TRUE THANKFULNESS

During this special time of year we tend to focus more closely on all of the wonderful blessings God has graciously given to us.  As we get closer to the Thanksgiving holiday our attention is drawn to the preparation of delicious food and the quality time we get to spend with our close friends and family.  As I've been examining my own heart in light of this special time of year and reflecting on all of the good things in my life, God has been revealing some truths to me that I have never realized about myself before.  If I struggle with some aspects of giving thanks, then I'm thinking there may be others out there who are just like me.

 

Most of us do believe that we are truly thankful people. As I've been meditating on some very simple and straight forward truths of Scripture regarding thankfulness, I have come to the conclusion that in reality many of us are NOT genuinely grateful at all.  Maybe I am sounding a little harsh by making such a bold statement?  If I do, then I am also casting judgment upon myself as well because I have had the wrong perspective and have needed to make some major changes in my heart recently regarding thankfulness.

 

When I say that many of us are not genuinely grateful, I am not referring to our culture that we live in today that is obviously choosing to adapt the "give me" attitude where hand outs and selfish attitudes run rampant.  For only in America do we set aside one day for being thankful every year and then it's no sooner than we push in our chairs at the Thanksgiving table that we're off and running to the earliest Christmas sale.  I'm also thinking that pushing and shoving people in retail stores to grab the best deals on black Friday is not a great way of demonstrating our gratefulness either. 

 

When I make the statement that most people are NOT truly thankful I am not even talking about those in our country who simply expect everything to be handed to them on a silver platter without working hard for them. The majority of our population believes that they should receive whatever they feel they "deserve".  In my humble opinion, it is NOT just the world BUT believers in general that do not have a true biblical perspective about thankfulness.  If Christians don't have the attitude of thankfulness right then how in the world can we expect unbelievers to truly see Christ in us?

We read God's will for our lives concerning thankfulness in I Thessalonians 5:18, " In EVERYTHING give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."  This verse seems pretty simple to understand but as humans we often want to pick and choose what we decide to be thankful for. When something happens in our lives that we do not view as positive, we generally do not give thanks for those things. However, we are commanded to be thankful for ALL things, not just those things for which we perceive to be good.  Being grateful only for the good things is easy, for even unbelievers recognize and give thanks for the good.  True biblical thankfulness comes from a far deeper spiritual place within us that understands the ultimate significance of an all knowing, infinitely wise, sovereign and loving Father who makes absolutely NO mistakes, ever.   

It doesn't make any logical sense for us to give thanks to God for things that come into our lives that we don't see as good.  This concept goes completely against our human reasoning and it almost seems like a twisted way of thinking.  Our God tells us in Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord.  "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."  Because of our fallen spiritual condition, our natural inclinations and ideas do not usually match up with our Creators. In fact, God's ways are often the complete opposite of our ways. It is not up to us to approve of God's thoughts, attitudes and actions.  It simply comes down to whether or not we are willing to humbly trust in our omniscient Father God and His perfect eternal outlook and plan for us in which we do not clearly humanly see.

Looking back on all of the things the Lord has sovereignly allowed to enter into my life, it did not ever occur to me to give thanks for ALL things whether good or bad.  Sure, I was definitely grateful for those events that I viewed as good, but I grew bitter when things did not turn out how I expected them to. A heart that is overtaken and poisoned by bitterness leaves absolutely no room for thankfulness.  I questioned the goodness of God in why He would allow those difficult and more challenging circumstances into my life. I was thankful for the five wonderful children that God blessed us with but was not thankful for the three babies that were taken to heaven that we lost through miscarriage.  I was grateful for the years I enjoyed good health but when I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, atrial fibrillation and the possible early onset of Parkinson's disease I never once prayed, "Thank you Lord for allowing me to go through these health problems. I trust You completely and know that You have a sovereign plan for me in suffering through these diseases."   I cannot remember ever giving God thanks when I lost my best friend to leukemia at the age of 34 and my closest cousin to cancer at age 40.  No prayers of thanksgiving were offered up when our hearts were broken over a wayward child, our basement flooded or when my husband lost his job after over a decade of faithful service to his company.  The problem was that I did not have the proper biblical perspective in giving thanks for EVERYTHING that God had filtered through His loving hands and choose to allow into my life. Just because we as humans do not understand God's ways, it does not give us an excuse to question Him, ever.  

We often forget that the very reason we were created was to give praise, honor and ultimate glory to our Creator.  God does not exist for us, we are here for God to accomplish His sovereign plan through us.  His will for us in every breath He graciously gives us is to be thankful in absolutely everything. We are comforted in Romans 8:28 that God does work ALL things together for our good and we must trust in Him completely to do just that in our lives no matter how good or bad we view those circumstances to be. The truth is that there is NEVER one single moment when our God is out of control.

One tradition that our family enjoys following during Thanksgiving dinner is going around the table and having each person tell what they are thankful for.  Somehow we always choose to mention only those things that we view as positive or good but I think this perspective is not entirely encompassing the bigger picture that God wants us to see.  Maybe this year we should reach beyond the surface blessings that so easily come to mind.  Instead of voicing our thankfulness for our family and friends, good food and a warm home, how about publicly thanking God for the hard times He's allowed us to endure and for the sovereign purposes that He is fulfilling in us through those circumstances.  I really believe that finding the good that God intended in our pain would give Him even more glory than just those surface blessings.  There are always numerous benefits that we can find for why God allowed pain into our lives.  We need to make sure we focus on finding those benefits that God intended.

Have you struggled like me in thanking God for absolutely everything?  As you go about counting your many blessings this Thanksgiving season, I urge you to go one step further beyond the obvious and praise God for the intangible things you have to be thankful for. Maybe God has brought you through some very difficult events where your heart has nearly broken in two but through the pain, grief and sorrow you have endured God has been weaving all of these things together for your ultimate good.  Through those circumstances, God desires to transform our hearts to more closely reflect His heart, our thoughts to be more like His thoughts and our ways to ultimately resemble His ways.  Our Father wants to bring us to the point where we are thankful in ALL the things that He lovingly allows into the lives of His children.  Psalm 106:1, "Praise the Lord!  Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever!"