Giving Thanks in All Times - Pt. 1

 

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:14–22 ESV).

 

God has a way of teaching me in the circumstances of my life. The picture I’ve attached is of my oldest grandchildren, Faith and Logan (they are fraternal twins). They will be 22 years old on Thanksgiving Day this year. The fact that they were born on Thanksgiving Day is the real story. Being twins makes their premature birth somewhat unusual, though there were many other things surrounding their birth that were much more unique. The greatest challenge was in delaying the birth long enough for them to have a higher chance of survival. Early in the pregnancy Brandy was placed on bed rest and ultimately ended in the hospital for weeks as the doctors did everything possible to delay the birth to that point. All through the process my prayer was that they would make it to at least 32 weeks. When that milestone was reached every subsequent day was a greater blessing. That was also the time that it dawned on me that God was going to do something very special with their birth.

 

Looking at the calendar, I noticed that Thanksgiving that year would put them at about 36 weeks. I just knew that would be the day they would come into this world. That’s just how God seems to deal with my stubborn independence. Sure enough, Kyle called Thanksgiving morning and told me I needed to get a flight from Texas to North Carolina as the twins were about to be born. I told him, “No problem.” You see, I had already purchased my plane ticket weeks earlier. When I told him that, he said, “Dad, how did you know?” I just replied, “That’s God reminding me of who I need to be thankful to for their birth.”

 

Giving thanks to God is harder than we like to admit. Augustine wrote that sin makes each of us naturally “curved inward” or self-absorbed and viciously self-seeking. As a result, we tend to ignore God’s goodness and compassion. But genuine thanksgiving to God is possible in Christ. This takes careful thought, disciplined prayer, and the work of the Holy Spirit. I hope that the next few devotionals will help you with this. Use them to develop a pattern of gratitude for all things in your life. Even when the circumstances of life don’t seem to make sense, God is working them all to produce good in you. It is His promise (cf. Romans 8:28).