Give Thanks Anyway
Have you been in an upsetting situation that made it almost impossible to find anything to be thankful about?
Listen to someone who has laid a child to rest, someone who lost a job for the third time, or someone who becomes paraplegic at nineteen years of age. To hear them say anything that sounds remotely like gratitude is enough to shake me up.
A man like Paul, the apostle, who experienced a litany of hardships so horrible that it would be understandable if he turned into a bitter old man, says instead, “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus” 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NIV).
It is God’s will for us to give thanks no matter what. How many reasons can you think of why God would want that from us? Is one of them perhaps that to give thanks anyway is a solid way to cope with the upsetting circumstance we’re in?
Joe McKeever tells of a church group from New Bern, NC, who traveled to the Caribbean on a mission trip.
Their host took them to visit a leper colony on the Island of Tobago. While visiting with these sad patients, they held a worship service in the campus chapel. The lepers filed in and took their seats on the pews and the Carolinians led them in hymns. The pastor of the group, whose name was Jack, noticed that one patient was sitting on the back row, facing the opposite direction. How unusual!
Jack said, "We have time for one more hymn. Does anyone have a favorite?" Now for the first time, the leprous woman on the back row turned around to face the front. Jack said, "I found myself staring into the most hideous face I had ever seen. She had no nose and no lips. Just the bare teeth, like a skull." As she turned, she raised her hand in the air. Except it wasn't a hand. It was the bony end of her arm, just a nub.
As poor Jack was trying to take this in, she spoke. "Could we sing 'Count Your Many Blessings'?"
That's when the pastor lost it. He stumbled out of the pulpit and through the door into the yard, with tears in his eyes. Someone else stepped up and led the hymn and a friend walked outside and put his arm around Jack.
"You'll never be able to sing that song again, will you, Jack?"
"Oh, yeah. I'll sing it," Jack said, "but not in the same way."
It’s easy to exude gratitude when you’re riding the crest of the wave. But when the wave crashes and you’re at the bottom being pummeled, that’s when giving thanks anyway is “a God-thing!” Like this leprous woman. And like Pastor Jack who learned to sing an old song in a new way.
No matter what you’re going through this Thanksgiving holiday, count your blessings anyway. And see what God will do for you.
--Pastor Ivan Blake |
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