“Rejoice in the
Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about
anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let
your requests be made known to God.”
Philippians 4:4-6
One night on his way home, the Bible commentator Matthew
Henry was robbed. After this unfortunate
incident he recorded this prayer in his journal: “I thank thee that I have
never been robbed before. I thank thee
that even though they took my wallet, they did not take my life. I thank thee that though they took my all, it
was not much. I thank thee that it was I
who WAS robbed, and not I who robbed.”
This almost unbelievable prayer reminds us that we always
have something for which to thank our Lord.
As Matthew Henry’s words demonstrate, thanksgiving is an attitude, an
attitude of the heart. It is something
that is brought about inside of us because of all the wonderful things God has
done for us.
On Thanksgiving, we certainly have many things to be
thankful for – like family, turkey, and football – just to name a few. But what about the times when it feels like
we have nothing to be thankful for. When
the economy is bad and jobs are hard to find, heath problems or illnesses come,
and family problems seem to keep growing.
Sometimes there seems to be more things to worry about than things to be
thankful for. Paul though, reminds us that
we are not to worry about anything. Our
Lord’s teaching in Matthew chapter 6 also shows this. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious
about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body;
what you will put on. Is not life more
than food, and the body more than clothing…Therefore do not be anxious about
tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own
trouble.” Instead of becoming anxious
about all the troubles and cares over which we have no control, Paul tells us
to present our requests to God.
Even though our Heavenly Father knows our thoughts, needs,
and desires even before we ask Him, He still wants us to bring our requests
before the throne of Grace. One of the
greatest joys and blessings we have as Children of God is the invitation to
cast all our anxieties on God - because He cares for us. What God is saying is that there is nothing
to worry about because in everything, no matter what the concern, the request
may be brought before Him.
All of us can think of times when we don’t feel much like
giving thanks. God’s promise to us is
this – nothing can separate us from Him and His love and His Salvation won
through Christ! Since we have this
fantastic promise, we can thank God even for life’s hardest times, knowing that
he is at work in them – for us – for our good!
When we give thanks, even when we don’t feel especially thankful, hope
and encouragement begin to grow in our hearts.
Thankfulness will then follow. We
live in a negative, ungrateful world.
But in the midst of all the pessimism, God calls us to exercise thanksgiving. He is faithful to bless His people with
reasons to be thankful no matter what situations we face in life.
