In Everything - Give Thanks

1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

How can grieving parents be thankful for losing their child? How can a man give thanks for being terminated from his employment? How can a victim of abuse be thankful for what has happened to them? These are difficult questions but they are the kinds of questions many ask whenever they read this passage of scripture. How do we give, (why should we), give thanks when our circumstances involve a tragedy?

Perhaps it will help us to better understand Paul’s intent if we look more closely at the language he uses – ‘in’ everything and not ‘for’ everything. Those two simple little words make a big difference.

Those who are thankful ‘for’ something are so because they find delight in the circumstances. The enjoyment of the event produces the thanksgiving. In other words – “I am so thankful for how much I have been blessed!” Yet it requires no faith or relationship with God to be thankful for a blessing. Even publicans can do the same. But to be thankful ‘in’ something, especially a tragedy, says that although our circumstances themselves may not be enjoyable, there can be joy in knowing that our heavenly Father is behind the scenes, working in our behalf.

Grieving parents are not be thankful for the sadness they feel with the loss of their child but, they can be thankful that God is the God of all comfort and that He can use them to help bring comfort to others. A man who is terminated from his job may not be thankful for the loss of employment but, he can be thankful that God will continue to supply all of his needs and that this closure may lead him to an even better opportunity. A victim of abuse is never thankful for the evil done to them but, they can be thankful that Christ’s is able to heal the broken-hearted.

Even in tragedy we can be thankful for God’s unfailing love.

The Truth
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Notice Paul does not say that everything is good or enjoyable, but that God is able to take all things, both the pleasant and the unpleasant, and to make them work together so that the ultimate end will be good for those who trust Him.

The Corrective Hand Of God

"And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done: Oh Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant." (2 Samuel 24:10)

In the passage above, David is convicted in his own heart of not adhering to God's promise in Genesis 22:17. There God promised that, His people would be as innumerable as the stars of heaven, as the sand upon the seashore. Realizing he should have taken God at His Word, David confessed his sin, of submitting to the prompting of Satan (1 Chronicles 21:1), to get statistics that would swell his head with pride and make him independent of God. Although he was forgiven, he also had to endure Gods punishment - three days of plague upon all of Israel. (2 Samuel 24:15) Likewise, when David had Uriah the Hittite killed with the sword and took his wife Bathsheba for his own - David was forgiven but, there were consequences for his sin - the loss of the child born to Bathsheba and the promise that, what David did in secret would be done to him openly before all of Israel. (2 Samuel 12:13-14)

The Holy Spirit will always convict the Christian, the blood of Jesus will always wash us clean and the Father will always correct, chasten, punish His children. Why? Because He loves us. God forgives us, He gives us peace, but He will not pamper us.

The Truth
"My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." (Hebrews 12:5-6)

A Man After God's Own Heart

There is a big difference between love and unconditional love. Unconditional love has no strings attached. It does not require some action in return. It is simply the act of dying to self. Unconditional love says, no matter what you have done, I forgive you because I love you without reservation.

The Bible says that, "love is patient, kind, long-suffering. It does not envy; love does not parade itself, it is not puffed up; love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own way, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in truth;it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) Wow, now that's love and although I have come a long way in learning to love unconditionally, I must confess, I am still working on this.

King David is described as, "a man after God's own heart" (1 Samuel 16:7&13) yet, he certainly wasn't a sinless person. On the contrary, he committed adultery, murder, deception - a series of failures that would match or surpass any of ours. In fact, if he were on trial before the Christian community of his day, I dare say they would have written him off long ago. However, David did recognize when he had sinned against God and sought His forgiveness in true repentance. To know David's heart, all we need to do is read his Psalms. When David penned the Psalms, he did not know they would be preserved and studied for centuries. He was simply writing love letters, expressing his unconditional love for God - bearing his soul, praising His God no matter what he was going through.

Like David, we all have our own faults, sins, failures and struggles. God knows them because He knows us, our weaknesses. He knows we are imperfect, but He loves us unconditionally anyway. So much so that he has made a way of escape for our failures just as he did for David.


The Truth
"If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleans us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

Take Your Seat

In 2nd Samuel Chapter 9 we read of the story of King David and Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of the first king of Israel, King Saul. After Jonathan's death, David went forth to show kindness to Saul's house as he had vowed.(1 Samuel 20:14-15) He had learned through Ziba, a servant of the house of Saul, that Mephibosheth was the only remaining family that had not been shown his kindness. Mephiboshet had become lame at the young age of five — he had lived his entire life as a cripple. When David called for him, Mephibosheth replied "What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" His identity had become completely based on his disability, when in fact he was the grandson of a king! He had forgotton his royal lineage and was wallowing in self pity. Yet David looked beyond his disability and recognizing who he was, offered him a place at the King's table.

The enemy would love nothing more than to keep us focused on our disabilities so that we are distracted from the calling of God on our lives. He wants us to have a "victim mentality". But let's not lose focus of the reality of who we are. In Jesus we are a chosen generation, part of a royal priesthood, and the King has offered us a place at His table! We are heirs of His great throne!! In Him, we should have a victor mentality! Press forward — know who you are in Him and take your rightful seat at the King's Table.

The Truth
" For whoever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. (1 John 5:4)