On the fourth Thursday of November, those in the United States celebrate
Thanksgiving Day, a national holiday set aside to remember to give
thanks to God for all our blessings. But we really need to remember that
every day is a day for thanksgiving unto the Lord. This is what the
Bible says:
1 Thessalonians 5:18 - In everything give thanks; for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (NKJV)
The key
words here are "in everything". It doesn't mean for just the good things
that happen to us, but also for the not-so-good. It is easy to thank God
for the good blessings, but we also need to thank Him for our difficult
times as well. In every instance where something not so good has
happened, we can still be thankful, because if we look closely enough,
we can see that the problem could have been worse.
Twenty years
ago, while working with a team of volunteers to build a kitchen at Red
Bird Mission in Kentucky, the man next to me from New Jersey suffered a
direct hit on his thumb with a framing hammer. With tears running down
his face, he yelled, "Thank You, Lord! Praise the Lord!" Several times.
I had to admit that if it had happened to me, I would probably have used
different words. So I asked him why he said what he did. His answer was,
"I was thanking God because I had a thumb to hit. I know folks who don't
have a hand or an arm with a thumb to hit." This has had a lasting
effect on my reactions when something bad happens.
Speed forward
eighteen years to April 9, 2009, when an F3 tornado touched down in Polk
County and Mena, Arkansas. Our home was extensively damaged. We lost
part of the roof, two rooms, windows, and siding. It destroyed our
stable, dog kennels, four outbuildings, our shop, our greenhouse, our
barn, and a mile of fencing. Over 800 trees, including many 200-year-old
oak trees, were uprooted. When we exited the storm shelter, which we had
entered only ten minutes earlier, and saw the devastation that the
tornado had caused in the eight seconds that the 200-mile-an-hour winds
took to pass through our farm, my first thought was about the man who
had hit his thumb. I thanked God that my wife and I were not killed or
injured. After locating all the animals and finding them alive and only
slightly injured in some cases, I also thanked God for sparing them. I
was thankful for the blessings brought by our church and a host of
others whom we did not know as we worked to clean up the mess, which
required over a year to complete. As I travelled through the city and
saw where folks had suffered even more damage than I did and thought
about the three people who had lost their lives and the twenty and more
who were hospitalized, I again thought about the comments made by the
volunteer working beside me twenty years before. It was a lesson I'll
never forget. When bad things happen, we can thank God because we can
always see where the situation could have been worse.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we have so very much for which to be thankful. Each day
is a gift from You. Help us to remember every day to thank You for
everything: the good and the not-so-good. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
Richard Kern
dicknpry@PROTECTED
Mena, Arkansas, USA
Thanks to http://daily.presbycan.ca
