Sound of Thanksgiving

On October 20th, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln made a decree, that our nation should have a national day of Thanksgiving on the 3rd Thursday of each November.

He declared, Praise to our heavenly Beneficiary who dwells in Heaven.

President Lincoln was hearkening back to when the first President, George Washington had called for a national day of thanksgiving and prayer, to which the Congress was in complete agreement. 

They had all gathered to give thanks and pray a prayer of dedication for our newborn nation, after the Revolutionary War ended.

So here at President Lincoln's request we see another affirmation of our nations independence and unity, in a National Day of Thanksgiving. 

The difference between the first thanksgiving and the 2nd one, is that it became a national holiday. 

In both instances, though, those in elected positions of influence and power, had agreed to a day of thanksgiving. It would be a public recognition that their victory and unity came from above.

I promise this blog is not going to focus on politics. Would you hear me out? Sometimes you can't see the forest through the trees. You have to step back...

or trudge up the mountain and look from above. Hear me out.

We see a national example of how the sound of thanksgiving came from the sound of weeping. In Washington's day, some wanted to stay with the King of England and avoid a revolution. 

It seemed providence was looking to birth something new. A Constitution, a government for and by the people. A government in which the voice of the people could be heard. 

There would be an opportunity for all. A government set up with checks and balances with 3 branches of Government.

In Lincoln's day, some wanted to keep slavery and some did not. It was a time of decision and a time to work out the application of & the way they governed. 

There was a terrible cost to the Constitution in the civil war. Historically, they did not know how those 2 wars would turn out. 

History was going to turn a corner and they did not see the outcome but they still made the necessary commitments to freedom and the sacrifices involved.

Then followed....the mighty earth shattering sound of thanksgiving. All over the entire nation it was heard.

Both periods in history...great anguish & weeping was followed by the sound of thaksgiving.

Only afterwards, did they see the way to move forward...

after the fog of war had cleared. 

They had real reason to celebrate, while simultaneously, they had a real reason to grieve over the cost of war and breakthrough. 

These two are two sides of a coin, a costly coin.

Thanksgiving is born out of a true sense of costly peace and prosperity which is well earned and well fought for. 

A severe price was paid for right over wrong,  good over evil, light over dark.

So to bring this forward to something more current, something we can understand on a more personal level. The sound of thanksgiving went nationwide, again, in the days after 9-11. 

At first there was a terrible national mourning, grief and shock. Then there was an eerie silence over all the nation, when not a plane was splitting the sky. None except Air Force One.

Then our National flags came out all over the Nation, people of all tribes, all parties, all cultures were flying their flags. I remember  people reflecting on what a thing of beauty this was. 

It was an expression of thanksgiving for our freedom. Flags make a beautiful sound in the wind when they are fluttering and snapping. Its something that will grab your attention and cause you to reflect.

I hear an earth splitting roar right now in our nation, a roar coming from stadiums, a roar of thanksgiving like those of old. 

Let me explain what it is I hear, it is mixed with sorrow as well.

This week, the Parashat/Haftarah reading was in 1 Kings 1-31. I could not stop there. I read the whole chapter. This brought me to the sound of thanksgiving!

It brought me to a place to stop and reflect upon the times we are living in and how this relates to national thanksgiving.

Have I really heard this sound? The sound of freedom & thanksgiving?

I wondered. I have been pondering this and praying about it for days.

1 Kings 1:39, 40 Then Zadok the priest took a horn of oil from the tabernacle and anointed Solomon. And they blew the horn, and all the people said, Long live King Solomon. 

(40) And all the people played the flutes and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split apart with their sound.

They rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth seemed to split apart with their sound. 

Wow!!

At this same time, in another location, another son of David had gathered the head of the army, another priest and all the nobles he could muster and they were having a celebration.

This other son named Adonijah had usurped the kingdom and crowned himself with the help of another faction of his Father's kingdom.

So you see, they were facing yet another civil war! When David, Adonijah's Father came to the throne, he had carefully brought all factions of the kingdom together so that it was one kingdom. 

This followed a man made civil war, increased and reinforced by Saul the former King.

Psalm 11:3,4 If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? 

The Lord is in His Holy Temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.

I hear the roar of thanksgiving in our national stadiums. Let me explain what it is I hear.

Each generation has its own test of freedom and the choice as to.... whether LIBERTY will be afforded for all. 

Where is this earth shattering sound of thanksgiving? As we have seen, it is born out of grave sacrifice. 

Another place in scripture speaks of this earth shattering sound of thanksgiving. It follows the return of the Exiles of Israel.

After they spent 70 years in Babylon as slaves rather than free men. Only a remnant returns, determined to rebuild their Temple in the aftermath of oppression and great opposition. 

They determine to worship right in the midst of the rubble and opposition.

Ezra 3:10,13 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals to praise the Lord...

so the People could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.

So the weeping is because of the fall of Israel and the seniors remembering the former glory. 

Yet there is a great joy and thanksgiving. So do we hear this sound in our land? Both weeping & thsnksgiving?

I was pondering and I was wondering. I wanted to write a blog to honor the National Holiday of Thanksgiving. Yet...

I am grieving about the contempt and the disrespect manifesting in our Capital. Yet.....

I hear a roar of thanksgiving in our stadiums. Let me tell you  what it is I hear.

Our shared holiday of Thanksgiving is so much more profound than is now understood. It's not just about turkeys and pilgrims, its not just about the First Nation, who were coming to bring a peace offering. 

It may be about the many broken covenant's...not yet restored.

It is about bringing our nation together for humility and unity; 

to face the grief and cost caused by the founding of a nation... 

of, by and for the people.

I do believe it is about a purging, and cleansing, and refocusing of our First objective and cause. 

Of, by and for the people

and In God We Trust. 

How can so many be one? Only by His grace and Only by entering into humble thanksgiving.

The earth splitting sound of thanksgiving can be heard in all of this uproar. 

It is louder than the arguments, the slanders and the outcry. Just before the 2016 Election, I saw a post on Lou Engles' site. It was on the Elijah list.

It was a photo of a document which was lost in the storage banks of Congress, from the early years of our Nation.

It was huge, rolls and rolls of signatures which were demanding... Congress to stop breaking their  Treaties with the Native Americans. 

The signatures were from citizens all over the U.S. Many of them were prayer warriors who were trying to intervene because they knew their would be consequences just as there later were from slavery.

I keep the photo of this document on my phone. Some of the Tribes of First Nation went to the Capital, in 2016,  to release repentance and forgiveness so that times of refreshing could come to our Nation.

This is the way the earth splitting sound is released. It starts out as a cry, a weeping, a prayer of humility.

The sound...

which is splitting the earth...

with a thanksgiving and true humility...

is coming from the stadiums, the arenas, the large public forum sites across the U.S. 

It has been happening for over 3 years now. 3 1/2 years......hmmm. That's usually a sign of something very special. It's not about a certain president or a certain political party. 

Its not about pride or arrogance of one people toward another. Its about a return to justice, a return to law and order, a return to our Constitution.

We forget our Constitution is a covenant and if our leaders won't keep the covenant, who will watch over it? 

The Sovereign One, whom we made the covenant with! The LORD GOD will keep our covenant. 

Also, there is such a thing as a national conscience and it cannot be found behind closed doors because it is a public act or observance- like thanksgiving. 

It starts in the quiet prayer closets but is released into the public domain because it is a prayer for our nation.

I can hear the sound of earth shattering thanksgiving being release in our national stadiums!

This earth shattering noise can be heard again in the Gospels, in John 12: 28....

Then a voice came from heaven, saying, I have glorified it (My Name) and will glorify it again.

Therefore the people who stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. 

Others said, an angel has spoken to Him. Jesus said, This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake.

This voice of thunder occurred just following a public event as Jesus was greeted upon the donkey with songs from the people. 

The Pharisees threw up their arms and said, "Look, the world has gone after Him!" It was then that a group of Greeks came to interview Him.

Jesus was trying to explain to His disciples that He had to go on to the cross to glorify His Father.

He had to pay a price so that the Greeks and all who sought Peace could be released to hear the sound of  thanksgiving. 

This wondrous sound, earth shattering sound of thanksgiving was released in Acts 2:8, 9 so unity and peace for all... could be fulfilled....

And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born?

Parthians, and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt

and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs--

we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.

So what about the sounds we are hearing in the arenas, the sounds in the thunder domes and stadiums of our nation? 

I am not talking about sports or music concerts or all the other wonderful national pastimes we enjoy.

 I am talking about a roar I hear from the common people of this nation. I think it is actually a national sign of what is to come.

Many of our leaders, within the church, who are prophetic, have been talking about a release of revival and renewal which will be released into the nation on a level which will fill stadiums. 

Can I tell you that the sound of prayers are now being joined by the voice of awakened citizens, patriots of this great nation? 

We see a possible civil war on the horizon, we see the conflict and the testing of our nation and we desire to return to His Way.

What will be the cost of this looming civil war? We are praying that the Sovereign outcome of justice will give us cause for public celebration. 

The sound is already going out over the nation. In the stadiums! People are perplexed at the sound, they misinterpret the sound. 

Maybe they are correct to be a little apprehensive about the sound? What is this earth splitting sound going to bring?

It began, even years ago, with national prayer which was filling the stadiums, but no one in the media  seemed to notice. 

One such movement I have attended, The Call...

and my husband attended Promise Keepers..... 

but there are many which have been crisscrossing our nation. Covering her with a blanket of prayer and supplication.

It was reinforced with the forgiveness which was released quietly at the Capital, by First Nation tribes, which no one in the media seemed to notice.

And it is increasing to a roar which we hear in stadiums over an election which is bringing justice back to our nation. This time the media is beginning to take notice.

Many try to interpret it through the lens of politics but you would be wrong to do this. It is the sound of weeping. It is the sound of thanksgiving. It is a roar. 

Most importantly, do you know how to interpret the sound you are hearing? Can you hear the sound of grief as well as joy? Oh yes, they are both there.

This sound will shake the earth.