Thankful

Elizabeth Elliot Devotional

Title: Thanksgiving for What is Given

Some people are substituting "Turkey Day" for
Thanksgiving. I guess it must be because they are
not aware that there's anybody to thank, and they
think that the most important thing about the
holiday is food. Christians know there is
Somebody to thank, but often when we make a list
of things to thank Him for we include only things
we like. A bride and groom can't get away with
that. They write a note to everybody, not only
the rich uncle who gave the couple matching BMWs,
but the poor aunt who gave them a crocheted
toilet-paper cover. In other words, they have to
express thanks for whatever they've received.

Wouldn't that be a good thing for us to do with
God? We are meant to give thanks "in everything"
even if we're like the little girl who said she
could think of a lot of things she'd rather have
than eternal life. The mature Christian offers
not just polite thanks but heartfelt thanks that
springs from a far deeper source than his own
pleasure. Thanksgiving is a spiritual exercise,
necessary to the building of a healthy soul. It
takes us out of the stuffiness of ourselves into
the fresh breeze and sunlight of the will of God.
The simple act of thanking Him is for most of us
an abrupt change of activity, a break from work
and worry, a move toward re-creation.

I am not suggesting the mouthing of foolish
platitudes, or evasion of the truth. That is not
how God is glorified, or souls fortified. I want
to see clearly what I have been given and to
thank Him with an honest heart. What are the
"givens"?

Thankless children we all are, more or less,
comprehending but dimly the truth of God's
fathomless love for us. We do not know Him as a
gracious Giver, we do not understand His most
precious gifts, or the depth of His love, the
wisdom with which He has planned our lives, the
price He pays to bring us to glory and
fulfillment. When some petty private concern or
perhaps some bad news depresses or confuses me, I
am in no position to be thankful. Far from it.
That is the time, precisely then, that I must
begin by deliberately putting my mind on some
great Realities.

What are these "givens"? What do I most
unshakably believe in? God the Father Almighty.
Jesus Christ His only Son. The Holy Ghost, the
holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the
body, the life everlasting. Not a long list, but
all we need. "The necessary supplies issued to
us, the standard equipment of the Christian." We
didn't ask for any of them. (Imagine having
nothing more than we've asked for!) They are
given.

Take the list of whatever we're not thankful for
and measure it against the mighty foundation
stones of our faith. The truth of our private
lives can be understood only in relation to those
Realities. Some of us know very little of
suffering, but we know disappointments and
betrayals and losses and bitterness. Are we
really meant to thank God for such things? Let's
be clear about one thing: God does not cause all
the things we don't like. But He does permit them
to happen because it is in this fallen world that
we humans must learn to walk by faith. He doesn't
leave us to ourselves, however. He shares every
step. He walked this lonesome road first, He gave
Himself for us, He died for us. "Can we not trust
such a God to give us, with Him, everything else
that we can need?" (Romans 8:32, PHILLIPS). Those
disappointments give us the chance to learn to
know Him and the meaning of His gifts, and, in
the midst of darkness, to receive His light.
Doesn't that transform the not thankful list into
a thankful one?