The Unlikely Thanker
Giving Thanks
Friday, March 3, 2000
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" ( 2:10b). Bonus Reading: Job 1:8-2:10
German pastor Martin Rinkart served in the walled town of Eilenburg during the horrors of the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648. Eilenburg became an overcrowded refuge for the surrounding area. The fugitives suffered from epidemic and famine. At the beginning of 1637, the year of the Great Pestilence, there were four ministers in Eilenburg. But one abandoned his post for healthier areas and could not be persuaded to return. Pastor Rinkhart officiated at the funerals of the other two. As the only pastor left, he often conducted services for as many as 40 to 50 persons a daysome 4,480 in all. In May of that year, his own wife died. By the end of the year, the refugees had to be buried in trenches without services.
Yet living in a world dominated by death, Pastor Rinkart wrote the following prayer for his children to offer to the Lord:
Now thank we all our God
With hearts and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom this world rejoices.
Who, from our mother's arms,
Hath led us on our way,
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.
Harry Genet, managing editor
Personal Challenge:
-
Today, write out a prayer of thankfulness for the things in life for which you are most grateful.
Thought to Apply: The pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts
nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving.
H. W. WESTERMEYER
Credits: Harry Genet
Copyright © 2000 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity. For reprint information click here.
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