“Surely God doesn’t expect us to be thankful for everything.”
People often react that way when they hear that my book, Grateful Heart: 60 Reasons to Give Thanks in All Things is about how to be thankful in the worst of times.
“That’s hard,” they say.
Yes, it is.
Some have gone further, “God didn’t mean that. That verse you quote—1 Thessalonians 5:18? it says ‘IN everything give thanks’, not FOR everything.”
I’m sorry to contradict you, but other Bible verses do talk about gratitude for all things. Check out Ephesians 5:20.
Okay, let’s pull back. You may not be there yet, and neither am I. Giving thanks for everything, especially the tough stuff is hard. It takes years of experiencing the faithfulness of God to enter a catastrophic event, convinced to your core that God has a plan in the midst of the chaos and that He is in control of whatever happens.
That’s where God wants us to be and it is possible to reach.
There’s also a way to move toward that point. Like other challenges in life, a lifestyle of gratitude is something you can train yourself to do. First, you learn to practice gratitude at a lower level. Then, when crises hit, you have the strength, confidence, and preparedness to react with thankfulness for what God is doing in your life.
How do we train ourselves in gratitude?
Being thankful is easy when life is going well. Gratitude comes naturally when we count our blessings. I imagine any of us don’t have a problem coming up with a Top Ten Blessings list.
Let’s move to the next level. Let’s find ways to thank God when the blessings seem like slim pickings. The Bible provides a great outline on how to thank God when life becomes more intense. Why don’t you grab your Bible or click on this link and we’ll study this together.
A Look at Psalm 107
The Psalmist begins with a couplet we often see in the Old Testament:
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (v 1).
If you are currently mired in the middle of muck, you might raise your eyebrows and say, “Oh really? How is God good right now?”
The Psalmist gives four scenarios of people caught in different kinds of tough times. Then each section tells how they prayed for help, how God entered into their space, and finally, how those embroiled in the crisis responded. Each section reads like a recipe for the practice of gratitude.
Let’s first look at those four categories
The Problem
Our chapter gives example of four different groups of people who are facing calamity:
- Those who have lost everything (v. 4,5). They’re homeless, hungry, and lost.
- Those who became enslaved as punishment for defiant choices (v. 10-12). They’re subjected to hard labor. Perhaps they feel the punishment is harsher than their crimes deserve.
- Those suffering affliction and illness due to foolish choices (v. 17,18).
- Those who face danger from natural causes (v. 23-27). The Psalmist gives the example of merchants in sailing ships who get caught in a storm and face loss of everything including their lives.
Cry for Help
Next, each section tells how the people involved realize they are out of control so they cry to Him for help and mercy. Let’s make it simple. They pray.
God’s Answer
The thrid step is that God answers. He gives these suffering people what they need, not what they deserve, which is the essence of mercy.
- He provides for them
- He releases them from their bondage
- He heals them
- He rescues them.
Now what?
Now the Psalmist reaches his take away. These four groups of people have experience a different form of the worst of times. They’ve cried out to God and He has answered. Now it’s time to thank God. Not for the bad thing that happened, but for God’s graciousness, power, and love in delivering them when they asked.
That’s where you and start. We learn to look beyond what has happened and thank God for how He brought us through. That might be hard at first, because we wish that bad thing had never happened in the first place. But God calls on us to thank Him for His grace and mercy. Consider this: if that hard moment hadn’t happen, you would not have a reason to see first hand the power, protection, and provision of your Lord.
God has brought the rescue and deliverance only He can bring. God did for these people what no other human could do. Hegave them help and healing when they didn’t deserve it or earn it. Of course, He deserves our thanks and praise.
How Do We Do That?
How do you begin to thank God for His redemption and rescue? Saying a quick “thank you” doesn’t seem like enough. The Psalmist would agree. He outlines ways we can ramp up our expressions of gratitude to God.
- Bring a sacrifice of thank offerings (v. 22).
- Tell of his works with songs of joy (v. 22),
- Exalt God publicly (v 32).
- Praise God in front of influencers and important people. (v. 32).
What’s my point?
Let’s go back to the beginning: How do you grow in gratitude so you can “give thanks for everything,” even in the worst of times?
Every time you experience God’s provision, rescue, healing, or deliverance, thank Him! Get in the habit of thanking God every time you see Him work in your life. Then stretch yourself. Make it more than a perfunctory “thank you.” Pass the blessing forward by doing a kind deed for someone else. Tell someone else what God did for you, Sing a song of praise, inwardly reminding yourself that you are singing because of what you just saw God do
As you and I strengthen our gratitude muscles in the small everyday moments and during the mid-range inconveniences and unpleasantness when we see God sharing His mercy with us, gratitude will become more of a habit. Then, when the Big Crisis hits and dismay twists around our brain synapses, we’ll take a deep breath, and say, “Ok, God where You in this? I’m trusting You and thanking you for what You will do even if I don’t see it now.” You will be able to say those words because you’ve spent time in training, learning to see His presence in your everyday moments.
You now know. He is good and His faithful love does endure forever.
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