A Thanksgiving Day Devotional November
24, 2016
By: Hanny Lynn Stearns
Fish N
Loaves Ministries, Inc.
“Multiplying
God’s Word Around the Globe”
Psalm 107
Oh, That Men Would Praise the Lord for His
Goodness, &
For His Wonderful Works to The Children of Men!
This isn’t a regular Bible study, per se, though it is a
meditation in His word of the chapter I would have done a Bible study on for
this day had it not been a holiday. We had a magnificent holiday and I hope
that whosoever reads this did as well. God is so good. Let the redeemed of the
Lord say so! Hallelujah.
I did not get around to reading my chapter until the evening
after the day had been well spent. Company is gone and my husband is sleeping.
I had to come and soak in the word of God before retiring for the night. He has
been so good to me. One review of this chapter reminds me of how gracious He
has been to me. We have been looking at this in the past few chapters.
Yesterday we were reminded not to forget the good things that God has done for
us in the past.
Thanksgiving Day is a beautiful holiday – not just “turkey
day” as some have become in the habit of calling it. It is a time of the year
that we can start to look back over the previous months and see how the Lord
has crowned our year with His goodness. He is so good and so merciful that it
is difficult at best to find words adequate to describe the depth of His love
for us. Truly His mercy does endure forever.
How can we look at this chapter but to consider how our own
lives have been? As I looked and read, I could see how I could relate so much
to this in so many ways. I was a wanderer. I really was. I wandered all over
the United States as a teenager, hitchhiking from state to state and from place
to place, never really having a home. I was booted out of the house at the age
of 15 because I became pregnant, and after that I was a poor girl left to my
own devices. I had to learn to fend for myself. I was hurt, alone and very
scared.
But something in me (God’s Spirit) was there to keep me going
and never give up. It was dry and barren. How does a kid go from living in a
home with a mother and sisters and brothers to living in the street at 15 years
old with no money, no family and only a couple of so called friends? How does
one survive? What do they do? Where do they go? Especially if one had been
neglected growing up and dad had divorced mom and was long gone, living in
another country with a new wife and raising her kids.
I can tell you what they do. They do their best to survive
from day to day. I bounced around all over the place. From Michigan to Florida
to California and all points in between with all kinds of people, none of them
the right ones. I was most certainly hungry and thirsty, both spiritually and
physically. My soul was fainting within me. I was reduced to a lifestyle of
drinking and drug use that soon became out of control and certain to claim my
life by the age of 20. I figured nobody else cared about my life – why should
I?
Even though I asked Jesus to be my Savior at 9 years old, I went back home
to a broken family and didn’t go to church or find out anything about God. Yet,
standing on the side of the road one day with my thumb out as I waited for a
ride, I looked up at the sky and this is what came out of my mouth, “God, if
you are real, I would like to have a house of my own someday where I could live
for a really long time.” No kidding, I really said that.
Little did I know at the time, though I was a 19 year-old
wanderer that He had heard my cry. This is where we get to the part where I cried
out to the Lord and He delivered me out of my trouble. It was only a few short
years (seemed long at the time) before I moved into my own home and stayed
there for 19 years. I got married while living there and ended up quitting my
job at Blue Cross Blue Shield where I had worked a total of 8 ½ years to raise
two beautiful daughters. God had answered that prayer. Praise His name forever!
While I lived in that house I began to go to a church with my
husband and his family. It was the first time I was ever the member of a
church. He had led me forth in the right way and gave me a place for a
habitation. See verse 7. It was awesome what He did for me.
He satisfied my longing soul and He filled my hungry soul
with goodness. Suddenly I was living in a secure place. I had two beautiful
daughters. Even though I married the wrong person we managed to have many good
times over the almost 22 years we were married. But after that I came to a
place where I began to follow closer after the Lord. I was learning of Him,
even if it was ever so slowly.
Then I rebelled against His words by walking out
on my husband and children to the arms of a stranger. Then I was brought low in
labor by the Lord. He let me see every door in my life get slammed shut in my
place. Where we had been living in a beautiful home and I had a great paying job
after going back to work when my daughters were 12 and the younger 10 ½,
everything that was bearing any fruit suddenly dried up like a parched desert.
It was ugly – really ugly. I had no one to help me – no one!
I cried out to God again. I had cried out in our marriage for
help in a season when we were getting involved in drugs and the Lord had
delivered us and made a way of escape by giving us a second home in northern
Michigan to get us out of party town in Detroit on the weekends. Then when I left
my husband and was in such distress, I cried out again. That time was intense.
I had never known such darkness in all my life. I almost died. But I cried out
to Him. I went after the Lord with all my heart.
After I surrendered to Him in 2005, He sent His word and healed
me. So many things immediately began to get brighter. I had a long, hard and
slow climb up out of the pit, but He was with me every step I took. Looking at
verse 22 can easily describe today. Giving God thanks for all He has brought me
(all of us) through is appropriate at all times. He is worthy of all our praise
for so great a salvation.
This chapter talked about those who work on the seas in ships
and how they can see the mighty works of God. I thought about the elegant
restaurant we went to for dinner today. In this restaurant, located right on
the water with many ships of various sizes docked right outside the restaurant doors,
there was an aquarium filled with many different beautifully colored fish. I
looked at each one at length and could only marvel at the glory of the Lord as
I looked at His hand painted creations of beauty. They had cute little teeth. Some
of them looked like little kids in there swimming around. Others went by and it
looked as if they were waving while they passed by saying, “Hi, so glad to see
you today.” How adorable they are. How magnificent are the works of God’s
hands!
I counted myself so blessed to be in such a beautiful place
with the best husband on the planet and a dear sister in the Lord who is family
to us. The three of us sat down for the finest meal money can buy and we were
so grateful and so blessed. The Almighty has done marvelous things for us. He
is worthy of all our praise!
My soul had melted within me and I had come to my wits end in
this life. I couldn’t take anymore. I despaired of life so much that I tried earnestly
to take my own life and put an end to my misery. But God had another plan – a much
better one – hallelujah! Had I succeeded at dying that day in April of 2004, I
would not be here enjoying the glory of the Lord in the land of the living. But
He has calmed the storms in my life. He has made the rough waters a sea of
glass.
Now I live to do what verse 32 admonishes us to do; praise
and exalt Him in the congregation. Yes, I live to stand in the courts of the
Lord’s house and speak to the people of the church and tell them how great a
Savior we really have. Like those fish, so beautifully created by an amazing
and powerful God, I stand here today in living color and proof that He not only
exists, but that He is good, He is merciful and rich in loving kindness. People
need to hear this.
The devil has worked overtime to give God a bad reputation
and try to get people to blame Him for the bad things that happen in their
lives when it has never been His fault – never! For the wicked, He can turn
their places of prosperity into dry ground. It happened to me. He knows there
is no one on the earth who does good and anyone who thinks he is righteous
ought to think again. Look at this…
Isaiah 64:6
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind,
have taken us away.
I was included in this verse, as are all mankind. Oh, but for
the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ who has saved us from our sins.
Our King on the cross who is and always will be the King of kings and the Lord
of lords, is the reason why I am here today to thank Him publicly and give Him
praise.
When I got to verses 35-38, it was the part I am rejoicing in
now in my life. It is the place where we really find out that He fills our
hungry souls, He gives us a place to live, a place to increase and multiply, a
place filled with blessings. That’s where I am living at now. He has given me
places to plant seed and He is multiplying my seed sown. He is giving me a
harvest and it is only going to continue to increase as I do His will and His
work. I am rejoicing in this. He has taken a lonely, hungry, wandering soul
like me and though I was oppressed by the enemy in so many ways, He has set me
free and blessed me to be a blessing to others.
Am I forever glad I did not die that day in 2004! I was mad
that I woke up on earth that day, but today, I am so blessed that I would not
want to have missed this. Would it be better to be with Jesus in heaven?
Absolutely. There is nothing that can compare to being in His presence. But He
had work for me to do here and I do not want to leave until my job is done.
This is how I can give Him real thanks and praise – by fulfilling the calling
He placed on my life and completing the job He has given me.
He has set this poor girl on high, far away from those former
afflictions – all the pain, grief and distress. Do I have a lot to be thankful
about today? More than I can name in this devotional. He has made me a family
like a flock. I left my kids and family back in Michigan to follow the Lord,
but look at this…
Mark 10:29-30
29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily
I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters,
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the
gospel's,
30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this
time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands,
with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
This chapter wraps up with a crescendo of praise. Anyone who
is righteous will see what God has done in my life and rejoice in Him…
Psalm 119:74
They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped
in thy word.
Sinners on the other hand will hear of it and their mouths
will be shut in amazement. If they still don’t see how real, how wonderful and how
powerful God is after they hear what He has done for me, then maybe they will
never listen. That’s between them and the Lord. We certainly want them to hear
and be saved. That’s why we tell people about what has happened to us. The last
verse tells us that anyone who is wise will understand this and they will know
the lovingkindness of the Lord.
My life has been filled with too many miraculous occurrences
that could only be God. He did it to show His power in my weakness and to
proclaim His name in all the earth. He needs willing preachers. All of us have
someone along our daily path who we can tell. There are many fish out there
jumping out of the water right in our path each day. And they are beautiful to
God – just like the fish I saw at the restaurant today.
God loves the people.
He just hates their sin. He wants to bring them into the boat and clean them.
Then He will use them as nets to catch even more fish. Will you be a net He can
use? Will you be so thankful for what He has done for you that you are telling anyone
who will listen so maybe their lives can be changed from hungry to filled?
May this Thanksgiving be the best one you have ever had and
may it be the beginning of new things for you as you find your joy and strength
in Him. Thanks for listening!
Luke 1:46-55
46 And
Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47 And
my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48 For
he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth
all generations shall call me blessed.
49 For
he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
50 And
his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
51 He
hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the
imagination of their hearts.
52 He
hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
53 He
hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54 He
hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
55 As he
spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
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