Devotion:
Read Exodus 12:14-16.
As we prepare and celebrate Thanksgiving Day in this country we often make plans to gather with our families. A turkey and all the trimmings will likely be prepared as our minds conjure up a Norman Rockwell image of a wonderful meal with those we love. Many of us will think of the highly romanticized story of a group of Pilgrims who struggled through a terrible winter, followed by a bountiful year of good crops and a wonderful harvest. They supposedly gathered with the Native Americans who had helped them learn to plant and grow crops in this new land. If it really happened, no one at that meal had any idea we would connect our Thanksgivings 400 years later with theirs.
The first Passover happened when God protected the Children of Israel from the final plague, when the death angel “passed over” their homes but took the lives of all Egyptian firstborn. In this passage, even before the Passover event happens, God was giving a portion of the instructions to the Israelites regarding how they were to annually celebrate this event and the Exodus in which he would bring them safely out of Egypt to the Promised Land. The whole festival of Passover and Unleavened Bread was intended to help the Israelites remember forever what God had done for them.
Personal Worship Option:
Even on the Exodus, the Israelites forgot at times what God had done for them and wanted to give up. It is important for us to look back on our lives and the times when we were aware of God’s presence, to celebrate, to be thankful, and to keep the faith in tough times.
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