“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
I’m a week late writing this, as last week was Thanksgiving. I’ve been lovingly made fun of for being the “grandma” of the group at thanksgiving and making everyone take turns saying something they’re thankful for as we sit around the table together. I’m sure most families have played this game (if it can be called a game) and that everyone has always listed good things. This is fine and normal- obviously the things that come to mind are going to be the apparently good- but I don’t think many of us often think of the Bible’s direction to be thankful in the good and the bad.
“Give thanks in all circumstances.”
By far, the most compelling story I’ve ever heard about being thankful in all circumstances, I read in Corrie Ten Boom’s book The Hiding Place. (Her story is one that grew my faith by leaps, I highly recommend it. Though tragic and unthinkably horrible, it is also incredibly hopeful and glorifies God greatly, giving wonderful perspective to life and trial and faith.)
Corrie and her sister Betsie are in a concentration camp with unfathomably terrible conditions- they arrive at their bunk house where hundreds of women are crammed together on moldy straw mats laid between barely stable bunks, wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling. They immediately discover the room is infested with fleas that constantly leave painful bites. Once, Corrie begins to totally despair and Betsie reminds her that the Bible says to be thankful in all circumstances. They begin to pray and thank God for what they can- that the two of them are still together, that their little Bible has miraculously made it through with them though they’ve been stripped of every possession- then Betsie thanks God for the fleas; Corrie protests, but Betsie insists.
They begin having Bible studies with the other women when they have any spare moment between the cruel mistreatment and forced labor. Women crowded shoulder to shoulder in their room translate from one language to the next as they pass around the Words of God, and hope and relationships grow even in the very most horrific circumstances. They wonder at how they’re able to have these meetings without their cruel, always-watchful captors barging in on them and stopping them.
One day they find out the reason: the guards stay out of their room because of how flea-ridden it is! They’ve been able to conduct their secret Bible studies because of the fleas!
I can’t speak for everyone, but my own set of trials seems extremely tiny in comparison.
If Betsie and Corrie could be thankful for the fleas, then there is no thing too terrible for me to thank God for.
Philippians 4:4-7 says: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
In every situation— and obviously Paul is focusing here on situations of trial- the ones that have reason to cause anxiety— we are to, with thanksgiving, request from God what we think we need. There is something to be thankful for even in the most trying situations.
There was an English Bible scholar, Matthew Henry, in the 1600s, who was robbed once. Here’s what he wrote in his journal afterwards:
“Let me be thankful. First, I was never robbed before. Second, although they took my purse, they didn’t take my life. Third, although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, let me be thankful because it was I who was robbed and not I who did the robbing.”
Inspired by this story and convicted by the many Biblical commands to be thankful, we’ve started the practice in our home of changing complaints to thanksgiving. Complaining is a habit, and I know many of us are on a mission to eliminate it from our own speech and that of our children. This practice not only targets complaining but replaces it with gratitude. It’s a step beyond “say something you’re thankful for” and a kid groaning a bare minimum response about food, family, or shelter. This one actually takes us to the root of the complaint and rips it out.
This morning I sighed “ugh, I’m so tired” and had to correct myself. Now, I was tired from sleeping poorly and being very, very pregnant- this isn’t about denying the reality of our circumstances but about reframing how we look at our circumstances- so I had to dig a little to think what there was to be thankful for in the fact that I was tired.
I’m thankful that I did sleep some.
I’m thankful I can still function well though I’m tired.
I’m thankful my children and husband are well-rested.
I’m thankful I will have to depend more on God rather than myself today.
I’m thankful insomnia is not as frequent as it used to be.
I’m thankful that the reason for my fatigue is marvelous, miraculous pregnancy.
Once started, it’s actually fairly easy to get a substantial list going.
This is a fairly petty example, so I tried to think of an actual trying time, not a simple inconvenience, to apply this to.
When my mom died months before I graduated high school.
When my infant firstborn was hospitalized immediately after birth.
When I miscarried my third pregnancy.
Could I have applied this practice to those situations?
Mom’s death: I’m thankful that I have one parent still; that my siblings and I all share this grief and are not alone in it; that our church and extended family support us for this season financially and emotionally; that I had 17 years with her; for the confidence I have in her salvation- that she is undoubtedly in the presence of our Savior and no longer suffering.
Baby hospitalized: I’m thankful that he’s alive; that he has no long term condition or hopeless condition; that I’m able to touch his tiny warm body with the tip of my finger and now that a day later I’m able to hold him and nurse him; for the support from family- my dad paying for a hotel for us so we don’t have to travel an hour home and back every day to the hospital.
Miscarriage: I’m thankful to have a loving support system, people sending cards and flowers to show their sympathy; for a husband who holds me while I break into sobs; for my healthy, living children; that I’ve never had a miscarriage before this.
Many scriptures dealing with thankfulness and how it should be constantly pouring from the life of the believer, give only one reason necessary for gratitude: the fact that God is God and that He has given us salvation.
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.” Colossians 2:6-7
“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!” 1 Chronicles 16:34
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our ‘God is a consuming fire.’”Hebrews 12:28
“Oh come, let us sing to the LORD! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth’ the heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land.” Psalm 95:1-5
We always have reason to be thankful because God is good and He’s made a way, for any who believes, to Himself through the incredible sacrifice of His only Son! Let us be thankful in everything because of this hope!
If you’ve not received God’s free gift of salvation, don’t wait! Romans 10:9-11 says that “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Jesus is the only way to be saved, and God has made it very simple to be granted this salvation.
Jennifer Blacklock Blog 
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