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Now thank we all our God

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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.