The Israelites, safe on Canaan’s side of the Red Sea, celebrated a wonderful time of thanksgiving. The fifteenth chapter of Exodus contains the Song of Moses, a hymn of genuine thanks to God for Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage.
What a marvelous Thanksgiving Day that must have been!
Unfortunately, their attitude of gratitude was short-lived: “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said unto them, ‘Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt . . . You have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’” (Exodus 16:2,3.)
After the excitement of deliverance subsided, the Israelites forgot their blessings and embarked on what would become a forty-year journey of continual complaining.
Are we any different? It is one thing to join the national bandwagon in pouring out traditional thanks to God on the day we call Thanksgiving, but it is something altogether different to carry a sincerely thankful and uncomplaining attitude with us throughout the year.
We may as well be honest. Too often we slip back into our old habits of grumbling and complaining before the taste of turkey even leaves our lips.