Finding Thankfulness

The week before Thanksgiving is always busy. Between school, church, and family, it all seems like one big, hurried rush culminating in a day spent on one’s feet, hurrying to prepare food for the feast.

In all the bustle of preparations, I tend to forget just what it is we are preparing to celebrate. We in America are blessed indeed to have an entire day set aside to remind us to give thanks to God.

But gratitude towards God isn’t just for one day in the year; we are commanded in 1 Thessalonians 5:18,

“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Ever find yourself wondering what God’s will for you is? One part of God’s will for you as an individual is for you to give thanks in everything.

So what if you don’t feel thankful?

I think everyone experiences seasons of life in which we lose sight of God’s goodness to us. Those are the seasons when we look around us and feel like life is pretty miserable. Whether this stems from exhaustion or pain, betrayal or loss or disappointed expectations, that feeling is real, but here’s the catch: real though that feeling may be, it’s not true.

The reality during those rough seasons of life is that God is just as good and gracious to you as He ever was, as He ever has been to anyone throughout all of history. Whatever He has allowed or withheld in your life is done for your good.

Psalm 18:30 has been a precious reminder to me over the years of God’s unfailing goodness, but as I headed into the pre-Thanksgiving rush this year, the Holy Spirit brought a new perspective to this verse:

“As for God, His way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him.”

When life gets busy, I tend to be prone to fits of inward (or not-so-inward) grumbling. One morning last week as I reveled in the truth of God’s way being perfect, it was as if the Holy Spirit gently said, Yes, it’s true My way is perfect, but are you acting as though you believed it?   

You see, as I grumbled about how busy I was, how I would rather be spending my time doing something else, etc. I was not thinking or acting as if God’s way really is perfect. So much of gratitude to God begins with the choice to surrender to His perfect will.

And, in case you’re wondering what “perfect” actually means here, I looked up the Strong’s definition, which said that the original Hebrew word has the idea of being entire, complete, without blemish or spot, sound, upright, undefiled, or whole.

Read through that definition again. That’s what God’s will is. It is entire and complete, unblemished and undefiled, whole and sound, without any flaw, fault, or frailty.—And that’s what God’s way is like in His dealings with you. That is something to be truly thankful for.  

So are you? Will you live today in surrender to the truth that God’s way is indeed perfect?

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good: for His 

mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 107:1