The Importance of Thanksgiving 

Ingratitude is a very ugly thing. When we do something nice for another person, we may not be doing it to get their praise; but every one of us is pleased if the person we helped expresses gratitude. And it hurts when people don’t appreciate what we do for them. Nothing feels better than to be praised and thanked for the good we have done. We need to do good even if we don’t get credit for it; but no one can deny that it is wonderful to receive praise and thanks.

Well-brought-up boys and girls are taught by their parents to say, Please and Thank You.  It makes a favorable impression on others, and makes people want to keep on doing good things for the grateful person.  Gratitude is beautiful to those who behold it, and ingratitude is ugly to see. 

But if ingratitude is ugly to see, it’s even uglier and more poisonous to feel inside oneself.  An unthankful person is never happy, never at peace, always feels sorry for himself, always blames others, never feels satisfied, always feels that others owe him something always seems to ask, "What have you done for me lately?  Unthankfulness is what makes children rebel against their parents; it is what makes people behave like criminals; it makes people bitter, angry, and even violent. 

Because we are made in God’s image, we are like Him; so that means also that He is like us. He loves to receive thanks, praise, and gratitude. So therefore we should give thanks in every situation, knowing that God has only good intentions towards us. 

Psalm 100:1-5: “Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; [Or and not we ourselves] we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. 5 For the LORD is good and His love endures for ever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” 

1Thess. 5:16-18:  “Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” 

How can we give thanks in every situation?  Because of Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  If we are His loving children, called for His purpose, then everything that concerns us is in His loving hand.  

But not only should we thank and praise God in every situation, we are even told to thank God for every situation. 

Eph. 5:18-19: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   

This only makes sense if God is somehow overruling everything that happens. He is not responsible for sin, of course, and He does not bring bad things upon us.  But even when troubles, pain, sufferings, disappointments come upon us (things that are not according to His perfect will), God is still in control.  He does not allow anything to come upon us that we can’t bear and that will not ultimately work for our good. 

1 Cor. 10:13: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 

This promise of God implies that God strictly controls every temptation or trial, or painful circumstance that comes our way. Even when our own sins put us in hard places, God limits the harm that the Enemy can do to us—as long as we belong to Him. We can resist God to the end; in that case we  never enjoy God’s blessing or His full protection; and if we resist Him entirely, we will be lost forever. Satan is trying in every way to ruin our lives and to take us to Hell. But God is overruling and limiting the bad things that happen to us. And when He allows them, it is either because we have disobeyed and taken ourselves out from under His protection, or it is some trial that we need to bring us back into the path of Life and the place of blessing.  Or it may be a “thorn in the flesh,” a painful reminder that we are totally dependent on God and should not ever think we can do anything without God. 

Eph. 1:11: “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” 

When we praise and thank God in and for every situation, even painful ones, we are expressing our faith in Him that His Word is true. We are saying, “We believe that God is altogether good, that His will towards us is good, and that He is able to bring good out of every evil thing.”  Amen.