Finding Thankfulness

As I write this, it is Thanksgiving week, and this week is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Part of the reason is because I have so many great memories that have occurred during this week. Deer hunting in my home state of Wisconsin is always the week of Thanksgiving, and while many years were forgettable, there are a few that were very memorable. In my sales career, this was often a more quiet week where I would have the opportunity to work shorter days, even a shorter week, without having to take vacation days, just because my customers would take time off or have little going on. I have vivid memories of my dad’s last Thanksgiving week just before he passed away in early December 2014.

While the memories are partially the reason I love this week, perhaps the main reason is because it is a week to focus on being thankful, and I have found that being thankful is so good for me. I believe that if there is one trait missing that is causing the downfall of our culture and our society, it is a lack of thankfulness. We have a media telling us how terrible it is out there, and how bad it is going to be in the future, leaving us little to feel thankful for. We have pundits telling us that, since their candidates did not win office, we are going to have a tough time until next election, leaving us little to feel thankful for. We have companies spending millions of dollars on advertising telling us that our lives are not fulfilled unless we have their product or service, leaving us little to feel thankful for. The movement against being thankful and content is ablaze.

Christians must pour cold water on this movement with thankfulness. Since our world is constantly bombarding you with reasons to not feel thankful, let me give you a few reasons you ought to be thankful. Reasons that, I believe, will help you in this season shift your focus as needed.

Reason #1: God commands us to be thankful

For the follower of Jesus Christ, we desire to be obedient, therefore, if God commands us to be thankful, we trust that this is best for us. God says, “In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, Legacy Standard Bible). The remaining reasons are not really all that necessary in light of this reason. If God says that we are, in everything, to give thanks, then we must find a way to give thanks in everything. However, I also think it is important to remind us of the blessings that come to us when we obey God, so I will give the remaining reasons I am thinking about this morning to give thanks.

Reason #2: Giving thanks is a choice we have

Okay, maybe this does not seem like a reason, but I included it because I am motivated to give thanks when I remember that thankfulness truly is a choice that I have. I think we can easily fall into difficult situations and pretend like we have no choice to be thankful, that we have to be down, depressed, grieved, and that thankfulness is simply not an option for us. However, we read in the Psalms continually that the psalmist made a commitment to be thankful, a choice to be thankful. Here are some examples of such: “I will give thanks to Yahweh according to His righteousness (Psalm 7:17); “I will give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart; I will recount all Your wondrous deeds” (Psalm 9:1); “I will give You thanks in the great assembly; I will praise You among a mighty people” (Psalm 35:18). I could go on, in fact I found in the Psalms alone this commitment to give thanks 16 times. You always have a choice whether to be thankful or not, the question is whether you will choose thankfulness.

Reason #3: When I choose to be thankful, I remember God’s goodness

In the verses in Psalms where the psalmist makes this commitment, along with this commitment almost always comes some statement of remembrance of God’s goodness. Let me give a few examples of this in other verses: “I will give thanks forever, because You have done it, And I will hope in Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your holy ones” (Psalm 52:9); “With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Yahweh, for it is good (Psalm 54:6); “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well” (Psalm 139:14). We cannot spend time in thankfulness without recounting what God has done for us and recognizing just how blessed we are.

Reason #4: I cannot be thankful and complain at the same time

I think this is one of my favorite reasons to be thankful. It is impossible for me to focus on the blessings of God’s grace in my life and complain at the same time about what I do not have. As mentioned above, the world is always pulling us to look at what we do not have, what we are missing out on. Now, let’s be honest, some miss out on some wonderful, good things. Some have families that are torn apart and they miss out on the love that other families experience. Some have lost loved ones and are missing out on that relationship. Some have very little and feel like they cannot celebrate as others do. For the Christian, however, when we look at what we do have in Christ, how can we complain about these other things? While it will not likely remove the hurt that we have for things we miss out on, being thankful for what we have will remind us that we have been given so much more than we deserve, and every moment we are giving thanks is a moment we will not be complaining.

If you need help this season in being thankful as a Christian, let me encourage you to go back and review Ephesians 1:3-14, where we are reminded that we have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Read through that text, remembering the blessing given to you by the heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, and express your gratitude for His wonderful grace in giving it to you. Let the blessings God has given you comfort you in the losses and hurts that you share in until these heavenly blessings are fully realized. Look at what Christ has given and choose to give thanks to God for them.

And then add to this list. What else can you thank God for? What else do you have that is meaningful to you? Let’s spend our days following the instruction of the hymn writer.

Count Your Blessings

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,

When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,

Count your many blessings, name them one by one

And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?

Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?

Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,

And you will be singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,

Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;

Count your many blessing, money cannot buy

Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict, whether great or small,

Do not be discouraged, God is over all;

Count your many blessings, angels will attend,

Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your blessings, see what God hath done;

Count your blessings, name them one by one;

Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

(Author: Johnson Oatman)