I’m grateful for many things as we celebrate Thanksgiving this week: for God’s mercy and His love, for my family, for the chance to work in full-time ministry, and so on. I’m also thankful for another segment of the population that should be appreciated and respected this Thanksgiving and throughout the year.
The Lord has been opening my eyes to the Native American people. It began when one of my closest friends discovered that his heritage is primarily with the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation. I’ve also visited Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota a couple of times in recent years. Pine Ridge is home to the Oglala Lakota of the Great Sioux Nation, and Feed the Hunger works in a small way with Christians there to help with basic spiritual and physical needs. The Lord has used these experiences to encourage me to understand more, love, pray, and reach out to Native Americans.
The reality is that, although far from perfect just like every other people group, Native Americans have been greatly wronged ever since we showed up on these shores over five hundred years ago. Rape, pillaging, murder, forced conversions to “Christianity,” and other atrocities have been committed throughout the centuries.
My good friend also shared with me that today “most people have stereotypes and prejudices that underlie their actions, such as supporting the names of certain sports teams and not understanding why Native American people would be offended by that, when it does in fact offend most Native American people.” It’s no wonder they give outsiders a wary and negative eye whenever we show up on reservations.
I encourage you to use this Thanksgiving to pray for Native Americans. So many tribes are deeply rooted in dark Spiritism and ancestor worship. Many are also bound by substance abuse and physical abuse. Suicide is rampant. Pray that the demonic strongholds would be removed.
Pray that Natives realize the truth that the Lord is not a white man’s God, and we do not have a special seat at His table. He is the God of all peoples (Jer. 32:27). Every tongue and tribe will worship Him one day, and this obviously includes Native Americans (Rev. 7:9).
Consider also a change in the way you speak about the beginning of the United States of America. Instead of referring to it as the birth of our country, perhaps it shows more sensitivity to state that it is when settlers gained independence from the British. Instead of calling certain revered individuals from our past founders, call them early leaders or forefathers.
I don’t make these suggestions as a clever way to be politically correct, but as a realization and acceptance of the fact that we were not here first. To claim this country as exclusively ours after all we’ve done to Native Americans and how we have reduced them to tracts of land that are a mere shadow of what was once theirs is arrogant and insensitive. We need to do better.
I thank God for Native Americans and pray this Thanksgiving that God would bless them and restore to them what has been lost.