When faced with a difficulty, we often try everything. We try to fix it in our own abilities, relying on our own strength and wisdom. We pray, we wait, and still see no breakthrough. We may eventually come to the end of ourselves and say, ‘I’ve tried everything.’ But...have you tried thanksgiving?
This summer I read a story about Henry Frost, missionary to inland China and a contemporary of Hudson Taylor. He tells of receiving bad news from home, and the darkness that engulfed him.
He wrote:
I prayed, but the darkness did not vanish. I summoned myself to endure, but the darkness only deepened. Just then I went to an inland station and saw on the wall of the mission home these words: “Try Thanksgiving.” I did, and in a moment every shadow was gone, not to return.—Henry W. Frost, quoted by E.M. Bounds
Praising God has a surprising power. Bounds said “nothing so pleases God in connection with our prayer as praise and thanksgiving.”
Tomorrow, many of us will gather with family to give thanks. We may sit around the table and take turns counting our blessings from the past year. Being thankful shifts our perspective from selfish desires. When I begin to name all the many undeserved blessings that God has bestowed upon me, why should I ask for anything more? When I think of how merciful and gracious He has been, how humbled I feel! Truly, ‘it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord.’ (Psalm 92:1)
But, may I gently challenge us to give thanks for more than just the ‘food on our table and shoes on our feet’? We are spoiled and have much to be thankful for, but blessings do not erase the reality that hard times still come. An untimely death, difficult diagnosis, financial strain or wayward family members can all cast a cloud of darkness that tends to hide the blessings.
Can we thank God in the valley?Can we thank God for the valley?
Giving thanks while walking through the kind of darkness that Frost described requires great faith. To praise God before the blessing comes demonstrates great trust in His ability to do great things.
Bounds refers to Elijah as an example of trusting God’s promises and giving thanks when the way seems dim. In 1 Kings 18, God promised that He would send rain. “Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.” (1 Kings 18:1) Elijah obeyed and showed himself to Ahab. What followed was a showdown on Mount Carmel. Elijah tells Ahab to gather the prophets of Baal and build an altar-- “And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.”
Bounds writes:
Elijah had the promise that God would send the rain, but no promise that He would send the fire. But by faith and prayer he obtained the fire, as well as the rain, but the fire came first.
When Elijah was pouring water on the altar, he didn’t have the promise that God would send fire, but he did have confidence in the character of God and faith in His abilities.
Thanksgiving is a powerful tool to demonstrate faith. Sometimes we pray for things God has already promised, or things that are going to happen anyway. Thanksgiving in the midst of trial, however—when the way seems dark—steps out in faith beyond the promise. Thanksgiving is that calling down of fire—not merely asking for what is guaranteed, but believing that God is able to do ‘exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think.’ (Ephesians 3:20)
Maybe you are walking in a valley and Thanksgiving feels a bit hollow. I won’t pretend and say that I have been excited about this holiday. I wouldn’t mind if I could just enjoy a few days vacation without all the expectations and traditions. The difficult truth is that my mom was a part of those traditions. It was her house that we went to, even though I did almost all the cooking. Nothing about the holiday feels the same without her in it.
And yet, the call comes to be thankful. I know how much I’ve been blessed, and feel almost selfish or childish to not be grateful for the many blessings. But what if God is inviting me to be thankful for the things that don’t make sense? Thankful for this unwanted season of life that I now find myself in? What if He has a purpose in the things I never would have chosen?
Can I challenge us, myself included, to surrender what we think would be best and praise God anyway? He is still worthy, even in the dark shadows.
So this Thanksgiving, let’s try what we haven’t yet—
Let’s try thanks giving.
