3 Bible Stories to Read Around the Thanksgiving Table

At some Thanksgiving tables, everyone takes a turn saying what they’re thankful for. The answers usually come quickly. Family. Friends. The food. Someone is thankful the pie finally came out right.

Those are good gifts. But someone at the same table may be wondering how to give thanks after a year that included a loss, a layoff, or a prayer they’re still waiting for God to answer. Scripture gives us room for that person too. These three stories offer different ways to give thanks, wherever this year finds you.

1. Hannah gives thanks for an answered prayer

In 1 Samuel 1–2, Hannah longs for a child. She prays in such anguish that Eli, the priest, initially misunderstands what he’s seeing. Hannah tells him she’s pouring out her heart before the Lord.

God answers her prayer, and Hannah gives birth to Samuel. After he is weaned, she brings him to the Lord’s house at Shiloh, as she promised she would. Her prayer in chapter 2 begins with rejoicing in the Lord and goes on to praise him for the way he cares for the weak and lifts up the poor.

Hannah had every reason to talk about how much she loved Samuel. In her prayer, we also hear how much she loves the God who heard her.

If a long-awaited prayer was answered this year, take a moment to tell the story. What did you ask God for? What was it like to wait? How has the experience shaped the way you pray for others who are still waiting?

2. A healed man goes back to thank Jesus

In Luke 17:11–19, ten men with leprosy call out to Jesus for mercy. He tells them to go show themselves to the priests. They are cleansed on the way. One man, a Samaritan, sees what has happened, turns around, praises God loudly, and falls at Jesus’s feet to thank him.

I wonder what the man had been looking forward to doing once he was well. There may have been people he was eager to see and ordinary things he wanted to do again. Whatever was next for him, he took the time to go back.

Who could you go back and thank this week? Think of the neighbor who brought dinner, the friend who called when you were out of work, or the person at church who quietly helped with a bill. Tell them what they did and why you still remember it. You can thank God for the ways he cared for you through them.

3. Paul thanks God in the middle of a storm

In Acts 27:27–38, Paul is aboard a ship that has been caught in a storm for days. The people on board have gone a long time without food. Paul urges them to eat. Then, in front of everyone, he takes bread, thanks God, breaks it, and begins to eat. The others are encouraged and eat too.

The ship is still at sea when Paul gives thanks. I love the simplicity of that moment. There’s bread to eat, people who need courage, and a God Paul trusts with what happens next.

If you’re heading into Thanksgiving with a problem you can’t yet see your way through, you can pray honestly about it and thank God for something he’s given you today. It may be as ordinary as a meal or a friend willing to sit with you.

Around the table this year, try asking, “Where did you see God care for you this year?” Give people time to think. Then thank God together for the things you hear, including the small things that might otherwise go unmentioned.