Here we are- Thanksgiving 2012. I am about to sit down with some of my family and enjoy a wonderful feast. Before this happens, let me give you one Thanksgiving thought.
Here it is- Our thankfulness should not depend on who or what we are; not on how much of or what we have. Our thankfulness should depend on who He is!
Habakkuk 3:17 “Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls—18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
I love this scripture, yet I have trouble with it.
I love it because the writer clearly says, ‘I will joy in God, no matter what the circumstances.”
I have trouble with it because the writer clearly says, “I will joy in God no matter what the circumstances.”
I didn’t just have a computer hiccup. The same thought both amazes me and frightens me. Imagine it. The writer is thankful even though the barns are empty; even though the crop has failed. We tend to whine whenever anything goes wrong. In a society that wants to smooth all the bumpy roads before walking down the street, where we get nearly suicidal when the cable is out for more than half an hour, ballistic when we don’t get our three square meals a day, can we say, “I will praise God through all circumstances”?
Our thankfulness should not simply be for material possessions (though in the United States we enjoy quite a few). Our thankfulness should be for the ultimate provisions of God. As verse 18 states- “He is my Salvation.”
For that I am thankful.