How Can We Be Thankful When It Is Hard?

(Turning Thanksgiving to ThanksLiving Series Post 3)

We want to be thankful, but sometimes it is really hard! How do we take the truths of Scripture and integrate them into our lives? We live in a broken world as broken people. We have daily disappointments, difficulties, and frustrations. Car repairs. A leaky roof. Traffic jams. Rude people. Work stress. I must admit that my reactions aren’t always thankful. I think it’s even harder for me to think about God in those small, seemingly insignificant things than it is in the big ones. The thing is- God isn’t surprised by those little annoyances any more than He is by the big tragedies. He is there in the midst of all of them. I want to look for Him in all of those things. But how do we do that? How can we transform our responses to become more thankful? We have to recognize that being grateful isn’t about feeling good about something. It is about giving God the gift of our praise from an obedient heart. Hebrews 13:15 says “Let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise.” It is a sacrifice to praise God when it hurts. How do we actually do that?  I think Scripture teaches us to do it in these two ways– Remember and Relinquish.

Remember

• Remember that God understands our pain. Being thankful doesn’t mean we can’t ever be sad. Hebrews 4:15 tells us “We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses.” Jesus suffered and understands our suffering. He was filled with agonizing dread in the Garden of Gethsemane as He wept and mourned His fate. And His Father gave Him strength to do what He was destined to do. 
• Remember that God is trustworthy. Can we trust God to bring something good even out of the worst tragedies of our lives? Romans 8:28 says “For we know that all things work for the good of those who love God, who have been called according to his purpose.” We may never know the good, but we can trust that it is there. 
• Remember what God has done for us in the past. When we focus our thoughts on what God has done for us, instead of what He hasn’t done for us, it brings rest to our souls. Psalm 116:7 states, “Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.” Remember all those times in the past when He has seen you through other times of difficulty. He is faithful. 
• Remember that God sees the big picture. Can we trust that God has our good in mind, even if He never tells us why? I always want to understand. Somehow if I can know the good that is coming out of something, then I somehow feel better. But sometimes we can’t see the good. And sometimes we just aren’t supposed to understand. We look through a limited scope of vision, but God sees the whole picture. He is eternal and sees the future that I don’t see. Some suffering seems so senseless and unfair. Then I think back to the cross. If I had been standing there, I would have thought how senseless and unfair that the compassionate, gentle Jesus was wrongly accused, tortured, and murdered. I would have questioned God for allowing that suffering. But God saw the big picture. He was up to something bigger than my eyes could see. He was conquering sin and death! He isn’t limited by constraints of time. I have to ask God to help me see past the here and now and trust that He sees the future that I don’t see.

• Remember how great a salvation we have. Psalm 105:5 says “Remember the wonders He has done.” Remember the wonder of salvation. How can we receive such undeserved mercy and that not be enough? When was the last time we pondered our own sin and the incredible gift of grace we have received? If someone gave you an incredible gift- say a brand-new Dodge Challenger, you would be very grateful. Would you be complaining the next day if they didn’t give you their old 1973 Ford Pinto? The first incredible gift is enough. Salvation is the greatest gift we will ever receive. 
• Remember to talk to God in your heartbreak. Be honest with God. Admit to Him that you don’t understand. Tell Him you are afraid. Then choose by faith to thankfully acknowledge that He is trustworthy. It was during his moments of deepest pain and desperation that David had his greatest encounters with God and wrote some of the beautiful Psalms of praise. Psalm 22:3 says that God inhabits our praises. Praise invites us to a deeper intimacy with God.  What beautiful story of praise does God want to write with your life? 
• Remember to form thankful habits. When we act in obedience even when we don’t feel like it, it eventually becomes a habit. A lifestyle. An automatic response that becomes second nature. When we feel the grumbling coming, we need to “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought [even the desire to grumble] to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). 

That’s a lot of things to remember! Next post we will talk about what we need to relinquish. Hang in there! There is unshakeable joy in store!