“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”
Happy Thanksgiving!
We all long for good health and long days, level paths and clear skies, sunshine on our faces and happiness in our hearts. I pray God gives you all of that in great measure. But even more I pray your thanksgiving would spill beyond those boundaries. Paul writes:
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20 ESV
Some circumstances and situations leave us wondering, “God do you really care?” “God are you really there?” We are not the first with that wrestle. Just read the Psalms.
But God is there and God does care. Job teaches us that. And God doesn’t owe us an explanation. Job teaches us that too!
The thankfulness of the faithful is often “in spite of.” It is a “defiant nevertheless,” a phrase theologian Karl Barth used to described joy. It is the hopeful “yet I will rejoice” of Habakkuk:
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV
May God give you a Habakkuk Thanksgiving this day and this week!
Happy Thanksgiving.
NOTE: I’ll be stepping away from Don’t Ask The Fish for the next few days. I look forward to picking up again with you next week.