Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (ESV)
George Matheson was a Scottish minister and hymn writer who lived from 1842 to 1906. Having very poor eyesight from birth, he was near total blindness by his late teenage years. His condition gained him the reputation as “The Blind Preacher.” Having realized that he had never thanked God for his affliction, Matheson prayed, “My God, I have never thanked you for my ‘thorn’. I have thanked you a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my ‘thorn’. . . . Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbows.” This seemed to be the message that Paul was communicating with the persecuted believers in Thessalonica when he exhorted them to “give thanks in all circumstances.”
One of the most difficult things to do is to give God thanks when we are in the middle of a most trying circumstance. It seems easier to fret and ask the questions, ”Why is this happening?” or “What good can possibly come from this?” And maybe, “Why me?” How do we give thanks to God in those times? Richard Phillips writes, “When we realize that God is sovereignly working in all our circumstances, knowing the faithfulness of his love, we will thank the Lord at all times.”
As Christians we must realize that God sovereignly rules over all of our circumstances, good and evil. God said through Isaiah, I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things. (Isaiah 45:7 ESV) Yet, God’s word teaches us that he works all these things for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). In our trials we can have confidence that God is working in us for his glory and our salvation.
In times of trials we must learn to turn our focus away from us onto God and his eternal purposes. Paul wrote, For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:17 ESV) We must realize that God’s grace and mercy are always at work in our “dark night of the soul.” Albert Barnes comments, “Is a man ever made to drink the cup of affliction when no drop of mercy is intermingled? Is he ever visited with calamity which does not in some way contemplate his own temporal or eternal good?” Should we not be thankful to God that our afflictions are working for us?
Notice Paul says that to give thanks in all circumstances is the will of God for us “in Christ Jesus.” Paul exhorted the Ephesian church “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20). All that God has done for us and the promises he has made to us has come through Jesus Christ, including his redeeming love. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV) For from him and through him and to him are all things. (Romans 11:36 ESV)
In the work of Christ we find reason to give God thanks in all circumstances. “We will become thankful by coming to know God better and reflecting on everything that he has secured for us eternally in his son.” (Phillips) As we thank God for the roses, let us not forget to thank him for the thorns.
Do you express your gratitude to God even in trying times?
Scriptures for meditation:
Philippians 4:6
Colossians 4:2