Genesis 32:10 “I had only my staff when I crossed the Jordan, but now I have become two groups.”

Sometimes, when life is painful or difficult, we are inclined to ask, “What did I do to deserve this?” The implication is that we deserve better, and we want God to treat us as we deserve. But that would be foolish request. God doesn’t treat us as we deserve. He treats us immeasurably better. He gives us salvation. Everything beyond that is extra.

That is true of the kinds of blessings that occupy our thoughts at Thanksgiving. As for Jacob, also for us, it is time to pause and acknowledge God’s bounty.

Jacob started with practically nothing when he left home. He had the clothes he was wearing. He had a staff in his hand, a simple piece of wood. That was it. Much less and he would have been naked.

I doubt whether most of us started with so little as Jacob did. When I left home to begin life on my own, I had a 1980 Chevy Citation hatchback. Everything I owned fit inside that car. Most of what I had consisted of clothes and a stereo system–more than Jacob, but not everything you need to set up housekeeping.

Our real start in this world, though, began with nothing more than our skin and what’s inside of it. As Job said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” This body itself is evidence of God’s bounty–by far the greatest physical gift he has ever given us.

Since he gave us our bodies and our lives, the Lord continues to give evidence of his kindness and faithfulness in the great bounty we enjoy. Jacob had become “two groups,” literally, “two camps.” You may remember that he was going to meet his brother Esau for the first time since he had deceived his father into giving him the blessing and birthright instead of Esau. In order to help protect his family, in case Esau was still mad, he split them and his possessions into the two groups or camps he mentions in his prayer. His wealth of people and herds was huge, even by modern standards. As a “gift” to pacify his brother, he sent him a little portion of his herds of animals: 50 cattle, 220 goats, 220 sheep, 30 camels and 30 donkeys. A ball park figure for the value of that gift in our time would be $150,000. That was the part Jacob gave away. It was certainly a good time for this man who left home with just the staff in his hand to stop and acknowledge God’s goodness to him.

Maybe we don’t feel like we have so much. It is true for some that their net value may be far below Jacob’s. But think of the things that you enjoy over the Thanksgiving holiday that Jacob never imagined experiencing in his wildest dreams. Some of you will travel in a vehicle that will cover as much ground in a single hour as Jacob could travel in 3 or 4 days. Most likely it is climate controlled: It will blow cold air on you when it is hot outside, and warm air on you when it is cold outside. For your entertainment it can play the sounds of a four-piece band, or even a 100-piece orchestra, while you travel. You can even switch back and forth between the band and the orchestra if you want.

Some of the foods you have eaten are probably not in season, but they taste as fresh as if they were. It may not even be possible to grow some of them within a thousand miles of where you live. You get to enjoy them anyway. Few if any of us is concerned about starving to death in the coming year as some of the Pilgrims did. The temperature in your home never varies more than a few degrees no matter what the time of year it is. The furniture on which you sit is cushioned and comfortable. You can watch twenty-two men on a field playing a game, but you sit in the comfort of your home, and those men are miles and miles away.

Do I need to go on? Cars and climate control and televisions and radios and refrigeration are just some of the things we take for granted, but they allow us a standard of living that Jacob could not buy with all his flocks and herds. Maybe America doesn’t have the highest standard of living in the world anymore (according to the United Nations, that honor has gone to one of the Scandinavian countries). But we still enjoy plenty, even if we are just scraping buy, even if we are paying the heating and cooling bills with a government check, and buying the turkey and stuffing with food stamps, and watching a TV that we found for free on Craig’s List because someone replaced it with a 4K ultra HD model and didn’t need it anymore.

God has still given us plenty. And in light of our bounty, let’s pause to acknowledge his kindness and faithfulness: “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endures forever.”