Just how do you feel thankful to God when things aren’t going well? How do you work on the attitude or demonstration or continuation, when you aren’t feeling particularly thankful? How, then, do you find a grateful heart? Some examples that come to mind:
- Job layoffs are at record levels, unseen in the last thirty years–these are Unthankful times.
- AIDS, cancer, diabetes and heart disease still claim lives everyday—these are Unthankful times.
- Healthcare coverage is being debated fiercely across both sides of the political aisle-these are Unthankful times.
As Christians, we know that we must continue to give God the praise, even when it doesn’t seem like things are going on in the right way. You know, that’s real easy to say—but not as easy to do. Three quick points:
Number 1: Acknowledge that He is still in control.
The Christian approaches uncertainty with the realization that God is still in control. Deuteronomy 7:21 (NIV) records: Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. If God be for us, we need not fear the power of any creature against us. There are some things that will make you start to fear what man can do. There are some times when the enemy starts to form seeds of doubt in our minds, to make us think that he has some kind of real power. We start to get despondent, and start to believe that our problems are too heavy for God. We start wondering what we have to be thankful for. So many things are going on. Tomorrow doesn’t look like it is too promising. But the Christian believer uses the Word of God as a calm assurance, looking to Psalm 27:
1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.
When we acknowledge that God is in control of situations that we do not yet see a clear answer to, we will give thanks and praise, because we know that Victory is ours. We can give thanks, when we don’t see clear to the other side. There may be fog—but Jesus is guiding us through.
Number 2: Count your blessings.
Sit down and make a list, don’t just name them—number them. Write it out. Start with that that seems to be the most obvious and start to thank him for the blessings that don’t seem so obvious—I like to call them, the uncommon blessings. While I’m trying to find a reason to be thankful, I gotta thank God for some uncommon blessings:
- My horrid commute: it means I still have a job
- My overactive children fighting in the car: because they are healthy and growing
- My bills that seem to pile up: because yet I’m still receiving his blessings
- My trials & tribulations: because they cause me to seek His face, and draw nearer to God
- My conflicts: because I’m learning to lean and depend on His Word
You see, when I start to thank God for the things that don’t seem to be worthy of thanks, I become more grateful for the blessings that I take for granted every day.
- When we receive bad news—loss of a loved one, we thank God for their blessings in our lives up until this point.
- When we receive bad news—illness has racked the body of our loved one, and the doctors have given up all hope, we thank God that he has allowed health for all these years.
- When we receive bad news—We still thank God for his mercy, in spite of tragedy; he still sends rainbows of hope; We thank God that what could have destroyed us only made us stronger; We thank God for His grace that shows up as evidence in new mercies each and every day. We find ways to count the blessings that surround us every day.
When we start to count up the list—we can start to be thankful, despite un-thankful times.
Number 3: Remember his benefits
Sometimes we get so caught up being busy, we don’t take the time out to remember. We get caught up in the day-to-day hustle and bustle; the day-to-day grime, that we forget about just how far we have ALREADY come. When we remember what God has brought us from, we see more clearly the path through which he delivered us.
It seemed scary and uncertain at the time, but when we look through the vision, which is the past, we are able to view our circumstances in a more clear light. We see where the hand of God influenced and touched each person in our lives, and whether willingly or unwittingly, they helped bring about the fulfillment of God’s will for our lives.
When we remember when we didn’t have the job that we have now; when we remember when we didn’t have the prosperity that we currently have; when we remember when all those family and marital relationships were strained, but how God has pulled us through, when we remember the days and nights we spent full of worry and God saw us through; we are then able to Thank him for where he has already brought us.
When we add up these up, we are able to find a grateful heart, and a thankful spirit, when we think about where we could be versus where we are, we are able to lift our soul in thankfulness to the one who has always held the master plan. He who knew where we were going, even we were determined to go our own way. In the midst of our determination to think that we don’t have too much to be thankful for, it is then that we realize just how much we still have to be thankful for.
