Now thank we all our God
Perhaps, as Thanksgiving Day draws near, you have great blessings to rejoice in and many family members to share them with. Or perhaps instead you have experienced recent grief or significant loss in the past year.
But no matter what our immediate circumstance, we can rejoice as Christians in the unchanging goodness and eternal promises of God through Jesus Christ.
Here is just one example of a downtrodden believer who found occasion to glory in Christ, even as he experienced real pain:
"Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran minister in the 1600s, was in Eilenburg, Saxony, during the Thirty Years’ War. The walled city of Eilenburg saw a steady stream of refugees pour through its gates. The Swedish army surrounded the city, and famine and plague were rampant. Eight hundred homes were destroyed, and the people began to perish. There was a tremendous strain on the pastors who had to conduct dozens of funerals daily. Finally, the pastors, too, succumbed, and Rinkart was the only one left—doing 50 funerals a day.
When the Swedes demanded a huge ransom, Rinkart left the safety of the walls to plead for mercy. The Swedish commander, impressed by his faith and courage, lowered his demands. Soon afterward, the Thirty Years’ War ended, and Rinkart wrote this hymn for a grand celebration service. It is a testament to his faith that, after such misery, he was able to write a hymn of abiding trust and gratitude toward God."
Now Thank We All Our God
Now thank we all our God, with heart & hands & voices,Who wondr's things has done, in whom the world rejoicesWho from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our wayWith countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed;And free us from all ills, in this world and the next!
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;The Son and Him Who reigns with Them in highest Heaven;The one eternal God, whom earth and Heaven adore;For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.