Thanking God For Everything

You are riding to be crowned. Think not much of a rainy day. But when you do, then think of affliction as God’s paved way to glory.

God commands thanksgiving

The command to give thanks is all-embracive: “in everything give thanks.” “Everything” includes all your blessings and prosperity. The command is simple: End in God who never tires of giving. Even when we are not grateful, He gives and gives, and gives again. More particularly, however, “everything” includes afflictions, cross-providences, and unsolvable riddles.

For flesh, this is impossible. But God delights to command the impossible from us in order to drive us to Christ. For it’s only in Christ that true thanksgiving can be had.

Christ Jesus is the praying and thanking High Priest of His church. In Him, praying and thanking are intertwined. Isn’t Christ the ultimate reason why our Heidelberg Catechism can denominate prayer as the chief part of thankfulness?

God wills thanksgiving

“For this is the will of God.”

Were God not to will it, no one would ever be thankful. By nature, we are full of depravity and sin — not full of thanks.

But God’s will graciously changes that. In fact, that’s what gospel grace is all about: God’s will conquering our will. The best moments of our lives are those when we can say with no strings attached: “Thy will be done.”

Submission, prayer, and thanksgiving are triplets in grace. Happily, God the Father trains them all by His will. Therefore we are made willing in the day of His power (Ps. 110:3).

God grants thanksgiving

But again, “willing” only in and through Christ.

True believers may obey God’s command by faith, for it is “in Christ Jesus” that God grants thanksgiving. How? Through the Spirit’s instruction that “all things work together for good” for God-lovers (Rom. 8:28).

In light of Romans 8:28, God’s children have times when they see with faith’s eye the “needs be” of all that opposes the flesh. And that “needs be” is this:

To cause me to walk by faith — not by sight.

To teach me to live in the light of eternity.

To wean me from the world.

To keep me conscious of the sinfulness of sin.

To attune me to God’s fatherliness in chastisement.

To humble me, reminding me who I am and who God is.

To provide me with sin-destroying, fruit-producing medicine.

To conform me to Christ by making me partaker of His sufferings and image.

To pave my way to glory.

Yes, all that God does is for your ultimate good, true believer. Hence, keep courage. What God commands and wills, He grants. Your thanksgiving is safe in His hands, for His commanding, willing, and granting all lie tucked away from the satanic grasp in the interceding Christ. Even you cannot spoil it.

Be thankful. As John Trapp quipped, “He that rides to be crowned need not think much of a rainy day.” You are riding to be crowned. Think not much of a rainy day. But when you do, then think of affliction as God’s paved way to glory.

Your rainy days here are God’s training ground to make you ripe for the eternal sunshine you will inherit hereafter. In Christ you have a thanksgiving reserved that will remain forever unmarred by sin. Your place at His table won’t be empty. You are on your way to a heavenly banquet. But a little while, and you shall see Him — again. See Him perfectly, thankfully.

All because He wills your thanksgiving. And His will cannot fail. You know what He said about sparrows....

Trust Him — not yourself. Thank Him — not yourself. Boast of Him — not of yourself.

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