Thankfulness

Psalm 95:1-7 "Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand."

As Thanksgiving approaches, most Americans are preparing to celebrate this holiday that is intended to be a time to give thanks to God for his blessings. Often at Thanksgiving, we are reminded to give thanks always, not just on a set-aside holiday. This is true, of course, that we need to do that, but we tend to not let it sink in how massively important thankfulness is.

The writer of Psalm 100 certainly knew what it meant to be thankful. He writes, "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! 3 Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! 5 For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."

God deserves all of our thanks and more for all that He's done for us. He created us in His own image. He loves us completely and eternally, and He is always faithful to do what He has promised. Those few things are reason enough that we should constantly be thanking him, from a genuinely grateful heart.

The following story is called, "Eating Tasteless Food" by Kent Crockett. "My father had to undergo radiation treatments for throat cancer. The therapy damaged his taste buds so that he couldn’t taste food. His inability to enjoy a meal made eating a dreaded duty. The doctors told him his taste might return after the treatments were finished, but no one could say for certain. Weeks passed, then months. Every meal became a forced feeding to keep him alive. After eating flavorless food for over a year, he sat down for dinner one evening. Reluctantly, he forced the fork inside his mouth and discovered that his taste had returned. What most people would call a bland dinner became the best meal he had eaten in his life. Through losing his taste and then regaining it, my father learned to relish each morsel as never before. He became thankful for the ability to taste because he now had a reference point. He would never forget what it was like to eat tasteless food. You don’t have to lose something in order to be thankful. You can develop a 'taste' for your blessings by simply realizing what life would be like without them."

So, if you're tempted to complain about your circumstances as we all are at times, it's useful to try and think of all the ways God has blessed you rather than focusing on any undesirable situations in life. And then, as this story suggested, imagine what life would be like without those things. Hopefully, you'll get an eye-opening change in perspective.

And it's not just the obvious things that are important to thank the Lord for giving to us. * "Even in simple things we should be thankful. Don’t reserve your praise to God for only the big things in life. Recognize that God is the giver of all good gifts in our life, great or small" as it says in James 1:17, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

There are countless more verses that demonstrate thankfulness.

Psalm 30:12 "That my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!"

We can thank God through song, and by worshiping Him.

Colossians 3:17 "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

Give God thanks that He just has given you the ability to do all that He's called you to do, no matter what it is.

2 Corinthians 9:15 "Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!"

One incredibly important thing we need to be thankful for is Jesus' death on the cross. We all know that, but so often we forget to be thankful for what He did, and take it for granted. We forget how much God sacrificed to give that inexpressible gift to us.

Something that isn't often mentioned is that we should practice being thankful for even the bad things in our lives. It seems crazy, yet 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says "Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Ephesians 5:20 adds, "Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"

When tragedy comes, when your dreams are crushed, your plans are destroyed, it's natural to be anything but thankful. And yet, we never know what worse thing God may be sheltering us from experiencing. He knows what He's doing, and His plans and His ways are far better than ours. Will you trust Him enough to thank Him for the pain, the struggles, the heartbreak, the difficulties? Thanking Him shows that you trust Him, and that's when He'll begin to use those "ashes" in our lives to make something truly beautiful.

JPK


*from "5 Bible Lessons About Being Thankful" by David Peach http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/5-bible-lessons-about-being-thankful/