Be Thankful or Be Quiet

   It is easy to point the finger at the Israelites who wandered in the desert for forty years murmuring and complaining, even after God had parted the Red Sea for them, provided water from a rock, and provided manna from heaven.  Why couldn’t they just be thankful for what God wanted to do for them, let alone what He had already done for them?

   It is not so easy, however, to examine our own lives concerning possible areas where we may not be exercising an attitude of thankfulness.  Thankfulness, or lack thereof, is no small matter before God.  For anyone who is in doubt, just read the story of the Israelites’ Exodus out of Egypt, and remember that their murmuring and complaining did not go unpunished.  It is not hard to know how God feels about the sin of thanklessness.  There is a reason that God has recorded these examples of  “unthankfulness" in His word; I believe we are t learn from them.

   Of course, it is easy to be thankful for the big things, but it is just as important to be thankful for the small things, which we often take for granted.  Thankfulness is so important to God that in 2 Chronicles 31 a special group of priests was appointed to thank and praise the Lord.  What a job!  Unfortunately, many of us, at one time or another, have been guilty of complaining about things that are, in reality, blessings. 

   So why is it important that we develop an attitude of thankfulness?  God wants us to be thankful so that we can be blessed.  Being thankful produces an attitude of humbleness.  Remember, God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. (1 Peter 5:5)  Do we want God’s grace?  Of course we do.  One of the keys to becoming and staying humble before God is developing and attitude of thanksgiving.  And this requires, first of all, that we recognize the hand of God in our lives.

   And when we learn to recognize God’s hand in all of our affairs, it is then that we will give God the glory, and not ourselves, for anything we might accomplish.  It is then that we comprehend how very dependent we are upon God, and that we can do nothing in and of ourselves.  We come to the realization that it is God who enables us to do what we do, and that all of our gifts, talents, and abilities come from Him.  And finally, we come to the full understanding that all things are done in Him and by Him and through Him.  So we thank God for all of these things, and it is then that we are truly blessed.

  So the next time you hear me voicing unthankfulness, please tell me to shut up.

The CHEER Lady