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Thanksgiving
November 22, 2020
At Thanksgiving, it is good for us to direct our thoughts to the group of faithful Pilgrims and the Thanksgiving feast of 1621. The entire group of one hundred two of these brave people survived the hazardous journey across the tumultuous Atlantic, and truly they were in search of religious freedom. Their suffering began long before their Mayflower encounter. Life in England had brought persecution to those who wanted to live according to the Lord Jesus Christ's teachings. King James had commanded that every person attend the church of England. This church did not follow Biblical teachings. These believers could not allow themselves nor their children to be subjected to unbiblical lifestyles. When they met in private to worship, the King's soldiers burst in and carried the fathers off to prison. These thirty-day stays caused them to suffer financially. A group of them moved to Holland to have religious freedom only to find that their children were learning the Dutch's worldly ways.
Could it be that the English settlement in the new world would be a home for religious freedom? After much prayer, the fathers felt the Lord leading them to go to this new land to establish a nation under God. Their faith was strong enough to lead them to sell their homes and leave the comforts of familiarity. These Christians were not accustomed to sea travel and were often miserably sick from the rocking of the waves and the lack of proper food. A sailor who had mocked the Pilgrims for their faith in God and had vowed that they would die and he would throw their bodies to the fish himself strangely became ill and died. The ship's church services were a testimony to the ship's crew, and the sailors learned to respect the Pilgrims deeply. Their knowledge that they were in the Lord's will gave them the courage not to complain but to be joyful and to count the hardships they faced as suffering with Christ.
It was the hand of the Lord and not just the wind that headed the Mayflower to Cape Cod. Although they were north of their Hudson destination, further prayer let them know that this was where the Lord wanted them to be. God in His Providence had already prepared for the Wampanoag Indians to befriend this group of Pilgrims. Samoset, who lived in this area, was probably the only chief who would have befriended them instead of attacking them. After landing at Plymouth Rock, the Pilgrims began to succumb to disease, starvation, sickness, and cold. In their desperation, they cried out to God for deliverance. Although they must have been afraid when Samoset approached their fort, they did not realize that God had sent them the aid they so desperately needed.
Here they met Squanto, and here he had lived with his tribe the Patuxets. Years earlier, Squanto had been kidnapped from his family, taken to Spain, sold as a slave, and rescued by some friends who led him to a relationship with Christ. He learned the English language and grew to love the Friars who helped him fulfill his dream of returning to his homeland. Tragically enough, when Squanto returned home, he found that every person in his tribe had died from disease. We see the providence of God in that he was taken in by Samoset, who later introduced Squanto to the Pilgrims. God used Squanto to save the Pilgrims from starvation. He taught them how to plant corn and pumpkins, to fish and introduced them to beaver pelting. Squanto also found a new purpose for living, and his broken heart began to heal as he found himself at home with the Pilgrims.
Although many Pilgrims had died during the first harsh winter of 1620, the year of 1621 brought them a bountiful harvest. They wanted to thank the Lord for helping them survive and begin the permanent settlement of a nation for God in the New World. Here they and following generations could train up their children to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
Does this account remind us of the year 2020? Some people still stand for maintaining a nation under God established on Biblical truth. This Thanksgiving, let us be thankful for God's blessings and purpose to serve Him in a more significant way in 2021.
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