Joni Eareckson Tada - A Thankful Heart in a World of Hurt

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Humans are inclined toward ingratitudewe compare our lot in life with others and either admire them from a distance or burn with envy; we miss the job promotion and collapse in discouragement; we feel overwhelmed with home duties and complain bitterly.

When hit with hardships, many people choose one of the following:

Giving up: Some people shelve their hopes and, like a horse yielding to a heavy harness, they stoically resign themselves to pulling the plow of dreary, daily routines. But we are not animals. It grieves God to see his children live an existence of hopeless resignation.

Making suffering the focus: Some people yield control to their circumstances, not to God. Suffering becomes the main object, and they cave in under its pressure, coddling quiet feelings of submerged rebellion. They make their problems the focus, rather than focusing on Christ.

Becoming bitter: Hebrews 12:15 cautions, See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. When we allow bitterness to take root in our lives, we close ourselves off from the grace God offers. A bitter person poisons not only his life but also the lives of others. He may make his hardships his idols; but those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs (Jonah 2:8).

People who give up, focus on their own suffering, and become bitter have separated God from the suffering he allows in their lives. They forfeit the very grace God wants to shower on them!

Cultivating a Grateful Spirit

So whats the alternative? Believe it or not, we are called to cultivate a grateful spirit that gives thanks under any and all circumstances. How important is it? Type give thanks into the search box of your Bible study program and try counting all the references!

Think gratitude is just for good times, when things are going your way? Think again. Romans 1:2021 explains, For since the creation of the world Gods invisible qualitieshis eternal power and divine naturehave been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

It says that although men knew God, they failed to give him thanks. What happened next? God seriously punished them for their thankless hearts. That should say something to us; because if a thankless spirit was the undoing of a generation long ago and far away, is it any different today? If even those who only know God by looking at Creation are not excused from giving thanks to him, how much more then ought we, who do have a relationship with God, to give thanks to him!

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful . Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Col. 3:1517).

I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High (Ps. 7:17).

Give thanks to the Lord , for he is good; his love endures forever (1 Chron. 16:34).

Giving Thanks for All Things? Personally Speaking

Ephesians 5:20 says we are always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Most are able to thank God for his grace, comfort, and sustaining power in a trial, but we dont thank him for the problemjust finding him in it. But decades in a wheelchair have taught me not to segregate my Savior from the suffering he allows, as though a broken neckor in your case, a broken ankle, home, or heartmerely happens and then God shows up after the fact to wrestle something good out of it.

Maybe at one time, this wheelchair felt like a horrible tragedy, but Im grateful for my quadriplegia. Its a bruising of a blessing, but still a blessing. It is a gift wrapped in black, but its still a gift. Its the shadowy companion that walks with me daily, pulling and pushing me into the arms of my Savior.

Lorelyn Medina

At the close of life, and in heaven, we shall see occasion to bless God for all his dealings with us. We shall see that we have not suffered one pang too much, or been required to perform one duty too severe. We shall see that all our afflictions, as well as our mercies were designed for our good, and were needful for us. Why then should we not bless God in the furnace as well as in the palace; on a bed of pain as well as on a bed of down; in want as well as when sitting down at the splendid banquet? God knows what is best for us; and the way in which he leads us, mysterious though it seems to be now, will yet be seen to have been full of goodness and mercy.