Now Thank We All our God

 

Scripture

Psalm 138

¹ I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
    before the gods I sing your praise;
² I bow down toward your holy temple
    and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;
    for you have exalted your name and your word
    above everything.
³ On the day I called, you answered me,
    you increased my strength of soul.

⁴ All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
    for they have heard the words of your mouth.
⁵ They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
    for great is the glory of the Lord.
⁶ For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
    but the haughty he perceives from far away.

⁷ Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
    you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
    and your right hand delivers me.
⁸ The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
    your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever.
    Do not forsake the work of your hands.  (NRSV)

Devotion

Each November, I tend to find myself humming "Now Thank We All Our God" under my breath as I go about my daily activities.  Often associated with Thanksgiving services in the United States, this hymn expresses joy for God's continuous presence in our lives as well as the blessings God pour upon us.  This thankfulness and the majestic melody that the hymn is set to may lead many to assume that the lyrics' composer must have had an easy life full of abundance.  Such assumptions are dead wrong.

Born in  1586 , the Lutheran clergyperson Martin Rinkart was the  archdeacon of Eilenburg, Germany during the Thirty Years War.  With its strong walls, Eilenburg became a refuge for people fleeing the war...but the overcrowding that came as a result of taking those people in led to widespread disease and famine.  During the Great Pestilence of 1637, Rinkart (who quickly became the only living clergy-person in the city) presided over the 4o to 50 funerals per day.   There, amidst the all the death and turmoil that surrounded him, Rinkart wrote "Now Thank We All Our God" as a a mealtime prayer for his own family.

Alissa Davis of Perkins School of Theology writes that when we hear, "Now Thank We All Our God," we would be wise to set aside our visions of tables overflowing with food and rooms full of happy, healthy, celebrating guests.  Instead, she invites us to imagine, "a minister and his family...thank[ing] God for the scraps of food they have on the table in their meager home in a desolate refugee city that is afflicted with famine and disease and war."  Even in the midst of such fear, scarcity, and grief, Rinkart and his family did not give into despair.  No, they gave thanks for the ways God continued to work in their lives.  They held onto their faith that God would continue to bless, keep, cheer, and guide them until they were eventually freed of all the ills that plagued them.  That sense of thanksgiving for God's continued presence in the worst of times is what helped Rinkart and his family get up each morning and serve God faithfully throughout the day.  And I'm sure it made them appreciate the good days even more.

Scripture does not promise that God will keep bad things from happening to us.  Instead, it promises that God is will get us through them.  When we call out for help, God will answers us.  When we need extra strength, God will provide it.  When we are in trouble, God will protect and deliver us. The greatest blessing of all is that no matter what happens (no matter how much the world's ills assail us or how far we stay from God's ways), Jesus Christ will fulfill God's purposes for us.  And because we trust in this Good News, we can be like Rinkart.  We too can offer prayers of thanksgiving to our bounteous God as we serve Christ each day... even when the days are hard.

Whether we are gathering around tables together or spending a quiet day alone, let us remember to give thanks for God's blessings during the hard times...the bad times...the overwhelming times.  For it truly is God who always remains us to keep us in his grace, guide us when perplexed, and shield us from all ills in this world and the next.

 

Prayer

 Bounteous God, I trust that you are constantly at work in my life.  In good times and in bad--in times of plenty and times of want--may your countless gifts of love continue to guide me on my way.  And may your Holy Spirit inspire me to offer prayers of thanksgiving my whole life long.  Amen.

Works Cited

Davis, Alissa.   "History of Hymns: 'Now Thank We All our God.'"  Discipleship Ministries: The United Methodist Church,  23 Oct. 2018,  https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-now-thank-we-all-our-god.  Accessed 22 Nov. 2021.