Courtney Gilmore Are you counting your blessings this thanksgiving or are you struggling to think of any? Over the years, you will probably have at least a few thanksgivings where nothing seems to be going right and you really just don’t feel very thankful. If you feel like that right now, it’s ok to admit it, but I hope you don’t stay there too long. If you can’t see any reason to be thankful, I hope you at least know you have one glorious reason that you can’t see – and it means more than all the rest.
Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:1-2
The Israelites didn’t feel very thankful on their way to the promised land. They’d been wondering around in the wilderness with their parents for almost 40 years. No food would grow there, but thankfully the Lord had been sending them some. Each morning when the dew lifted, it left small wafers of bread for them to gather. So, they barely had to work for this food and it tasted like a sweet pastry, but they were sick of it. Can you even imagine eating the same thing for 40 years, even if it did taste good? I can’t.
It makes sense to be sick of it, but complaining to the One that had kept them alive all those years was the wrong thing to do. They should’ve just been thankful they weren’t starving or scrounging around for bugs and worms all day, and that the food at least tasted good. Also, God was in the process of bringing them into a luscious new land, flowing with milk and honey, that also grew clusters of grapes so big that it took two men to carry them. So even if they weren’t thankful for what they had, they could’ve been satisfied knowing that soon they would live in abundance. They just needed to wait a little longer.
Maybe you too have a very good reason that you don’t feel very thankful this thanksgiving. But, could it be worse? If you think about it, can you see the ways God has been caring for you, even if you don’t have everything you want right now? Is He in the process of bringing you to a place of abundant blessings and you are just having a hard time being patient?
I understand. I’ve been where you are. But it’s not good to stay in that place. It won’t help you feel better. Let me ask you something? No matter what you have on this earth, do you have God?
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by His grace you have been saved- and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not of your own doing. It is the gift of God… For we are His workmanship.
Ephesians 2:4-10
He is our reason to be thankful! He has given each of us a gift that can’t be measured. We are rich, even if we have only Him, because His gift of grace is more abundant than all the other things we could receive.
God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son, has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.
1 John 5:11-13
In the end, the only thing that matters is whether you have the Son. With Him, you have life and without Him, you have nothing. He comes with a multitude of benefits!
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems you life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies you mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses His acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and it’s place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments and do them. The Lord has established His throne in heaven, and His kingdom rules over all.
Psalm 103:1-19
Do you see all He’s done for you? Do not forget His benefits! They are innumerable! You have many blessings!!! Go ahead, count them. One by one you will see them multiply into great abundance. You do have a reason to be thankful this thanksgiving. His name is Jesus!
Excerpt from Episode 95 “Thanksgiving, Faith, and Salvation” on Podcast and YouTube
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