Give Thanks In ALL Things?

Don’t you love people who have a neat name? I listened to a fellow named Skeen last Wednesday night in our mid-week Church meeting. That to me is a great name and Brother Skeen, one of our laymen, is a great guy who has a tremendous gift in being able to communicate God’s truths in a very understandable way. He was teaching from various texts but he pointed out from Romans chapter one that a telling characteristic of those who had refused to recognize and honor God even though He had made Himself known to them, was how they had become unthankful.

This really hit home to me since I had been through a small ordeal just getting to the meeting place that night. I had left the office a little late and hurried home to print a master copy of my lesson handout for my Sunday Bible study so it could be copied and made ready for my class. About ten minutes before I arrived at my house, the skies opened up and water began literally gushing from the clouds. It was raining so hard some of the streets were beginning to fill up. Then I got behind a little old lady and she had the nerve to drive slowly and carefully in a rainstorm in which you couldn’t see the cars in front of you. The nerve of her!

You might say I wasn’t being very thankful at that point in time. When it came time for me to make my turn I was hoping she would go straight but no-o-o-o! She was having way too much fun leading the procession that was behind her. I finally got home and ran upstairs and turned my computer on and ran back downstairs and grabbed a chunk of cheddar cheese, some Fritos, and a glass of milk, then back upstairs to make a couple of changes to my lesson. I was now running at least ten to fifteen minutes later than I had planned and when I finally got my stuff printed, the bottom fell out again.

It was raining so hard you could hardly see and I seriously considered not going. But I knew I should and I knew I needed to take my lesson and I had promised the Bible study coordinator that I would be there, so I climbed into the car and headed back out into the storm. When I arrived at the Church building the water was standing like a pond all around. I considered parking under the canopy but didn’t because I thought someone else more needy might park there. The storm was unrelenting but I used my umbrella and finally made it inside.

Very few were there. This unexpected sudden heavy downpour had caused havoc out on the interstate and even Bro. Skeen had not showed up yet. Those of us who did get there talked and laughed and had a good time. A few more straggled in and when Bro. Skeen arrived ten minutes late he immediately went to the podium and dove off into his lesson. He always uses great illustrations and when he came to the part about being unthankful I felt that sharp jab of the Spirit firmly saying, “He’s talking about you.” Isn’t it just like God to use a situation like this to get your attention?

I immediately began thinking about all the things I had to be thankful for. Part of this was rethinking the previous hour and I began considering how that we really did need the rain, and how it was only right for people to slow down in hazardous conditions. Who knows? That little old lady who could hardly see over the steering wheel may have been used by God to make sure I even made it home. I also knew that God had provided me the gift of salvation and even having a class to teach and a lesson to prepare was by His provision. The photo is of me teaching my class. While I was still ruminating over all of my struggles I noticed that just a few feet away sat an elderly couple who had weathered the same storm to be in their place. But it doesn’t stop there.

I thought where I would be without God in my life and how thankful I am that He is real and He cares about me. I considered the great privileges I have in Christ as a child of God, and how I can depend upon Him to always be there for me. He did not tell us to be thankful for all things but to be thankful “in” all things. This means if we have Him we can always rejoice even when dealing with issues like unexpected downpours, slow traffic, and deadlines we think are important. As you can tell, the Potter is still working on me! More later…………