A CALL TO GIVE THANKS

"On September 16, 1620, 102 passengers boarded a ship called the

Mayflower with the hope of finding religious freedom. After a 65 day voyage across the storm-tossed Atlantic the Pilgrims landed in Provincetown Massachusetts on November 21st. 

By the time spring came almost half of the people had died from poor nutrition and sicknesses. But despite the trials they endured, in September of 1621 they held a feast of thanksgiving after their first harvest.
Thanksgiving is the act of expressing gratitude for a favor or kindness which has been shown to you.
God's goodness:
O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever. Ps. 107:1
Our salvation:
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; Ps. 107:2

There are four different groups of people called to thank God:
Travelers lost in the desert (Ps. 4-9), 

They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.

Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, 

and He delivered them out of their distresses.

Prisoners in bondage (Ps. 10-16), 

Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; 

Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, 

and He saved them out of their distresses. 

He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, 

and brake their bands in sunder.

Sick people made well (Ps.17-22) 

Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death. 

He sent His word, and healed them, 

and delivered them from their destructions.

and Sailors in a storm (Ps. 23-32). 

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. 

Then they cry unto the LORD

 in their trouble, 

and He bringeth them 

out of their distresses.

He maketh the storm a calm, 

so that the waves thereof are still."

StephenWhitney