You never know what the weather is going to bring. I have never watched it as closely as I have this year, starting this summer. I don't know why, but I know I have. I've watched it closely before, but never like I have this year. I guess being in an ag-depedent area, it was bound to happen. I'd almost be inclined to listen to the farm reports, but I can't made hide nor hair out of the numbers. Still, I can understand weather. And when the summer was so dry and the fall has been so wet, I was getting sick over it like a lot of you, farmers.

Most of the crops seem to be coming in now. Maybe some will have to come in during the winter. I don't know this either, but I thought about how the first Thanksgiving probably was immediately after the last of the crops were brought in. Usually, at least according to my memory--which for things like this--is horrible, usually the crops have been in for a couple weeks and then Thanksgiving comes.

With the immature kernels, high moisture, fear of mold and late harvest I was thinking the Deuteronomy reading could feel like a good fit. Whether you are in farming, or something else had made your life a stressful, this little phrase says it well, "Tough times teach."

Tough times teach. They teach you to trust.

The Lord is addressing a potential problem in our reading, a problem we all know. When things are going well, we forget. We become proud, thinking that what we have is what we have done. By our own efforts we have what we enjoy.

This prideful amnesia is bad for us our souls. The Lord knows it and explains why His people have gone through what they have for the last 40 years. "That you may know what is in your heart, I tested you these 40 years. I humbled you so you could see what you are like, and be prepared for the great wealth you are about to inherit."

So, here we are a year later from the last Thanksgiving celebration. We have had some of those tough lessons but we haven't always had instructions, so that we can get the most out of these. We need guidance. We need to know why these things happen. In this reading, as well as in Hebrews we see the Lord disciplines those He loves. This doesn't mean punish but to develop us and shape us to be the people He wants us to be. He does this to His beloved people, but if we don't get the instruction, if we are not directed to how we ought to perceive problems, then we are likely to just get angry, frustrated and conclude God doesn't care.

You've had it happen. Things got really tight. Things went wrong. It's not clear how you are going to make it. Sometimes a miracle happens, but after a while even the miracle doesn't seem so miraculous.

When the manna first appeared, you can imagine how everyone reacted, but a week later, and a year later, it no longer seemed so miraculous. It was a test. The Lord was testing them. So, sometimes a miracle happens that bails you out, but you just wish things would just plain get easier again, go back to the way they were.

The Lord disciplines the ones He loves. He is teaching you. You are being shown something about yourself. What does He want you to learn? The entire Trinity gets involved in the lessons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

First, will you trust your Father? Second, how does the Son help you trust your Father? Third, how does the Holy Spirit help you trust your Father?

We'll look at this in terms of the Apostles' Creed. The first article of the Creed, is about God the Father, maker and creator of all things. From His hand we have all the things we need for our life. In fact, all things have been created for our use. Humanity is not the geographical center of the universe, but if you should look at the account of the creation, you will see things being created for us humans. I have had discussions with people who don't believe in the Bible and consider that people use this as a very convenient argument, but whether it seems convenient or not, it's true.

For this we consider Him great. He is wonderful and powerful. He speaks, and the world exists. He speaks and we have what we need. When we see our tables spread out for thanksgiving, when we see the piles of corn growing under the augurs, we recognize all He does for us.

But what happens when we don't see it? The Israelites didn't see their food from day to day. The only time they could store up was on the day before the Sabbath. Otherwise, the food was there and then it was gone until the next day. It's an awkward feeling, not knowing that you will have what you need. That is the time when you learn to trust.

As the harvests took longer to come in this year, and the yield may not be as good as we hoped, we get tense. Will we have enough? Will we have to cut back? Are we not going to be able to buy the things we had hoped? Behind it all is the question, "Will our Father take care of us?"

Yes, the Israelites worried about that, but they were being taught to trust. When they didn't see the food, but had it when they needed it, they learned their Father would still take care of them. When their clothes didn't wear out, they learned their Father was taking care of them.

And us? Can we say what He allows us is what is best for us? What if we don't see what we think we need? What if what we consider we absolutely need is not there? Can we say our Father is still taking care of us? Can we adjust our ideas of what we need, and let Him tell us what we need, showing us by giving us less than we want, but still enough?

When our health is fading, can we say He is still taking care of us? When we can't fulfill our hopes and dreams, can we say He is still taking care of us? When we lose a loved one suddenly, when we have a horrible accident, when someone we love is diagnosed with a deadly condition, when someone we love becomes chemically dependent, can we still say He is taking care of us?

It's one thing to come to the harvest late and not have the yield we had hoped. It's another to have one of these things. We may have something that has the potential to change our lives forever, but will we say, "My Father is taking care of me?"

This is the purpose of this discipline, to say, according to the First Article my Father will take care of me, even when it doesn't look like. This is not easily done. This is where faith in His promises must grow to the point where we can be like Jesus who said, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every thing that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord."

Here we come to the second article of the Apostles' Creed, the second person of the Trinity and the question, "How does the Son help us trust our Father?" As Paul had said, "In Him, that is, Christ, every promise is yes, to the Glory of the Father." In Christ, we know every promise will be fulfilled. In Christ, we see the Father's love.

I'll tell you, when something threatens to dramatically change your life, and not in a positive way, it can look like the Father is not there. It can look like He turned His head and in that split second everything went bad. You can hold to His promises that He will take care of you, but the promises sound empty.

When that happens, remember the passage I just said. "In Christ, every promise is 'Yes.'" When we take Jesus into account we see the Father's love. When we see His Son crucified on our behalf, we see just how our Father feels. When a life altering circumstance presents itself, we can look to the cross, and see that our Father still cares.

But now we come to the role of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. How does the Holy Spirit help us trust our Father? He helps us to understand how the Son helps us.

This is really basic Christian stuff that the Holy Spirit does. Does He make you grateful, inspiring in you gratitude? Yes. Thanksgiving Day is a big day for the Holy Spirit. When things are going well, though, it doesn't seem like a takes a whole lot of work. When things are going well, it's easy to say, "Thank you." When we are reminded of what we should do, to be grateful, there usually isn't too much resistance to throwing out a "Thanks."

But what do we need the Holy Spirit for, when it comes to that? There is nothing, absolutely nothing, unique about a Christian when we express gratitude. Non-Christians do this. Where is the difference? What makes you, who knows that by God's grace you have been redeemed, adopted and sealed as His child, what makes you different?

Here's where the Holy Spirit comes in. He is working in the bad times to direct our attention to the Son, as I had just described, but He has to work doubly hard in the good times. That's why the Lord tested His people in the wilderness for 40 years. When times are good, that's when we get amnesia.

Prepare for the good times. That sounds kind of strange. "Prepare for the good times?" Stock up for the lean times. Save for a rainy day. These make sense to us, but not "Be sure to be ready for the good times. But that's when we are most forgetful.

So, we look at those Israelites to see what He does for us. He shows them their heart. Y'know basic stuff. He wants them to see what they are like, how untrusting they can be, and then to repent of it.

When we don't trust, when we do become fearful, when things are out of our control, we see our sinfulness. We see our tendency to tell God what we need. We think God can be so forgetful sometimes. "Hey God, you know I need this." Who are we to know? Who are we to tell Him, the Almighty and All Knowing? The Holy Spirit has exposed us for what we are.

Then repenting, we bow our heads and confess our arrogance. Lifting our heads again, though, we see Jesus on the cross dying for us. Then opening our ears and our hands and our mouths we receive the gifts which transform us. Meditating on His Word, we learn what it means to live by everything that proceeds from the mouth of God. Seeing our helplessness and His love which fills us, we learn to look to our Father through His Son, to see He will always provide, even when times are bad. And when the times are good? He is the One providing.

As I had said, He has to work doubly hard in the good times. It's hard to show our weakness when we are content. We think we are doing just fine.

It's recognizing how we relied on Him during the lean times, when we weren't able to do all we wanted. To see what we are, helpless, but resistant to admitting it, and know we are the same people whether we have much or little, and therefore always in need of His mercy--mercy which grants His favor at all times because of Christ, in every circumstance.

If Thanksgiving is easy for you, rejoice. It means you probably have what you want. You have your family, your health, the means to fulfill your dreams. If it is not, rejoice because the Lord is humbling you, testing you by showing you your heart, and drawing you closer to Him. So either way, rejoice, because your Father looks out for you.

AMEN