Or let’s try it another way,
“In everything give thanks: for this is
the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” KJV
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| where's my snow? (downloaded from an email going around) |
Giving thanks is always God’s
will for us, but aren’t some things easier to be thankful for, or in, than
others?! What the Bible tells us,
though, is that we can be, and are to be, thankful in everything. Last time I wrote about seeing joy in trials
because they are the means God uses to make us complete, lacking in nothing. But I still had a disconnect between the
circumstances themselves and being thankful.
The verse above can be read
to mean: circumstances are God’s will,
so we should be thankful for them all. Another way to
read it is: giving thanks is always God’s will
for us, so we should not let any circumstance get in the way of it. This is how I understand what God is saying.
How does God expect me to be
thankful in the midst of bad things? Are they His will? I believe that God’s sovereignty means that
He allows everything that touches me in life.
I also believe that God is always good even if some things that happen
are not good. God let the Fall happen,
and since it did, He also allows the results of sin to remain with us. So bad things are not God’s will, but still,
it is His will to allow them to be present and to touch our lives.
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| growing in a hard place (Zion Park, Utah) |
The understanding I have come
to is that God is committed to Goodness, and that sometimes means He must do
what is good for us even though it hurts Him and hurts us. I know it’s an old example, but think of a
sick child who needs to see a doctor.
The child doesn’t want to go. The
child’s idea of getting better does not include getting a shot or going into
the hospital for surgery. But you know
it’s the way to healing. You can’t
explain it to him but you allow him to be subjected to pain for a good reason. Because you have a close relationship with
your child, he trusts you. He receives
comfort from your presence. He believes
you love him even though you have taken him somewhere that hurts.
Isn’t it easy to see that God
is the parent and we are the children?
He is there to comfort and help us if we trust Him. He sees things that we don’t and He hurts
with us even though He chooses not to take away the trial we are experiencing.
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| a journey worth taking (Denali Park, Alaska) |
To
be thankful is really to choose to accept whatever is going on - to accept it
and to say “thank you God". What I have
learned is that even accepting the idea
that I should be thankful in all things points me to God when something hard
happens. That is a very important
beginning. Instead of shifting into my
own reaction, I have to stop and think.
At first it’s like “Oh no, what in the world is there to be thankful for
in this?! Father, I choose to say “thank
you” but I don’t see why.” Then as I
choose to want to really mean it, I’m able to say, “Help me to see how to be
thankful! You must have something good
in this because You let it happen. Show me
what you want me to know! How can I
handle this? What should I do?”
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| lotus blossom (Kyoto, Japan) |
The
story that helped me most was of Abraham taking Isaac up the mountain to be
sacrificed. In seeming contradiction to
Who God is, He lets Abraham know that he must kill his miraculous son of
promise! Rejection of this plan would be
understandable. But because Abraham
accepts it and trusts God in the midst of it, he is shown a “ram in the
thicket” at just the right time and Isaac is saved.
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| Something to remember! (Belize, C.A.) |
