Over the past week my understanding of giving thanks has changed. I used to think that we should be thankful for our family, friends, material blessings and the like. But that is a very carnal understanding of blessing, even the heathen and godless can be thankful for those things and relationships.
God calls His people to a much deeper level of thanksgiving. According to 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Christians are commanded to give thanks in every situation we happen to face in life. Like the Apostle Paul when he was wrongfully thrown in jail and put in the stocks or Jesus when He was nailed to a cross, sons and daughters of God are to thank God even for the most horrible of circumstances. This seems to go against everything we as humans feel. But this is the pattern of those who are closest to God's will and heart.
Christians are to thank God not only in these situations, Ephesians 5:20 encourages us to thank God for all things. I read those words and my mind starts to short circuit. How can we thank God for the people who know how to push all the right buttons or the one thing in life that seems to weigh us down the most? How can we thank God for the thing that seems to get in the way of freedom in worship? When you lose someone close to you or get fired from your job or suffer some sort of injustice, how are those things to be thankful for? Does God really expect us to praise Him through the storm and thank Him for it? The more I search the Scriptures and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, I come to the simple conclusion that God does expect for us to praise Him no matter what happens in life.
Jesus models this out for us when He introduced communion at the Last Supper. Jesus took the bread, gave thanks and broke it. He said, "This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me" (Luke 11:29). Jesus thanked the Father even for His broken body. The Lord knew that there was no glory and redemption without the cross. Jesus understood the necessary path of suffering and pain.
Today, we cannot hope to be like our Lord if we refuse to follow His example. While all things do work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, sometimes our understanding of good and what God meant are two very different things. You see - the purpose of God is to conform us to the image of His Son. We are to be like Christ, and many times this requires us to undergo trials and challenges that develop godly character and transformation.
Consider Colossians 3:17 (KJV): "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him."
The Apostle Paul encouraged the early Christians to do everything in the name of God. We are to give thanks to God in all of our actions. Our focus in life is not our immediate comfort or desires. Our focus as Christians should be the glory of God.
How can we be thankful in all things? The answer is because God has given us great and precious promises. As God declared through the Scriptures, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." Paul wrote, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17 - KJV).
Because Christians have a lasting hope, we can thank God even when He seems to be distant or our circumstances don't change. You may have gone to the altar countless times and asked God to change your circumstance. And nothing has seemed to change. If that is you, maybe the reason is that God wants to change you in your circumstances not alter the situation to fit your desires.
While praising God for the one thing in life that seems the most unbearable sounds counterintuitive, it is the key to freedom. It will release God to work in your life in ways He never did before. This is not about producing any kind of false emotion or denying how you feel. This is all about praising God and focusing on Him no matter what is going on in life. This is an opportunity to exercise your faith in the love and providence of God. Your emotions will follow later as God changes your heart. All you are called to do now is to simply obey God's command and rejoice.
The children of God walk by faith and not by sight. The end result of thanking God even for the hardest things in life is that you become free from discouragement, disillusionment and depression.
