Giving Thanks in All Circumstances, Part 2

Give Thanks in                                   

All Circumstances?   Part 2

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Click Here for Part 1 on Giving Thanks

Please read Part 1 before you read this part.

1 Thessalonians 5:

17  Pray continually

18  give thanks in all circumstances,       

      for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

Thankfulness in all Circumstances?

For the longest time after realizing these words from Paul, I had a difficult time with "give thanks in all circumstances...".  He even says it is the will of God we do so.  You may be having similar thoughts I had as you have just read these words.  "How can this be?" "How could I give thanks when I saw my sons' foot after a lawnmower blade damaged and mangled it so badly?"  "How could I be thankful about losing friends in Vietnam?"

A great part of reading a scripture passage over and over and over is learning to understand what a passage says, and very importantly, what it does not really mean. 

The passage "be thankful in all circumstances...."
does NOT say that
we should be thankful for the circumstances,
it says
be thankful "in" our circumstances.

To understand scripture, sometimes Reading and Rereading many times a difficult Bible passage is one of the greatest of lessons I have learned concerning Bible study.  Only then, if necessary, consult a commentary. Then, pray for greater understanding and more wonderful lessons do come out of the passage.  In doing this, it is totally understandable that Jesus and Paul wants us to be thankful in all situations we find ourselves.  Why?  It is good for us!  It keeps us sane!

Being thankful and living in constant thankfulness is so very good for us for it helps us survive our circumstances, especially our difficult circumstances.  Often thankfulness comes most rapidly through prayer. 

I have a good friend in the Philippines, a school teacher.  She was kidnapped out of her classroom, taken far away from her home, and in the next weeks ransomed and brain washed to convert to another faith.  In times private with her kidnapped co-worker they remembered Bible verses, quietly sang songs with the other, prayed, and truly sought God's Kingdom for their lives.  She was not thankful for the situation she was in, but she learned to give thanks in the circumstance for the God that provided her comfort, love, and care during those days.  She was released with no ransom paid after her captivity of exactly 40 days!  She lived this verse 18.  But, more than that, to her credit and to God's Glory, she survived through feeling His comfort, care and love.

It was to her good that she and her co-worker followed what Jesus desires of us.  God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit do not require anything of us where, through Them, we will fail to feel Their comfort.  Everything God requires of us is good for us, and everything good for us is God's blessings. 

Finally, in accepting the Bible as the inspired word of God means we do not ignore passages we do not understand but seek to find God's will in them.   In time, in rereading scripture, prayer, and with patience the meaning will come.  And in that attitude with this passage, we come to understand that we can be thankful in all circumstances but we just do not have to be thankful for the circumstances.

Having the feeling of thankfulness in all circumstances is exceptionally good for us.  Pray daily for this and come to understand this scripture in our ordinary little things of life so that during the hard times, we can better see the blessing of joy we can have and the thankfulness we can feel in all the times of our life.

Thanks be to God

lonnie(c)

© lonnie coggins

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It is hard th think about being thankful in our circumstance.  But, It is good advice when we truly understand what it means to do so.  Click the link for more on this.

http://lonnieadailythought.blogspot.com/2013/01/giving-thanks-in-return-to-main-menu.html




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