His Indescribable Gift

November 26, 2025

One morning years ago, Deb and I pulled our truck out of the garage. The temperature gauge on our Durango read much higher than the actual outside temperature. Only after we began driving—pulling out of the driveway and heading into town—did the temperature rapidly begin to drop until it finally became accurate.

That morning, we were taking Matthew to school. As he watched the temperature fall quickly while we drove into Seaford, he said, “The more you go into the world, the colder it gets.”

We live in a cold world, and at times it causes us to forget. Our nation has forgotten…many of our leaders have forgotten…and even we, at times, have forgotten. The coldness of life, the issues of the day, the stresses, the problems—these things cause us to forget. But God’s Word reminds us that we must remember.

In Deuteronomy 8:7–18, Moses explains to the people that God is bringing them into a “good land” with “flowing streams,” “wheat and barley,” and abundant food and copper. He reminds them to “be careful,” making sure they do not forget God when they find themselves “full and prosperous.” He warns them not to become proud and forget the One who rescued them from Egypt, who led them through the wilderness, who gave them water from the rock and manna in the desert.

Moses urges them not to “forget the LORD your God,” reminding them to “…never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the LORD your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant He confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving—a day to remember all that we have to be grateful for, a moment to give God thanks for the many blessings in our lives.

The first Thanksgiving in the fall of 1621 was a bountiful feast, but an inventory taken afterward in preparation for winter revealed that the Pilgrims had greatly overestimated their harvest. The only way to get through the winter was to cut their already meager weekly rations in half.

To make matters worse, the ship Fortune arrived soon after in November with 35 new settlers—and absolutely no provisions: no food, bedding, cookware, or warm clothing. By 1623, after two years of bad harvests and harsh winters, marked by much death and hardship, history records the Pilgrims being reduced to very meager daily rations.

Yet William Bradford wrote, “By the time our corn is planted, our victuals are spent, not knowing at night where to have a bite in the morning, and have neither bread nor corn for 3 or 4 months together; yet bear our wants with cheerfulness and rest on Providence.”

The harvest of 1623 was almost wiped out. A six-week drought began in June, and the crops withered in the fields. Their only hope was God’s intervention.

They appointed a solemn day of humiliation and prayer, assembling one July morning under a hot, clear sky. For nine hours they prayed.

Their prayers were answered the next morning, and for the next two weeks, said Edward Winslow, “…distilled such softe, sweete and moderate showers…as it was hard to say whether our withered corne or drooping affections were most quickened and revived.”

It turned out to be a double blessing, for that same month the ships Anne and Little James arrived with 60 new settlers—and, for a change, loaded with provisions. The harvest of 1623 proved to be one of their best. It marked a new beginning for our Pilgrim ancestors, and they never again faced starvation.

I shared this story about the Pilgrims in church this past Sunday, and later that day a congregant emailed me to remind me that I had forgotten a very important part of the story—and they were correct!

God not only answered the Pilgrims’ prayers by sending rain and provision-filled ships, but He also worked through the Indigenous Peoples, the Wampanoag Nation (their homeland covered much of what is now southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island), who had great faith in the Creator of all things.

Several of their leaders, including Massasoit Ousamequin and Hobbamock, formed an alliance with and helped the Pilgrims. One leader of the Patuxet People, a band within the Wampanoag Nation, was Squanto, who spoke English and interpreted for the Pilgrims. The people of the Wampanoag Nation helped the Pilgrims learn how to hunt, fish, and plant corn using fish as fertilizer, and were instrumental in the Pilgrims’ survival during those first two brutal winters.

Not only did God work through the Indigenous Peoples, but they were a major part of the first Thanksgiving celebration. In 1621, when William Bradford decided to hold a Thanksgiving feast, he invited Massasoit and 90 of his warriors. They brought venison, lobster, fish, wild fowl, clams, oysters, eel, corn, squash, and maple syrup to the three-day feast.

A legend arose over time that the daily ration the pilgrims received during that most difficult winter consisted of only five kernels of corn apiece.

In 1820, during the Bicentennial of the Landing of the Pilgrims, a tradition began in Plymouth. People would place five kernels of corn on each plate before the Thanksgiving meal—remembering our ancestors who, with so little to eat, still gave God thanks, and who, when all seemed lost and the harvest was wiped out, knelt and called on God to intervene.

And God did intervene! God worked through the Indigenous Peoples of the area, sent rain down from the heavens, and brought two ships loaded with new settlers and provisions safely across the ocean.

Later, believed to be written in 1898, Hezekiah Butterworth composed the poem, “Five Kernels of Corn,” to help remember the early Pilgrims, their struggles, God’s provision, and to be thankful at their Thanksgiving feast.

Let us set five kernels on our plates this Thanksgiving.

And not only remember how God protected those who first came to this country and sat at that first Thanksgiving table but let us also take time before eating our Thanksgiving meal to give thanks for five blessings in our lives—one blessing for each kernel of corn.

Then, may we all take a moment, after going around the table and thanking God for five blessings, to remember Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 9:15, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”

Let us pause and bask for just a moment in the glorious mystery that the Creator of the universe would send His Son, Jesus, to take on our sin, our faults, our mistakes…nails driven into hands and feet…blood spilt…so that we could be saved, so that we would not face an eternity without our heavenly Father.

God has given you “an indescribable gift”—a precious gift. God has given you life, family, a church to call home. God has blessed you, walking with you, even carrying you through the valleys, and standing beside you celebrating on the mountaintops. God has given you gifts and opportunities to reach others for Him, to make a difference. God has given you His very own Son, Jesus Christ.

Let us remember.

Let us not forget.

Let us give thanks to God for “His indescribable gift.”