Give Thanks... all the time?

The guys were out mowing the commons area next to our house along the golf course path that we walk every morning, so Fiver and I were forced to delay our morning jaunt by about an hour today.  The dog does not like loud sounds and tends to get spooked around the mowers which are zooming in and out all around the place!  But on the positive side, by the time we walked out the front door, the blue skies were beginning to show themselves through the cloud cover, and even though we were being buffeted by 14 mph winds that kept trying to blow my hat off, the walk turned out to be very pleasant indeed!

I have been training myself to enjoy all of the many facets of Oklahoma weather.  In fact, I find myself thanking the Lord in the midst of the various changes we have already experienced this fall.  A few weeks ago, it turned very cold with wind-chill factors into the low twenties.  We didn’t get any snow then, but most of Oklahoma to the north and southwest of us did. Lately its been in the mid to high sixties and very pleasant!

I had to laugh early this morning when a good friend called me from our hometown in California.  He’s been in the hospital and calls me soon after I arise everyday to report in on how he is doing… and like he did again today, to wish me a fantastic and gloriously blessed day.  He’s an early riser so I can’t complain that he calls me at 7:30 my time… when I remember that its 5:30 in the morning where he is!  The first thing he asked me today was how our weather was.  Then he went on to tell me that it was freezing where he was, explaining that with the wind-chill factor, the temperatures were in the low fifties! 

Ah… them Californians!  I remember complaining about the cold in our hometown when we lived there and then got the shock of my life when I found myself unloading a truck of trees in front of the garden department at the Home Depot out here at Christmas, when the high for the day barely made it to 12 degrees!

So yeah, I’m learning to be thankful for the winter winds that come down from Canada and seem to go right through any amount of clothing one might have on, or for the snow and worse yet, the occasional ice storm like Oklahoma City got a few weeks back.  The summers also get a little warm with the added effects of high humidity… but all that tends to make the fall and spring really sweet times to enjoy the great outdoors!  After all… I did choose to move here and what can I say, the people are friendly, the life style is a lot more relaxed than the west coast, the gas is cheap and the cost of living is much more reasonable than the coastal states on either end of our country!

So, I can’t complain!  The Word of God also tells us to not complain but instead encourages us saying, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” (I Thessalonians 5:18 KJV)  We’re told to not only give thanks to God for the good things in life, but also in the midst of the more difficult times that occasionally come everybody’s way in their lives.  The first key word at the beginning of this scripture is “IN”... notice that it doesn't say “FOR”.  I checked through many of the fifty plus translations I have in my personal library, and I couldn’t find one that instructs us to thank God “FOR” whatever is happening to us.  As the Bible clearly shows, He is not the source of sickness, disease or any of the bad things in life...  The devil is (see John 10:10) 

The other key part at the end of this verse is the phrase “IN Christ Jesus.”  From the point of my training and experience, I believe that the Apostle Paul is teaching us the importance of taking our eyes off of what is physically going on… be it good or bad, and focusing our attention on God and the TRUTH of His Word.  This action is especially important when the situation is not a positive one.  In this circumstance, Paul is telling us to NOT focus on the PROBLEM that besets us, but on the ANSWER in the Word of God… or as the King James version puts it, “IN Christ Jesus.”

The Contemporary English Version clarifies it even more by stating: “Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. (or because of what Jesus has done for us in His death, burial, resurrection and assentation unto the right hand of God)  This is what God wants you to do.”  And I believe that He wants us to follow this prescribed course of action because it sets in play a number of ways in which God can perform His Word for us… remember that Jeremiah 1:12 informs us, “Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.” (KJV)

When we put our trust onto the Lord in the midst of the situations that arise in our lives, it activates our faith and faith is the door in which God can send His miraculous answers through to us.  Our faith in God assures us of the things that we begin to expect from Him (Hebrews 11:1).  In addition, “Faith worketh by love.” (Galatians 5:6 KJV) and since “God is love” (I John 4:16 KJV), our faith frees up the hand God to personally do whatever He needs to do to help us! 

Ephesians 3:19 tells us of the intimacy in which Jesus loves us… and if you’re anything like me, then you want as much of that depth of love as you can receive!  At times I’ll think about how much my wife loved me when she walked at my side throughout the 48 years of our relationship and then realize that even though we had a deeply intimate relationship… that it really can’t compare with the intimacy in which the Lord knows and loves me… and you!

He’s the One that I want to put my trust in!  He’s the One in whom I want to thank for His solutions to my needs!

What do you think about that?  Kind of makes you want to shout doesn’t it?

Have a wonderful week… and keep on EXPECTING God’s best answers for you and your life.