“My feet stand on level ground; in the great congregation I will praise the LORD.” Psalm 26:12
Level ground is certainly something to be thankful for in this season of Thanksgiving. When a surveyor is staking out a highway their steel ‘chain’ must be plumb and not follow the lay of the land or the measurement will be inaccurate. When a parent is sharing a lesson of life, they admonish their children to stay on the straight and narrow path and not venture off onto paths that are steep and dangerous. When we grow old and our feet, ankles and knees begin to show the great number of accumulated steps taken along our life’s journey; they cry out when we leave the level ground and have to walk down a simple hill. Our lives are filled with many challenging hills and peace filled valleys and when we reach the level ground it is time to give thanks to God for bringing us to this place; a time to be thankful when we leave behind the darkness of this fallen world.
The child in the attached photo lives in Cap Haitian and attends the Lutheran school there; she has seen her share of hills and valleys in her young life; today she is on level ground. She is very thankful that you have been an answer to her daily prayer as your blessings have provided a meal for her at school. She gives thanks to our Triune God for you while living in a land without much hope. Today I have chosen Hymn No. 568 from my 1964 Confirmation Hymnal. The hymn ‘We Praise Thee, O God, Our Redeemer, Creator’ and was found in 1624 without the name of the author; what a great way to serve our Heavenly Father, blessing others with you work and not needing to receive any credit. Kind of like feeding children in Haiti; share your blessings with them is what is really important, doesn’t matter if they know you but more importantly, they know Him.
“We praise Thee, O God, our Redeemer, Creator, in grateful devotion our tribute we bring; we lay it before Thee, we kneel and adore Thee, we bless Thy holy name, glad praises we sing. We worship Thee, God of our fathers, we bless Thee; through life's storm and tempest our Guide hast Thou been; when perils o'ertake us, escape Thou wilt make us, and with Thy help, O Lord, our battles we win. With voices united our praises we offer, to Thee, great Jehovah, glad anthems we raise. Thy strong arm will guide us, Our God is beside us, to Thee, our great Redeemer, fore'er be praise.”
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay