Thanksgiving…
Thanksgiving is here again.
Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, etc
Football, family friends
Days off work
Christmas Shopping season begins!
And with Thanksgiving, comes the church service we’ve grown to expect.
The message of the service is clear.
We are not thankful enough for our families, friends, jobs, and God.
We live lives that are too busy to be genuinely thankful, so we need churches
around the world to remind us of how thankful we should be.
AND THIS IS ALL VERY GOOD
We commit as a result, to be more thankful people, living lifestyles to be thankful.
AGAIN, THIS IS ALL VERY GOOD
But have you ever wondered if we’re missing something in the whole thanksgiving conversation?
We’re easily convinced to thank God for the things that have gone right in our lives;
But what about the things that have brought us pain?
What about those things?
Should we thank God for those too?
Can we possibly trust God enough to thank him for the teenager who refuses
to give God a chance?
Can we thank God for the divorce that left us helplessly broke and alone?
Can we thank God for the loneliness we feel when there honestly doesn’t seem
to be a Mr. Right, or a Mrs. Right?
Can we thank God for the inability to conceive a child?
Can we thank Him for the loss of a loved one?
For the lying co-worker
For the overbearing boss
For High Cholesterol
For the unexplainable cancer
Can we possibly acknowledge the greatness of God by giving Him thanks for
these things too?
Job put it this way, when explaining this concept to his wife…
Job 2:10 “Shall we accept good from God & not trouble?”
Later he would put into terms what we should never forget….
Then he fell to the ground in worship and said…
“Naked I came from my mothers womb, and naked I will depart.”
NOW DON”T MISS THIS RIGHT HERE
“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”
It’s one thing to thank God for the good stuff.
It’s another thing entirely to thank God for the Bad, Unexplainable, Doesn’t-make-sense-at-all stuff.
God never promises that we’d live safe, uneventful lives.
But in the middle of it all, He promises us that He is, above all…
GOOD.
Thanksgiving is here again. Will it be the same?
1 Thess 5:18