"Give Thanks in All Circumstances?" Really?

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All Circumstances?   Really?

1 Thessalonians 5:

17  Pray continually

18  give thanks in all circumstances,       

      for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

In June, 1970 I drove out my parents driveway in tears.  I was 22 years old and I was headed to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.  I was crying because I realized that I would never again live in my parent's house as a resident but only as a visitor,  but it would always be a home I could come back to.  For a moment, my thought was a man should not be crying at a time like this, but that idea was soon replaced in thankfulness that I had a home to cry about.

For the 99% of my last 22 years including most of the time attending college, living in that house had been a great time of love .  I realized then and there I was thankful in being who I had become but understanding change was coming in who I was to be.  No longer would my daddy be around to discuss my problems, but rather and mistakenly thinking, I would have to work most things out for myself.  Oh, as times went by I would talk to my father, but in time I would learn more about the importance of talking to a greater Father.  A Daddy Father that was waiting to hear from me, and He, in the near years after that, would teach me much greater understandings about patience, prayer, love, and giving thanks.

Remembering my first reading of the scripture listed above is impossible, but in recent years it has become a favorite.  This scripture is difficult just like some others, especially the scripture of Jesus last prayer in the Garden, "Not my will but your will be done."

However, as difficult as Verse 18 is to accept, when we come to understand the nature of what the verse does not say, then what it means to us becomes most powerful.  It is most important to understand these scriptures in our good times before the sorrowful times tread upon our hearts.  Otherwise, these scriptures can be very hurtful and meaningless.

So, how do we be thankful in the death of a loved one, how do we give thanks as we see a life of love and dedication slip away from us or see a child seriously injured.

There is always thankfulness to be had in our relationship with God, especially in our sorrows.   Some people often do not feel this during their sorrows often blaming God for letting this or that happen or for allowing a horrible event occur to someone.  It is all about learning to know and understand what God has and does for us.  We must trust and learn what sometimes seem opposite and counter to what society teaches us.

Just as a good parent will lovingly comfort a child when they are hurt, so to will God provide comfort to us.  But the reason the child feels comforted by a parent is due to the love and loving relationship the parent has established with the child.  This is why one of the first commands of Jesus is so important to us, in His comments to us about 'do not worry', Jesus commands us, "Seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness..." (Matthew 6:25-34).  

God created us and loves us like the ultimate loving parent and just as our children must do with us, we must learn that about God.  Children of good parents, because of the loving relationship set forth by the parents, learn what it means to be loved and comforted.  God gives us that love in abundance and we must seek The relationship with Him to learn and feel how great that love truly is.  We do that just like children with their parents, in communications with them, in our talking, and in sharing our feelings.  With God, our communications is through prayer, and in prayer comes feelings.  To feel the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your heart and to understand to the depths of our soul the love that God has for us, "we must pray.... and pray.... and pray....everyday."

When we come to feel the greatness of the love of God has for us, then we begin to understand the thankfulness He gives us in all circumstances.  In His comfort and having His kingdom in our heart we can feel thankfulness in His love for us.

Thankfulness in all Circumstances

For the longest time after realizing these words from Paul, I had a difficult time with "give thanks in all circumstances...".  He even says it is the will of God we do so.  You may be having similar thoughts I had as you have just read these words.  "How can this be?" "How could I give thanks when I saw my sons' foot after a lawnmower blade damaged and mangled it so badly?"  "How could I be thankful about losing friends in Vietnam?"

A great part of reading a scripture passage over and over and over is learning to understand what a passage says, and very importantly, what it does not really mean.  

The passage, "be thankful in all circumstances...." 

does not say that 

we should be thankful for the circumstances, 

it says to be thankful "in" our circumstances.  

 

Rereading a passage is the greatest of lessons I have learned concerning Bible study.  Only then, if necessary, consult a commentary.  Then, pray for greater understanding and more wonderful lessons do come out.  In doing this, it is totally understandable that Jesus wants us to be thankful in all situations we find ourselves.  Why?  It is good for us!

Being thankful is so very good for us for it helps us survive our circumstances.  Often it comes most rapidly through prayer.  I have a good friend in the Philippines, a school teacher.  She was kidnapped out of her classroom, taken far away from her home, and in the next weeks ransomed and brain washed to convert to another faith.  In times private with her kidnapped co-worker they remembered Bible verses, quietly sang songs with the other, prayed, and truly sought God's Kingdom for their lives.  She was not thankful for the situation she was in, but she learned to give thanks in the circumstance for the God that provided her comfort, love, and care during those days.  She was released with no ransom paid after her captivity of exactly 40 days!  She lived this verse 18.  But, more than that, to her credit and to God's Glory, she survived through feeling His comfort, care and love.

It was to her good she and her co-worker followed what Jesus desires of us.  God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit does not require anything of us where, through Them, we will fail to feel Their comfort.  Everything God requires of us is good for us, and everything good for us is God's blessings. 

Finally, in accepting the Bible as the inspired word of God means we do not ignore passages we do not understand but seek to find God's will in them.   In time, in rereading scripture, prayer, and with patience the meaning will come.  And in that attitude with this passage, we come to understand that we can be thankful in all circumstances but we just do not have to be thankful for the circumstances.

Having the feeling of thankfulness in all circumstances is exceptionally good for us.  Pray daily for this and come to understand this scripture in our ordinary little things of life so that during the hard times, we can better see the blessing of joy we can have and the thankfulness we can feel in all the times of our life.

Thanks be to God

lonnie(c)