Time For Giving Thanksgiving

The ultimate expression of response to what God has done is thanksgiving. If you’re a thankless person, you’ve missed the point. The whole of our Christian life is to finally come to the place of thanksgiving. In verse 12, he even calls it, abundant by many thanksgivings unto God. And then he closes the chapter by saying, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Listen, God has done all that God has done that we might be thankful to him, because when we thank God, that gives him glory, because it recognises him as the source and sovereign of everything.

And when you do that, you’re really giving him glory, because he is. Now let’s look at the text and see some questions that we can answer from this verse. What kind of thanksgiving is Paul after? First of all, when are we to be thankful? Verse 20, giving thanks, what’s the next word? Always. When are we to be thankful then? Always. You say you don’t know my problem, still says always. You don’t know my wife, still says always. You don’t know my teenagers, still says always. You don’t know the lousy job I have, you don’t know the dirty deal I get, you don’t know what they did to me at that place, always, always, always, always.

Why? Because this recognises that God is in control of your life, and that God is trying to conform you to the image of Christ with all the things that occur, and in all of those things you read down to God’s glory in thanksgiving. And so it says watch, in 1 Thessalonians 5 18, great statement, in everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. If you don’t know what God’s will is, try that for a starter. Give thanks, give thanks, give thanks, this is the will of God.

Now go back to Ephesians 5 17, be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Verse 20, giving thanks always. It’s the same idea, God’s will is that we be thankful. Shakespeare said, how sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child. In gratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend. Even Shakespeare recognised what it is to have in gratitude. Think how God must feel. When God brings difficulties into our lives, when God brings trials into our lives, and we gripe and complain, and we don’t understand the meaning of James 1, which says, when trials come into your life, count it all joy, because out of that trial, God is going to bring a perfection and a maturing.

See? You see, we want a second guess God, and we want to complain, and we want to sort of grumble, and all the Bible asks of us is to be thankful so that God can do his perfect work. This is the will of God. Now, there are three categories of thankful people, and we’ll see which one you fit in. Okay? You give yourself this test. Number one, this is the easy part. There are those who are thankful after the blessing, right? You say, I’m one of those. That’s the easy part, right? Sure. After God has just blessed you, you’re thankful.

Oh, you know, I was ill, and the Lord touched my body. Now I’m well, I’m so thankful. Or, you know, we didn’t know what we were going to do, and then the Lord gave us a new home. Or, well, we lost a job and the Lord gave us. After the blessing, there’s always the people thankful after the blessing. That’s the easy part, right? God has just unloaded on you, and you say, oh, thank you, Lord. Easy part. It’s biblical, though. Look at Exodus chapter 14. It’s all right. God expects you to be thankful after the blessing.

Be terrible if you weren’t. You remember that here are the children of Israel, and they come to the Red Sea, and Moses lifts up his staff and goes like this over the Red Sea, and the waters part, and they walk across. Pharaoh says, well, if they can do it, we can do it. Only they couldn’t do it. Pharaoh marched the entire Egyptian army into that thing, and the walls closed down and drowned them all. Verse 28 of Exodus 14, the waters returned, covered the chariots, and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, there remained not so much as one of them.

But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right side and on their left. Thus, the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. The bodies all washed up. Israel saw the great work which the Lord God did on the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. And you know what they did? First of all, they had tremendous eternal joy.

And so it says in verse 1 of chapter 15, then sang, right? They sang, Moses and the children of Israel. And this was the song, I will sing unto the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. He is my God. I will prepare him an habitation, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war, the Lord is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his host has he cast into the sea.

And the song goes on and on and on, all the way down to verse 19. This is singing after the blessing. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you for what you’ve done. Verse 11. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Verse 18. The Lord shall reign forever and ever. You see, this is thanks after the blessing. You find it in Revelation chapter 15, and it’s a wonderful picture how the Lord comes in mighty judgment upon the earth that has been bathed in the bloodbath known as the tribulation, and the seven plagues are spewed out on the earth.

And there are some people in verse two who get the victory over the beast. There will be some people that the antichrist will not destroy. And they sing the song of Moses, the song of the lamb. Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints. See, they sing after the victory is over, after the battle is won, after the conquering has been done. Now listen, people, this is a time for giving thanks. There are always some victories won. There are always some wars that have already been passed.

There are always some conquerings that have already been accomplished. There is always something which God has done, and we ought to say thanks after the blessing. But it’s easy then, isn’t it? Thank you for joining us in this exploration of time for giving thanksgiving. Until next time, remember to keep the faith, stay strong, and continue to shine your light in the world. To hear these daily devotions of your daily bread, please log on to goddessgovernment.com. Goodbye, and may your faith always lead the way. [tr:trw].