1. Our flesh isn’t naturally grateful. We’re self-focused and dominated by how we feel in the moment.
a. That’s why we have to teach children to be appreciative and grateful. That’s why we have to
help them learn to control their emotions and stop throwing tantrums. This tendency doesn’t just
“go away”. When we see “bad” and “feel bad” the last thing we want to do is express gratitude.
b. We must choose to be grateful, choose to express thanksgiving to God. I Thess 5:18–Make it a
habit to thank God. (Williams)
2. To be grateful in the middle of a difficult circumstance, you have to know how to look back at God’s
past help and forward to His future help to properly assess your situation in the present moment.
a. We must see the big picture. Your worst problem is not your immediate crisis. Your greatest
problem is that you are guilty of sin before a holy God and there is nothing you can do about it.
1. But God has remedied your worst problem. He has redeemed you by paying the price for your
sin so it can be washed away and you can receive eternal life.
2. According to the Bible we’re supposed to be thanking God that we are redeemed. Are you in
the habit of thanking God for what He has already done for you through His death, burial and
resurrection? Ps 107:1,2–Thank the Lord because he is good. His love continues forever.
That is what those whom the Lord has saved should say (NCV).
b. We must also be able to put this life and its troubles in their proper perspective. There is more to
life than just this life. We have a future and a hope in the life to come.
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1. Paul was lifted up in the midst of extremely difficult circumstances because he realized that
in comparison to eternity, the hardships of life aren’t that big. II Cor 4:17; Rom 8:18
2. Do you know that the best is yet to come, first in Heaven and then on the new earth? How
often do you thank God for what awaits you because you are redeemed?
3. If you don’t have a habit of thanking God for what He’s already done and for what’s ahead it’s hard to
thank Him in the midst of present hardship. Consider Israel on the way to Canaan.
a. God supernaturally delivered them from slavery in Egypt. But once they were through the Red Sea
life didn’t go exactly as they thought. They had to journey through a mountainous desert region
and face all the challenges presented by such an environment.
1. By this point in time Israel had seen God’s mighty power demonstrated in persuading Pharaoh
to release them, the Red Sea parted, a pillar of fire and cloud to protect and guide them. God
had also promised: I’ll get you out of Egypt and bring you into Canaan. He’d done half of it.
There was no reason to think He wouldn’t do the rest.
2. Yet when they encountered their first obstacle three days out of Egypt (undrinkable water)
they responded by murmuring (Ex 15:23,24). To murmur or complain means to mutter in
discontent. It is the opposite of gratefulness or thanksgiving.
b. This was a real, potentially deadly crisis. But they could have made their request known to God
with thanksgiving. And they could have encouraged themselves by thanking Him for delivering
them from Egyptian slavery and praising Him for the wonderful land ahead.
1. It would have bolstered their confidence that He would help them now, in the present crisis.
Instead they’re going to murmur and complain all the way to Canaan. There’s not one
example of them thanking and praising God after their post-Red Sea celebration. Ex 15:1-21
2. In Rom 1:18-32 Paul described a downward spiral of human behavior that leads to rejection of
God and debasement of humanity in increasingly destructive acts (lessons for another day).
A. But the process begins with not glorifying and thanking God. v21–Yet they did not offer
him as God either praise or thanksgiving (20th Cent).
B. If Israel had developed a habit of gratefulness as they journeyed to Canaan it would have
kept them from falling into sin in the other areas recorded in scripture. I Cor 10:6-11
c. What happened to Israel really happened. But it is called redemption, and it pictures what God has
done for us (Ex 6:6;15:13). We, like them, have plenty to be thankful for no matter what we face.
1. We can thank God that He has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and made us His
sons and daughters through faith. We can thank Him that we have a beautiful home awaiting
us, first in Heaven and then on the earth made new.
2. We have the historical example of God’s care of His redeemed people Israel as they faced the
challenges of life in a sin cursed wilderness. They had food, water, protection and guidance.
A. They failed to thank and praise God for His provision even after they saw it. It ultimately
cost them the Promised Land because they built a habit of unbelief in themselves.
B. Their example is recorded so that we won’t make the same mistakes. It shows the value
of learning to rejoice and thank God for redeeming us, thanking Him for our future, and
thanking Him that He is with us and for us and will get us through until He gets us out.
4. There is always something to thank God for in every situation: The good He has done, is doing and
will do. Paul wrote of giving thanks for all things. Eph 5:20
a. We need to first clear up misunderstanding of this verse. Some say it means to thank God for the
good and the bad in your life because everything comes from God either directly or indirectly.
1. That is incorrect. Bad does not come God. God is good and good means good. Jesus, who is
God and shows us God, who said He only did what He saw His Father do (John 14:9; 5:19;
etc.) never did or allowed bad to anyone during His earth ministry. (lessons for another day)
2. We live in a sin cursed earth, a world damage by sin and bad stuff happens. But God is able
to take the bad and use it to bring good. Rom 8:28
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A. We can be thankful before we see because scripture give example after example of how
God works with the realities of life in a sin damaged world.
B. John 6:11–Jesus gave thanks for five loaves and two fish in the face of five thousand men
plus women and children because He knew “not enough” could become “more than
enough” in the hands of His Father.
b. The Old Testament was written to give us reasons to hope even in life’s biggest challenges (Rom
15:4). It shows us how God works behind the scenes to bring deliverance to His people.
1. We can see that Israel could have been thankful at the Red Sea, not for the obstacle it
presented but for what God was going to do — part it, deliver them and destroy their enemy.
2. We can see that the sword brought on to the field to kill David became the instrument used to
cut off Goliath’s head. We can see that the three armies that came against Jehoshaphat and
Judah would become confused and kill each other, a solution they could not have imagined.
c. These incidents (and many others) were recorded to inspire us to thank and praise God in the
present moment because, even if we can’t see a way out, He can. He can and turn bad into good.