The Believer’s Responsibility: Give Thanks
I learned a big lesson about giving thanks during a drought. Literally.
Jen and I were on a cross-cultural education trip to Zimbabwe in January of 1992. The country was already seven years into a severe drought. I had never seen anything like it before.
The fields were dry and cracked with tiny corn stalks that had almost no chance of producing ears of corn by the end of summer. The lake where there had been a yacht club was a large, green bowl of grass with a tiny pond at the bottom. A family I stayed with out in the country had to walk 4 kilometers (approximately 2 ½ miles) every morning to get their water for the day. On top of that, it was hot with no humidity. Everything was dry.
Then one day, as we were traveling on the bus to our next destination, it began sprinkling. It wasn’t much rain and only lasted a few minutes, but the reaction from the people around us was incredible. They came out of their homes and literally danced together in the streets! People gave thanks and rejoiced over something that used to bother me: rain.
As a kid, I got upset when it rained because it meant I couldn’t go outside and play. When it rained for days, the gray would get to me.
But my experience in Zimbabwe 30 years ago taught me to be grateful even in the storms of life. Just as through rainstorms, God provides the water we need for life, so also through the storms of life, He provides the stimulus we need for growth and reliance on Him.
A few years ago, when I was planting a church, I struggled to remember that truth. Life felt like one long storm, and the gray skies started to get me down. I focused on everything that was not going according to plan. I felt betrayed by people, misled by God, and began to question God’s calling and the leadership He had given me.
That is, until the Lord spoke to me through a sermon from Romans 1. Verse 21 says, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” (ESV)
The Lord clearly said to me, “When you do not give thanks, you are not acknowledging me as the Sovereign God.”
I had been focusing on the storm, not on God who shows “his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20, ESV) through His creation and the circumstances in which we find ourselves. I had gotten my eyes off the Lord and onto the things that were not going my way.
The danger in not giving thanks and acknowledging that the Lord is God is that our thinking becomes futile, in other words, useless and worthless. Romans 1 also says that our hearts become darkened, or increasingly resistant to Truth. This is the formula for a downward spiral in life.
I didn’t realize that by not giving thanks, I was missing God and what He was doing. I was missing all the work God was doing in my heart and mind, shaping and forming me for what He had in store ahead. I missed the work He was doing in the life of those involved in our little church plant. I was missing so much good that the Lord was doing by refusing to give thanks and acknowledge that He is the Sovereign God.
The reality is that our Sovereign God had placed me as a leader in a difficult position to teach me some lessons that I would need for the position he has me in now. He knew exactly what He was doing. I just needed a reminder to be thankful in all circumstances.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, ESV).
Dear Saints, do you give thanks on the bright days and in the storms of life? Even when the rain keeps coming and the skies are gray, learn to give thanks and express your gratitude to God. In doing so, you acknowledge that He is the Sovereign God and that He has a plan and purpose for your life.
As the people in the village rejoiced over a few drops of rain, so we can give thanks even in hard circumstances because we know God is at work. He is shaping and forming us into the people He’s created us to be. Take it from me—giving thanks is a much better choice than complaining, questioning God, and becoming futile in our thinking!
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.