to our comfort and sustentation: and grant we humbly beseech Thee, good Lord, that as we doe hunger and thirst for this food of our bodies, so our soules may earnestly long after the food of eternal life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, Amen.
George Webb, "Short direction for the daily exercise of the Christian,"
London 1625. Courtesy of Plimoth Plantation
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| A depiction of the Pilgrim's prayer at the harvest feast |
It may seem natural reading that the Pilgrims gave thanks for their lives, but upon reading about their lives it should seem prepostorous, certainly to an unbeliever, that the Pilgrims should be thankful for anything. They were under religous supression in Europe, they endured terrible travel conditions that cost many their lives, and they barely survived an awful first winter. Still, in the midst of this, the Pilgrims remained faithful to the LORD, and He was watching over them. They would have surely failed to settle down in America without God, but He made it so that Squanto would suffer as a slave for a time, so that he could be set free by Christians, become a devout believer, return home to America and help the Pilgrims survive their first year as colonists. Only God in His sovereignty could orchestrate this perfect chain of events, and it is these divine chains of events that we as believers refer to as providence.
We, as Christians, have a lot for which to be thankful. It is not because of all the stuff we have or our life situations. It is because we, as believers, know we are in God's hands. God is sovereign, which means He has control over everything that happens, and He does what pleases Him (Psalm 115:3). We may not always understand why God does what He does, but we know that God is good and His good will shall be done. Sometimes that means having to suffer, such as how the Pilgrims were inflicted with illness or how Squanto was sold into slavery. Still, amidst this suffering, God's will is being done. As Joseph remaked to his brothers who sold him into slavery only for Joseph to become the leader of Egypt, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (Genesis 50:20). Many times God uses terrible situations to bring about His goodness and prosperity. Such is why all the words of Psalm 100 offer thanksgiving to God:
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is He who made us, and we are His;
we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His name.
5 For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Give thanks to God for He is good (Psalm 107:1a), remembering on this day that it is by God's goodness and sovereignty that the Pilgrims as well as all of us who are in Christ are able to live with hearts of abundance and thanksgiving. It is not that we, as Christians, are thankful for the things we have, but rather that we are thankful for the God of all creation who has given us everything we have. It is with this belief, that our faith fills us with thanksgiving. So, it was written of the Pilgrims may it also be written of us as believers, "And thus they found the Lord to be with them in all their ways, and to bless their outgoings and incomings, for which let His holy name have the praise forever, to all posterity." (William Bradford).
Sources
- The Bible (New International Version)
- Open Bible Info: Thanksgiving verses
- Open Bible Info: God's Sovereignty
- Plymothy Patuxet: Thanksgiving History
- Weirton Daily Times: Squanto
- Pilgrimhall.org: Thanksgiving
- Of Plymouth Plantation: Bradford's History of the Plymouth Settlement 1608-1650
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