Thankfulness in all things

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV

Or let’s try it another way, “In everything give thanks:  for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” KJV

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.

growing in a hard place  (Zion Park, Utah)

This troubles us.  We can get really angry at God over the things He fails to prevent even if He doesn’t want them to happen.  And then there is the issue of omnipotence.  God is all-powerful and yet He doesn’t use His power to protect us from some things.  He didn’t want us to know evil, but He still allowed Adam and Eve to be tempted.  His will was for them to continue to live with Him in perfect relationship, but still He removed them from the Garden.

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.

a journey worth taking   (Denali Park, Alaska)

But why thankfulness?  It’s hard to think of the child in our example thanking the parent for the medicine or the hospital procedure.  Speaking for myself, I also tended to view trials as unavoidable evils.  The lesson of finding joy in the fact that God is doing a good work in me is part of the change in that attitude, but there is more.

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?”

lotus blossom   (Kyoto, Japan)

Believe it or not, this is great!  I am drawn toward God’s good and perfect will for me in the midst of bad/imperfect circumstances.  Suddenly the issue is about God’s wisdom which will enable me to see the way out that He promises He has provided (see James 1:5 and 1 Corinthians 10:13).  When I reject my situation, I am inadvertently rejecting God’s place in it for me.  He has a plan, but I’m not interested!

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.  

Something to remember!   (Belize, C.A.)

What I have found for myself is that if I just turn from my natural reactions and “think thankful” - think “God’s way out”, the power of the circumstance begins to lessen and the power of my faith in God to prove sovereign in goodness takes over.  It’s amazing how true the Holy Spirit has been to remind me of this opportunity at times I would be least likely to remember!  God is so good to help us in our weakness when we sincerely desire to be changed!