Our Thanksgiving Decor

Introduction

How many of you this year have felt like many in our video earlier? A recent survey was published that shows since the beginning of the pandemic, 18% of health care workers have quit their jobs. Another 12% have been laid off. That’s 30%. Another 31% have seriously thought about quitting and looking for another profession. That’s more than 60% of healthcare workers who were employed before COVID now either out of a job or they want out. Their world has been turned upside down. Some of you have felt it… and if it’s not COVID, it’s something else. 2021 is not a banner year for you.

I’m glad you’re here. I’m glad you’re at The Table. You’re where you need to be. Me too. We need this. We need each other. We need to spend time reminding ourselves of God’s goodness. We need to hear the words of comfort and encouragement that come from Thanksgiving and hearts of gratitude. This is what the community does. And community is at the heart of the Psalm we are considering in our Bible talk.

A song for turbulent times

This Psalm we just read is the perfect Psalm for this Thanksgiving. We don’t typically lump this Psalm in with the Thanksgiving Psalms. But this Psalm is a song of praise and it focuses on what God is doing in his community in the midst of some very, very turbulent times. Nothing like a song for tough times. Music has a way of communicating some of our deepest longings and thoughts when times are tough. We all have those songs for those days. That’s Psalm 93.

The raging flash flood

If you are looking for something to be thankful for, if you’re looking for hope in the holiday season, I want you to think about Psalm 93 and the very middle of the song. The songwriter is painting a picture of how he feels, and what he’s going through. What life is like. Here’s what he says:

Christian Standard Bible (Psalm 93)

The floods have lifted up, LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their pounding waves. (Psalm 93:3)

We have no idea what the floods are in the Psalmist’s life. We do not have the background for this particular Psalm. But you get the point. This is an ancient Jewish song, but the thought of a flood being overwhelming is universal.

Three times… the floods have lifted up, the floods have lifted up, the floods lift up. And this flood is not quiet. It is noisy. The floods have lifted up their voice… and that voice is pounding waves. This water is out of control. These waves are raging. It’s overwhelming. The songwriter isn’t thinking simply about things that are happening in his life. The floods of Hebrew poetry often were enemy nations. And here, those who hate God and his people are causing turmoil. Chaos. Floods that cannot be controlled. Israel will be lost. God will be lost.

You all know what that feels like, right? The songwriter here is as human as we are. We’ve been here. Some of us are here right now. The floods have lifted up, and they have lifted up their raging voice. I can’t hear anything but the flood. I can’t think straight. The flood screams at me. The waters are devastating. I’m a goner. Add to this that a lot of times the flood is our own doing and of our own making. The flood is overwhelming, I don’t even know if I’m God’s child any more. I don’t know if he loves me. This is a flash flood that will destroy who I am. I’m going to be lost. God seems to have gone missing. This flood has carried my life away and I’m next.

The King is bigger than the flood

In the middle of this flood, as the floods are lifting up their voice, as the out of control water is turning everything crazy to the point of feeling all of life is lost, including salvation, this songwriter reminds himself of a couple of things. The first immediately follows the dark stuff he’s saying about the flood.

Christian Standard Bible (Psalm 93)

Greater than the roar of a huge torrent—the mighty breakers of the sea—the LORD on high is majestic. (Psalm 93:4)

Greater than the rage, greater than the roar of the sea, greater than anything that can raise its fist against the creator… is the Creator himself. You think the flood is bad. You think the roar of the waters is deafening? You haven’t seen anything yet. You haven’t heard anything yet. The LORD on high… the One who is the Creator of all things, the One who is King of all things… is greater than the flood, is greater than the turmoil, is greater than the threat against my soul. That’s cause for praise. That’s cause for thanksgiving.

The King’s Promises are greater than the flood

But there’s a second point the songwriter hangs onto in the midst of the flood.

Christian Standard Bible (Psalm 93)

LORD, your testimonies are completely reliable; holiness adorns your house for all the days to come. (Psalm 93:5)

What is it that the songwriter wants to hear above the roar of the flood? God, your Promises are completely reliable. God’s Promises as to Who He is For us in the middle of the raging waters. When the whole world seems to be against you, when the whole world seems to be against God himself, and you begin to feel all is lost, what do you want to hear? You want to hear not just that God reigns over all things, but that God reigns over all things for you. That God is greater than the floods for you!

And Oh by the way, God is present with you in the middle of the flood. You need to hear God’s Promises are completely reliable, and that His holy presence fills His community, his temple. The songwriter is looking to the temple for rest, for relief from the flood. Because that’s where God is. God doesn’t simply fill the temple with his holy presence, he adorns it. He makes it beautiful. He makes it a home. Away from the chaos. In the middle of of chaos. God, in all his beauty provides rest for you. God has and will save you. And God is with you right now while the flood rages. That is cause for Thanksgiving.

Conclusion

Centuries after this songwriter wrote this song of salvation about the great King over the floods for the King’s people, the King himself took on flesh and bones. And at one point, he stands in a boat in the middle of a raging sea and says Peace, be still. The sea immediately goes calm, because the King is bigger than the storm, the King is bigger than the raging waters. But even bigger, that King makes good on His Promise to save His people from their sin. And He goes to a cross and dies. He dies so that the floods that threaten our soul can never ever touch us. And then He makes good on his Promise to be with us. And he adorns us with His holiness. He decorates our lives with His righteousness. His perfection. He decorates our lives with all that He is for us.

The floods have lifted up, LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their pounding waves. (Psalm 93:3)

Oh yes, they are. They are big, they are bad, and they are deadly. But we have Jesus. The one who Promises to save us. The One who fills up his community with his Holy presence. The One who decorates His community with goodness and grace. That is cause for Thanksgiving.

Let’s Pray.

Jesus has promised to adorn us with His holiness. And that’s exactly what he does here at the Table. This is Jesus for you. This is his body and blood broken for you. We are sinners. The flood waters that threaten our soul are real. Without Jesus, we are goners. He promises to save. He promises to make us holy. He decorates our lives with His grace. This is cause for Thanksgiving.