Gratitude For All Things (II)

Sometimes, gratitude does not seem to make sense, especially when circumstances are quite unpleasant. But when God is involved in our lives, what does not make sense to us may be the very thing that is right before Him.

Today’s Bible verse says all things, both good and bad, work together for good to them that love God. If you know that something will work for your good, you should be willing to thank God for it, no matter what it is. That was why the apostles rejoiced that they were “counted worthy to suffer shame” and be beaten for the name of Christ (Acts 5:40-41).

Consider this illustration. In a pot of soup, there are several ingredients. Some of them, like those hot peppers are very unpleasant to the taste. But when you know that those hot peppers can work together with other ingredients to produce a palatable pot of soup, you will be willing to be thankful for them. So it is in life. There are hot-pepper dimensions to life that do not appear thankworthy. But we can thank God for them because we understand that God has programmed everything to work together for our good.

Recently, I have been thanking God for the prayers that God did not answer. With the benefit of hindsight, I discovered that God was working for my good in it all. Whatever it is you are going through, start thanking God, especially if you have prayed and done all you know without results. The God who makes all things work for good will show up for you.