give thanks in all circumstances.. 1 Thess. 5:18

In the last few years I've gone through a lot of circumstances: "Why me?" circumstances; "I can't believe this is happening." circumstances; "God, is this a cruel joke?" circumstances; "I can't take much more of this, God!" circumstances.


How do you give thanks in those circumstances? An even better question might be, why in the world would you give thanks in those circumstances? Both the how and the why of giving thanks find an answer when we turn our focus off of the circumstances and on to God. God never changes, so regardless of what is happening in our life, if God was ever good he is still good, and giving thanks is simply choosing to believe God is who He says He is, even when everything else in our life says He's not.

This seems to be the problem that Job faced. Job had served God faithfully throughout his life, and throughout his life God had given Job prosperity and blessing. Job knew God was good and he knew God was loving, and up until that point in Job's life, his life and his circumstances had confirmed what he knew was true about God. Then Job's world turned upside down. Everything that Job loved and valued in this world turned to dust. Everything that had given visible, tangible confirmation that God was good and that God was love, disappeared.

At this point, Job had to make a conscious choice-whether to interpret things according to his own understanding or to take God at His word, no matter how horrible the circumstances.

In your life and my life will come times when we have to make this same choice. Circumstances will come that say that God is not good and that He is unworthy of our praise, and like Job's wife we can agree with the circumstances and say to ourselves, "Curse God and die!" Job 2:9, or we can look at the horror and the madness that seem to be burying us alive and, like Job, say "Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him." Job 13:15. Job knew that no matter what happened to him, God was sovereign over his life, and no matter how things appeared, God's ways were higher than his ways(Isa. 55:9).

When we give thanks in every circumstance, we proclaim before all creation that God is sovereign in our lives, and no tragedy or harm, from man or nature or angel, can touch us without his allowance. When hate surrounds us, we can thank God that He is love. When doom surrounds us, we can thank God that He is victorious. When death comes for us, we can thank God that He is life. No matter what happens in this world, thank God, because He has overcome the world! Jn. 16:33.