Happy Thanksgiving, Pat Sajak

Happy Sunday. Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and for some of us, uh, it's a wonderful time. Psalms 100 rolls off the tongue easily. You remember those words: "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship Him with gladness; come into His presence with singing. Know that the Lord is God. It is He that made us, and we are His; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving, in His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations."

Those are beautiful words for the thankful. But what if you've had a tough year? What if your life is a mess? Have you ever wanted to just skip Thanksgiving and Christmas? There are so many wounded today.

We're gonna look at a prophet who was wounded. He was a watch wrong kind of a guy, and who could blame him? Times were tough. The year was around 600 BC. The place was Judah.

Devotion to God was hard to find. Habakkuk the prophet was concerned with what he saw. Injustice and wickedness were rampant. The righteous suffered, the wicked prospered. The world seemed upside down.

This is how the book of Habakkuk begins. He says, "How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen. Violence is everywhere. I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I'm surrounded by people who love to argue and fight."

That's how the book begins. It sounds like today's world, doesn't it? It's hard to watch the news in today's world. Habakkuk was written 2600 years ago, and his complaint sounds like it could have been written this week.

I doubt you would want to invite Habakkuk, or the Habakkuk of chapter 1, to your Thanksgiving dinner. He would likely focus on what's wrong in the world. If he were alive today, he'd likely be addicted to the news channels. Do you know somebody like that? As you talk about all that you're thankful for, Habakkuk would, Habakkuk would want to hijack the conversation and talk about covet and politics and crime and the deficit and all the problems of this world.

Let's skip to the end of the book of Habakkuk. I'll read verses 17 and 18 from chapter three; it's a short book. Habakkuk says, "Even though the fig trees have no blossoms and there are no grapes on the vines, even though the olive crop fails and the fields are empty and barren, even though the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty," Habakkuk says, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful and the God of my salvation."

The book of Habakkuk begins with complaining and ends with praising. Times are tough, yet Habakkuk gets to a point where he says he will rejoice and be joyful. So the question is, how do we get from point A to point B? How are we to be joyful between Habakkuk's complaint of the state of the union in chapter one and his beautiful words of thanksgiving in chapter three, in spite of tough times?

Between those times, God speaks to the prophet. God tells Habakkuk that He has a plan. God says that times will be bad, but that God is still in charge. He is still God. Habakkuk then became thankful and joyful after he was reminded that God was in charge.

Do you need reminded of this? I do. Often when we focus on this world and not the God of this world, will be in trouble. Habakkuk had an attitude change. His world was still in a mess; times were still tough. Yet Habakkuk decided to trust God and rejoice. All of us have that very same choice to make.

Have you ever needed an attitude adjustment? There's a sign in my office that belonged to my father. I remember reading it as a little boy, and his wisdom was great to learn. It says, "I had no shoes and complained until I met a man who had no feet." I've always treasured that sign and that's saying.

Thanksgiving is a time to count your blessings. We all know that. However, I doubt we all do that. It is good medicine. Proverbs 17:22 tells us, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

It was right before Thanksgiving 1989. My stepmother, Mary Alice, was on her deathbed, and several family members gathered at my home in Indiana. We decided to have a Thanksgiving meal, and we went around the table to say what we were thankful for. There were several kids at the table. One of my nephews made this difficult time much better.

When it was his turn to say what he was thankful for, he said, "I'm thankful for Pat Sajak." Evidently he'd seen a little too much Wheel of Fortune. We laughed, and 32 years later it makes me smile. Mary Alice died just a day or so later, and while we grieved, our world did not end. She was a believer, and as believers we will see her again one day at a great reunion.

Philippians 4:8 helps. It tells us, "Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there's any excellence and if there's anything worthy of praise, think about these things." That's good medicine. Happy Thanksgiving to Pat Sajak, wherever you are, and to the rest of you, let's pray together.

Lord God, we have so much to be thankful for. Forgive us if we focus and concentrate on things we don't have, or problems we do have, when we should be rejoicing in our salvation and in how good You are to us. Even in tough times, You are always with us. And let us be thankful, God. Let that thanksgiving spill over to others so they see that we're so connected to You. That be a great time of family and fellowship, and most of all faith. In Jesus' name, amen. God bless.