Boilerplate
I’m Harold Dykstra. I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story. My time is well spent. A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel. I did not know she was an angel at the time. The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone. And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy. She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others. She changed my life.
In her leaving, she said someone would come. I had thought that was Jesus, in His second coming, but a new Babs, a little older, the model for the posable action figure arrived. While I had no desire to start over with romance, Morrie helped her move in, thinking she was the other Babs who had returned.
This Week’s Question
One day last week, Babs, Jayke, and Janella fixed a wonderful supper, and their Dad, Rev. Gil Whitefield was concerned at how “aware” his children were.
This week Babs was bugging me about Thanksgiving.
I groaned, “Babs, Thanksgiving Day is almost two weeks away.”
Babs, placing her arms akimbo, “We have the McAdoos, the Niblicks, and several teenagers who are pregnant coming next week. I want our Scriptures scripted. There are a few of these teenagers that are not married, a couple of friends who are not pregnant, it’s messy. And a few that are not Christians.”
I sighed, “And remind me why you got the job?”
Babs said, “It’s the job that Suzy Q and I used to be in. Suzy Q and her husband are in town for something to do with his work. They are staying over with us and the Niblicks got word that Pink Lady has three new teen pregnancy residents. I have no idea why we were asked, but I think it was Suzy Q that wanted to meet these young ladies.”
I groaned, “And not that long ago, you were trying with all your might to avoid talking about what you used to do.”
Babs nodded, “I think giving my testimony at that vespers service a few months ago opened a floodgate. I was worried about being propositioned by some creep, but now, I am inundated with requests to give my testimony. Really, Harold, I would love to be your dutiful wife, but if I can discourage people from following in my footsteps, I am going to do it. It was simply the power of God that got the two of us together.”
I smiled, “That is a lot to be thankful for. What do you want to talk about?”
Babs smiled, “The meeting with these ladies is early for thanksgiving. They are unwed and pregnant. They are scared. Their future is uncertain.”
I countered, “But if they trust Pink Lady, all of that is taken care of.”
Babs sighed, “But a few of them trusted someone and something bad happened. And they are pregnant without someone to be the father. That breeds distrust. Even if they ask fifty people at Lily the Pink whether Pink Lady can be trusted, they may not trust due to the recent betrayal. In one case, the boy was killed, but there is still that loss that leaves her alone. What does the Bible say about thanksgiving?”
I smiled, “Let’s look at that word itself. Being thankful could be a totally different list of verses. The first two mentions of thanksgiving are in Leviticus… ‘Along with their fellowship offering of thanksgiving they are to present an offering with thick loaves of bread made with yeast.’ (Leviticus 7: 13). This bread has yeast in the dough. There is meat involved also. There are a variety of reasons for a fellowship offering. If it is for thanksgiving… ‘The meat of their fellowship offering of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered; they must leave none of it till morning.’ (Leviticus 7:15). Other fellowship offerings let you save a portion and eat it the next day.”
Babs held her stomach and moaned. “Harold, can you imagine eating the entire turkey all in one day? And that tryptophan stuff. If you eat too much and you fall asleep, it might be the next day, and you didn’t finish the turkey!”
I laughed, “Babs, let’s not discuss unintentional sins at the moment. Let’s move to the next bit of thanksgiving… Okay there are a lot of giving thanks and being thankful in between. We are focusing just on this one word… ‘With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.’ (Ezra 3:11). This is when the builders laid the foundation of the temple. Umm. Babs? What has you so concerned? You are really focused.”
Babs replied, “Harold, I am looking up the references on God being good and His love endures forever. I am getting a lot of strange things. They convey the message, but okay. Here is the quote. ‘When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “He is good; his love endures forever.”’ (2 Chronicles 7:3). Okay, that is Solomon’s temple being dedicated. So, saying the same thing after just the foundation getting laid is understandable. ‘For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.’ (Psalm 30:5). That is one of the references. It doesn’t say the same words, but it talks about how God’s love endures forever.”
I asked, “Babs, Sweetie, did you read the notes at the top? For what purpose did David write this psalm?”
Babs snickered, “That makes sense now. David wrote Psalm 30 for the dedication of the temple. And the other one that I found was also from David. ‘The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever—do not abandon the works of your hands.’ (Psalm 138:8). It seems that David is not doing so good, but He asks God, who loves him forever, to vindicate him and not forsake him. I guess God does that with us too.”
I held out my hand and took Babs hand in mine, “I know He does, Babs. Even in our trials, God is going to hold onto us until we are with Him in Heaven. Nehemiah had a census. ‘Mattaniah son of Mika, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the director who led in thanksgiving and prayer; Bakbukiah, second among his associates; and Abda son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.’ (Nehemiah 11:17). Here this Levite, Mattaniah, was doing what his ancestor Asaph had done for David and Solomon. Then next chapter identifies him as the song leader. ‘The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and also Mattaniah, who, together with his associates, was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving.’ (Nehemiah 12:8). And later in that chapter they sang praises to God in thanksgiving for the wall being built.”
Babs smiled, “But with all these reasons to give thanks, why is thanksgiving only mentioned three times in the Psalms. ‘I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.’ (Psalm 69:30). ‘Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.’ (Psalm 95:2). ‘Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.’ (Psalm 100:4).”
I chided, “Remember the restriction you placed on our search. Add ‘thank’ and ‘thanks’ and you have 24 more references. And not all the songs say the word. But aren’t we thanking God when we praise Him? Maybe not all the time, but these concepts intermingle.”
Babs smiled and bowed, “Oopsie! I sit corrected. Do you want me to stand?”
I shook my head. “That’s not necessary, Babs.”
Babs replied, “But how much of Isaiah’s prophecy is a miracle, and how much is irrigation? ‘The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.’ (Isaiah 51:3).”
I laughed, “That was a good joke, but I think it was a miracle. Or maybe that should be will be. This speaks of Zion being in ruins before Zion was left in ruins. But the lands that are largely deserts now will become like the Garden of Eden. That is one great reason for thanksgiving. Jeremiah goes into different details. ‘From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honor, and they will not be disdained.’ (Jeremiah 30:19). Isaiah talked of the Garden, but Jeremiah talked of the people. This is definitely End Times. I think the hatred of the Jews will bring about the End Times. Just look at the strife in the world today, and the Jews seem to get blamed for a lot of it when it is those that hate the Jews perpetrating the strife.”
Babs said, “What does Paul mean in this verse… ‘Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?’ (1 Corinthians 10:16).”
I said, “Paul had been talking about eating food that was sacrificed to idols. Afterwards, he talks about how pagans are not sacrificing to false gods as much as they were to demons and we should not have anything to do with demons, but here he is drawing comparison to those pagan rituals. In drinking the wine and eating the bread, we are remembering the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf.”
Babs leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “I got another one. What does Paul mean by this one? ‘Otherwise when you are praising God in the Spirit, how can someone else, who is now put in the position of an inquirer, say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since they do not know what you are saying?’ (1 Corinthians 14:16).”
I leaned over and kissed her on the cheek and said, “I think you already know. Paul was never against speaking in tongues. He was all for an orderly worship service. If you speak in tongues in thanksgiving, who can agree with an ‘Amen’ when they have no idea what you said. Paul’s focus was edification. What do you learn by something that is said? By the way, did you understand a word that the soloist sang last Sunday? I still don’t have a clue. She was not speaking in tongues. She just did not enunciate. Hitting the right notes? That is kind of what soloists must do, but please enunciate or you waste people’s time.”
Babs giggled and saluted, “Yes, Sir!”
I sighed, “All of this thanksgiving needs to focus on Grace… ‘All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.’ (2 Corinthians 4:15). In realizing the sacrifice God made by sending His Son. And the sacrifice Jesus made in securing our salvation, there is not enough times that thank you can be said to respond to that one gift. Then God guides us through this life. He is there to help us up when we fall. There is just too much to be thankful for.”
Babs said, “In Ephesians, it says… ‘But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.’ (Ephesians 5:3-4). But Harold, right now, all I want to do is express my gratitude toward God by taking you to bed, snuggling for a little while, and then seeing what happens. Is that sexually immoral, impure, greedy, obscene, foolish or coarse talking? I am thankful to God that I have you.”
I said, “Well, knowing you, ridding ourselves of our clothing will be involved, but if we check to see that the blinds and drapes are closed, I can produce a license that says that is not immoral. And God wants us to do that. Do you want to skip our supper and start now?”
We rubbed noses. Babs begam to giggle, “We had a big lunch.”
I smiled, “Then let us go to the bedroom with thanksgiving.”
I locked the appropriate deadbolts on the doors along the way. That was our signal that we did not wish to be disturbed.
Credits
All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife. We would talk about anything and everything. And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.
Babs did not get all the details straight on the teenaged pregnancies, but that will get sorted out next week.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
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