Hopeful Living with Thanksgiving

Hopeful Living with Thanksgiving

Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.                                                                                          Jeremiah 33:3 CSB

When Jeremiah spoke these words, the Israelites living in Jerusalem were under extreme duress.  The Lord had declared judgment on His rebellious people and the city was surrounded by the Babylonian army.  The people knew their days were numbered.  But even as God declared judgment, He gave Jeremiah these words of encouragement and hope.

When we’re dealing with difficult challenges; when we are, in some cases literally walking in the valley of the shadow of death, it can be hard to imagine things ever getting better.

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know.”  What an awesome promise from our faithful God!

Paul gave us a similar message of hope when he wrote:

We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.                                                          Romans 8:28 CSB

The fact is that we don’t know how the challenges and circumstances we are dealing with will work together for our good, at least not in the moment.  Just like His promise to the Israelites, we have the Lord’s promise that all we are facing will ultimately work out for our good and His glory.

We can’t see the future but we can trust the God who knows past, present, and future – and it all works together for good.  With that hope, we as believers should be the most thankful people on earth.

Let the whole earth shout triumphantly to the LORD! Serve the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Acknowledge that the LORD is God. He made us, and we are his- his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. For the LORD is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.                           Psalm 100 CSB

A recent devotion posed this question: How thankful are you when you talk to God?

Reflecting on that question, I was reminded that we have been given everything by the Lord and that is proof positive that He is always acting in kindness toward us.

Not only does He provide life and breath; He has gone much further than what we deserve by offering us the gift of eternal life.  He chose the way for a relationship with Him through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus; that alone is more than enough for us to live a life of gratitude toward the Lord.

Unfortunately, the culture we live in, for the most part, doesn’t encourage thankfulness.  Instead we are conditioned to look out for self, constantly focused on getting what we think we deserve.  And when we don’t get the things we want, we grumble and complain.  The more we grumble and complain, the more our hearts grow critical and bitter.

Praise God that His Word provides the antidote for our grumbling and complaining: thankfulness.  Psalm 100 encourages us to intentionally develop the spiritual discipline of thanksgiving.  This happens when we take time each day to talk with the Lord and thank Him for all He has done and then rest in the hope of His faithfulness in the things that lie ahead.  We also develop the discipline of thankfulness when we take the time to tell others of the Lord’s goodness and provision for them.

I am still a work in progress, and in recent days when I have found myself grumbling and complaining, that still, small voice has prompted me to stop and think about the love and goodness of the Lord in my life.  About how He has carried me through some challenging and difficult circumstances in recent years.  About how He has patiently increased my faith and trust in His plans. He remains faithful day-by-day and my hope for the future is secure in His hands.

Dr. David Jeremiah penned these words:  There is no word more central to biblical teaching than faith.  For instance, 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We walk by faith, not by sight.”  But what is faith?  Hebrews 11:1 states, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Faith is not just hoping for something we cannot at present see.  It is being “sure” and “certain” that we will in time see it.

With great hope and thankful hearts may we live out our faith day-by-day, loving God and loving others.