Meditation
 
THANKSGIVING         Dr, Joseph Stowell
 
In Everything Give thanks. —1 Thessalonians 5:18 NKJV
 
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday—bar none. I love it for the smell of the turkey in the oven, the pungent taste of the cranberry sauce, and the comfort of the dressing. It’s quiet, family, fallish, and fun. But more than that, it’s a reminder to me of the importance of a thankful spirit, that it is “a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord” (Psalm 92:1 KJV).
 
Good for a lot of reasons. It keeps us mindful that the Lord is the source of all we are and have. It keeps our hearts and minds on the positive side of the ledger of life and keeps our bent to pessimism in check.
 
But what about those all-too-frequent days when we have every right to feel pessimistic? When a healthy dose of pessimistic grousing seems therapeutic? Actually, grumpy responses to life add to the burden. Satan would love to compound your pain by throwing you a colossal pity party.
 
It’s thankfulness that is therapeutic. Which is exactly why Scripture commands us to give thanks in everything. And, thankfully, it’s not asking you to get lost in some wah-wah land of denial.
 
The command simply asks us to believe that God is intimately involved in our lives. That He never leaves us, and that He doesn’t forsake us. It affirms that, even in the worst of situations, He is working all things together for good and will use the struggle to refine and groom us. It recognizes that His grace is abundantly sufficient to carry us through.
 
In the midst of the suffering, we have the opportunity to identify and understand how He felt when He suffered for us. Thankfulness admits that He is God and knows what He is doing with our lives. It rejoices with Jeremiah, who declared what God had said: “I know the plans I have for you, . . . plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11 NASB).
 
A thankful Spirit recognizes that God, not the devil, is in the details of a follower’s life. To refuse to give thanks in everything is to deny the presence, the goodness, and the greatness of God—something I’m not ready to do.