Say Thank You First

This time of year, we talk a lot about being thankful for what God has given us—friends, family, food, house, etc. But what if we’re called to give thanks even before we see the blessing?

When our oldest daughter was just three years old, we worked hard to teach her good manners. As she was learning, it was quite mechanical. She would say, “May I have a drink (pause), please?” Or, “May I be excused (pause), please?” Her head would bob in synch with the words as she was trying so hard to say it just right. Of course, the reward was that she received what she asked for followed by a sincere “thankyou!”

Our prayers often begin the same way. Lord, can you…? Father, would you…? God, please…! Then, afterwards, we thank God.

In Matthew 15:32-39, we see that massive crowds followed Jesus into a remote place to hear his teaching. After three days, Jesus said to his disciples, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.” The disciples were baffled! Where could they find enough food to provide for 4,000 men plus women and children!?! That would be impossible!

Jesus simply asked, “How many loaves do you have?” (vs. 34).

What they had was seven loaves of bread and a few small fish. That might be enough to feed my family one meal, but even we would probably still want something else to go with our bread and fish… like a bowl of icecream to fill in the cracks!

We would look at that small amount of food and most likely say, “Please Lord, would you multiply these loaves and fish to feed all these people?”

But Jesus reversed the order.

When Jesus prayed over the loaves in Matthew 15:36, he offered a blessing called the bracha, or berakhah. This is a Jewish prayer said before and after meals acknowledging first that everything we have is from God. Then, the request is made to provide sufficient sustenance.

The bracha (blessing of food) begins with “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe…” (if you’ve watched the Chosen, the new TV series on Jesus’ life, you might recall the disciples praying this!). In short, Jesus said “Thank You, Father.” Thank you for who You are. Thank you that you are Sovereign. And thank you for what you have provided.

Then, after recognizing God as the sovereign God and perfect Provider, Jesus said “Please.”

You could say it this way: “Thank you, Father, for these seven loaves. And thanks for these few small fish. Everything we have comes from you. You are a good Provider. Please, would you make it sufficient to meet our need?”

Dear Saints, do your prayers normally begin with please? Do you wait until you’ve received what you ask for before saying thank you?

Unlike the standard ‘please’ before ‘thank you’ that we are taught as children, next time you go to God in prayer, I encourage you to begin with a thank you. Thank God for who He is and what He has already done in your life. The things (fish & bread) you have in your hands at the moment may seem insufficient to provide for your need, but don’t focus on your lack.

Say thank you first.

And then, ask the Lord to multiple His provision in your life in order that you may love Him, serve Him and show God to people who need to know who He is and trust Him for themselves.