The United States & Britain in Prophecy has an intrinsic link to Thanksgiving Day in America.“We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven,” wrote Abraham Lincoln in his 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation in which he designates the “last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens.”

Lincoln, in the midst of America’s worst war, unabashedly declares that it is “the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.”

How things have changed! Today, news headlines read “Obama Leaves God Out of Thanksgiving Address”. In the address, President Obama—in contrast to Lincoln, who recognized the “sublime truth” that those “nations are blessed whose God is the Lord”—states that his family observes Thanksgiving by “reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are.”

Luck or Divine Providence? Which is it? Our Bible Study aid booklet The United States & Britain in Prophecy makes Lincoln’s observation that “we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown” come to life from the divine promises of Scripture!

 “Reflecting on how truly lucky we truly are” in our land of abundance displays not only an arrogant disregard for the benevolence of Providence, but also a deliberate ignorance of our history. While Abraham Lincoln bemoans the fact that some had become too “too proud to pray to the God that made us” we attempt one better: Our pride has progressed to a stiff necked arrogance that refuses to acknowledge even the existence of the One; much less pray to the One who would pay attentive heed to our humble cries with a desire to provide swift answer (Isaiah 58:9-10).

Alas, the consequences will be dire! Because the God of uncompromising faithfulness is also one of unbending justice—Paul the Apostle puts it this way: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

God remains what He has always been—a benevolent but just God. He asks us to “humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God” and “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins” (1. Peter 5:6; Isaiah 58:1)

Humility with God provides strength to overcome challenges. Arrogance apart from Him renders us powerless to even face them.

Choose humility with God!