OH COME AND GIVE THANKS

Ps.95:1,2 – O come, let us sing for joy to the LORD,
Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

The Great Awakening apparently began in 1734 in Northampton, Massachusetts. According to Jonathan Edwards he saw the Lord do more in his town in one day than had been accomplished in the previous year. One of the outstanding features of this particular move of God was that many of the youth had turned to the Lord. Not only had they brought joy and excitement to the church gatherings they were also gathering in their own small group meetings (they called them societies) to talk about all the good things the Lord had done. Here is an excerpt from the Thanksgiving Day service Edwards preached after that year of outpouring in their town.

“Let us with the greatest joy and exaltation of soul, praise God in our public solemn assemblies. We never had so much cause to rejoice and praise God in public; for when we meet together, God is now more remarkably amongst [us], and great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of us. There never was a time wherein all sorts—young men and maids, old men and little children—had so much cause to praise the name of the Lord together; for there never was a time in the town, wherein there were so many of each of these sorts that had a new song put into their mouths [Ps. 40:3].
How beautiful and becoming is it for a congregation, a multitude, to join together in sincerely praising and magnifying the Most High God. Ps. 111:1, “Praise ye the Lord. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation”; and Ps. 149:1, “Praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.”

This reminds me of all we experienced in the outpouring in our church in 1994. I remember saying that the Lord had done more in a month than we had seen in the past ten years. When the Lord begins to move suddenly everyone seems to be influenced by His Spirit at the same time. I would love to be a fly on the wall in that Thanksgiving service in 1735 in Northampton. Something tells me it would be quite like what we have seen in our church. All I can say is do it again Lord.