This week, many of us will gather with family and friends to feast and remind ourselves of all we have to be thankful for. Some enter this season joyfully and find it easy to spout off reasons for their thankfulness. Others have had a difficult year and already feel pressure to “look the part” this Thanksgiving.
Believers recognize that we all have reasons to be thankful, but sometimes we simply don’t feel it. What can we do to align our feelings with what we know to be true?
Scripture records many prayers of past saints for our edification, such as David’s prayer of thankfulness after God promised that his kingly descendant would reign forever (2 Sam. 7). In his prayer, David’s thankfulness overflows from an understanding of who he is and how God has dealt with him.
Remember Who You Are
I’m not someone of noble birth. I’m not well-known in the world, my country, or even in my state. I don’t have much money. I don’t run world-changing businesses that employs thousands of people.
Even if I were those things, even for those of you who are of noble birth, who have lots of money, and run major corporations…what is that to Almighty God? If I were to obtain all the gold in the world, would it be of any benefit to God? Would he gain anything by my connections or influence? What does he not have that any of us could offer him?
In his prayer, David asks “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?” (v. 18). In other words, David confesses that he’s a nobody. That might sound strange since he was an extremely successful king of Israel, however, he knows that before God almighty he is nothing.
The first step toward thankfulness is realizing we deserve nothing. Entitlement is a slave-master controlling us from within, always demanding more, and never letting us feel satisfied or content. If you constantly believe you’re getting less than you deserve, you’ll never appreciate what you have. If you realize you deserve nothing, everything will be received as a gracious gift.
God’s Dealing With You
Realizing who he was didn’t lead David to despair, but thrusted him upon the graciousness of God. He knew he deserved nothing, but God had blessed him with so much: “Because of your promise, and according to your heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it” (v. 21).
David’s unworthiness wasn’t met with God’s condemnation, instead God chose to bless him. If God owed David such blessings, then there would be no thankfulness. But since David only received them out of the abundance of God’s grace and love, he was amazed with the greatness of the Lord: “Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears” (v. 22).
I’m most in danger of unthankfulness when I’m out of touch with how little I deserve and how much God has blessed me. He gave me a thousand good gifts today, all of which I didn’t deserve, and yet I overlooked most of them. Because I’m used to eating three meals a day, I don’t see how much of a blessing that is, one that many in the world don’t experience. I grumble if there’s traffic on the way to work instead of realizing how blessed I am to have a vehicle and a job. The monotony of everyday blessings has blinded my heart to their greatness.
Take time this season to slow down and look at how God has blessed you. When the rainy cloud continues to hang over you while it seems everyone else is walking in sunshine, when you know in your head that you are blessed but can’t get your feelings on board with this truth, remind yourself of who you are and how you’ve been given far more than you deserve.
Even if your circumstances are less than ideal this year, we serve a God who is steadfast in his love and grace. He is good no matter what we are facing, he works all things together for our good, and he never leaves nor forsakes those who are his. No matter how we may feel, believers have much to be thankful for.
very encouraging