Thanksgiving 2024: Reflecting on a National Turning Point

By GFI board member, Mark Woita

Greetings, friends of GFI!

I write this blog in November 2024, post-election and pre-Thanksgiving Day. We Christian Americans have an exceptional number and magnitude of blessings to be thankful for! The election of Donald Trump—in a landslide—and Republicans taking control of the Senate while maintaining control of the House is, in my opinion, nothing short of miraculous. Maybe even more miraculous than when God spared Trump’s life from two would-be assassins.

With Thanksgiving Day following so closely after this monumental, historic election, it is incumbent on all of us to express our deeply heartfelt gratitude to God. I know many, many Christians prayed diligently and passionately for this election. “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). This was the cry of so many Christians.

During my lifetime, I have seen God move in many ways—among individuals, groups, and organizations. But NEVER have I witnessed God move so clearly on a national scale! Let us all give great thanks this Thanksgiving Day!

But as important as Thanksgiving Day is, I am reminded that we are called to “In EVERYTHING give thanks, for this is the will of God concerning you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Yes, the Apostle Paul said, “in everything.” All Christians have experienced highs and lows in life. It is easy to be thankful on the mountaintop when we experience God’s blessings. But what about when you’re in the valley? When life is tough? When God seems distant or unconcerned about your circumstances?

I’ve wrestled with this question, and I believe the answer lies in some foundational Biblical theology:

1. Work to understand the depth and breadth of “The Fall” (Genesis 3).
   It is so pervasive—both in humans and in nature. I’m pondering Genesis 5:3, which states, “When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth” (caps mine for emphasis). Most of us are familiar with “Imago Dei,” the idea that humans are created in the image of God. But note that Seth was created in Adam’s (fallen!) image, which I think includes Adam having been made in the likeness of God. Seth and all of Adam’s descendants were created in the fallen image of Adam (who was made in the image of God). “All creation groans for redemption from the Fall” (Romans 8:19-23).
   
2. Work to understand our own sinfulness before a holy God.
   I love how Ray Comfort of Living Waters ministry (LivingWaters.com) shares the gospel. He first asks people if they think they’re a good person (“yes”) and then asks them several questions about whether they’ve broken any of the Ten Commandments. People first need to see the law, recognize their guilt in breaking it, and come to their own conclusion: if a holy God judged them based on His law, they stand condemned. Hopeless. As all humans are—before being born again.
   
3. Work to understand the astonishing and magnificent atonement.
   This includes the depth, breadth, and application of Jesus’s perfect life (the spotless Lamb of God), His suffering and death on the cross for our sins (substitutionary atonement), and the imputation of His righteousness to us. “He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
   
4. “He who knows Him best loves Him most,” said a wise sage.
   The key, I believe, to persevering—and even experiencing joy during trials—is to know, understand, rejoice, and rest in the three points above. Knowing how desperate our condition was and “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are” (1 John 3:1).
   

To accomplish this, we must heed Paul’s exhortation to Timothy: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

I know this is a lot. But the better we understand these truths, the more confident and comforted we can be in Him, rejoicing in everything! Because life’s circumstances are secondary to being “in Christ.”

Blessings and gratitude,
Mark Woita
Global Faith board member