Who would think to declare a day of thanksgiving during the bloodiest war in American history? Her name was Sarah Josepha Hale, and she wrote to President Lincoln on September 28, 1863 encouraging him to establish a fixed holiday of thanksgiving to be observed by all the states. He promptly responded.
In a declaration written by Secretary of State William H. Seward on October 3, 1863, President Lincoln set apart the last Thursday of November as a “day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
The nation was in turmoil. We were two years in to the Civil War, and as providence would have it, we were almost two years away from General Lee’s surrender. Yet in his declaration, President Lincoln shows us how to give thanks when trouble is all around.
Our trouble does not tell the whole story.
President Lincoln acknowledged “the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.” He understood that despite war raging in the land, God was in the heavens ruling over His creation and providing for the needs of the nation. While the north and south were at odds, the President gave thanks for the rule of law that stood firm and for the peace the United States enjoyed with the nations of the world. Many things were wrong, but not everything was wrong.
It is natural for our suffering to blind us to everything else in our lives, but we can give thanks because our pain is only part of the story. Almighty God shows magnanimous grace that we may see Him and trust the work of His hands.
Our trouble does not need to destroy us.
As brothers were fighting each other, citizens continued to plow fields, expand territory, ship merchandise abroad, and increase economic strength. About this “strength and vigor,” President Lincoln said, “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.”
No trouble walks into our lives without first walking through the righteous court of God, and no blessings fall to us that do not come from the gracious hand of God. While trouble may wound us, God’s purpose is not to destroy us, but to deliver us.
Our trouble does not determine our future.
President Lincoln recommended this Day of Thanksgiving and Praise be used as a reason for “humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience…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.”
Our current trouble does not determine our future. Instead our response to the One who holds our future determines our future. President Lincoln trusted the “Almighty Hand” to heal wounds and to restore peace for those who returned to God.
The apostle Paul wrote,
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. 2 Corinthians 1:3
He went on to describe hardships that he experienced that were just too much for him to bear. Some trouble is just too much for us to handle. Sometimes making peace is not within our power. So giving thanks is not an effort to deny our suffering or to spin our difficulties. Instead, when we stop to give thanks on the last Thursday of November, we join President Lincoln in remembering God’s grace and returning to God for His good mercy.