Merry Thanksgiving

Within the Proverbs, the Holy Spirit establishes an antithesis between a merry heart and a sorrowful heart. Proverbs 15:13 – “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” A chapter earlier (14:13), we find that “even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.” Still another Proverb (16:23) explains that “the heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.” The mouth does not teach the heart; the heart teaches the mouth. So a cheerful countenance from a merry heart is telling the truth, but laughter from a sorrowful heart is lying. But that is not the only entailment of such laughter.

It is also momentary (short-lived). Antithetically, “he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast” – Proverbs 15:15. Thus, we conclude that the merry-hearted men and women of God are the only ones who can truly celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.

Just as the triumphal exultation of a heart surgeon much challenged by a recent operation is far better appreciated by his colleagues than by the actors who only play doctors on TV, so too may holy people relate with the Pilgrims far better than heathen people. For we, like the Pilgrims, acknowledge the Great Heart Surgeon Who “brings forth food out of the earth.” It is His “bread which strengthens man’s heart” and His “wine that makes glad the heart of man.” (Psalm 104:14b-15)

The heathen’s laughter comes on Turkey Thursday and is gone by Monday, but he whose face God’s oil has made to shine keeps on feasting. So “eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with [you] in [your] labor all the days of [your] life which God gives [you] under the sun. Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” (Eccl. 8:15 NKJV; Eccl. 9:7; & Psalm 100:4)