Vertical Thanksgiving
I remember reading a story about Charles Hadden Spurgeon who recounts visiting a widow who had virtually nothing but bread and water for her meal. She lifted her hands to heaven in praise and proclaimed, “What? All of this and Jesus too!”
What an overwhelming sense of gratitude to God this widow displayed, and it makes my grumbling about gas prices sound absolutely petty and embarrassing.
Former pastor A.W. Tozer famously said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” So true. So our gratitude toward God rises or falls based upon the rightness or wrongness of our view and heart toward Him.
I’d like to share with you three of the most helpful perfections of God that I am grateful for when facing the varying intensity of life’s trying and tough circumstances.
I’m thankful for God’s impeccable love that is so vast, so deep, and so endless for you and me. Not only do we learn God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), but we are told that God gave the best of His love by making the greatest of sacrifices on our behalf. His Son lived, died, and rose again for us (Rom. 5:8; Gal. 2:20). It’s a love that adopted us as His children (1 John 3:1) and nothing can separate us from this faithful love (Rom. 8:39). How could we ever doubt this kind of love?
I’m thankful for God’s infinite wisdom that created everything (Jer. 10:12; 51:15), is unsearchable and unfathomable (Rom. 11:33-34), and it dumbfounded the multitudes (Matt 13:54). It is summed up in Jesus’ life “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3), and it “leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15). How could we ever doubt that God knows what is best for us and how this is best experienced in our lives?
I’m thankful for God’s invincible sovereignty. This attribute of total control is so unlike us that we find ourselves baffled, unsettled, or overwhelmed by its sheer ability. When God says things like, “in everything give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:18), or “always giving thanks for all things” (Eph. 5:20), it makes us realize that these two commands can only make sense when God is in control and nothing and no one can thwart His will or way…no opposition, no loss, no sickness, no rejection, no discouragement. Why? “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things” (Rom. 11:36), and “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). How could we ever doubt that God is fully able?
WHY highlight these three in particular for me? Because God in His impeccable love always wills what is best for you and me. God in His infinite wisdom always knows what is best for you and me. God in His invincible sovereignty can always accomplish what is best for you and me.
How could we ever stop thanking God for even one second?
Pastor Jeff