Thankful or Bitter

“All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled…” Hebrews 12:11-15

There is a method to the madness… a purpose behind all the twists and turns and bumps in the road of life. On this side of glory its easy to see dark clouds, frightening-lightening, and eerie trouble brewing… yet the purpose could bring rain and life and growth… God’s thoughts are higher than ours Isaiah 55:9.

Did you know that God would have us give Him thanks to him at all times? Colossians 3:17; Colossians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 5:18; 1 Timothy 2:1… hopefully, you ask… why? Why would God have me give Him thanks when I’m hurting, when I’ve faced loss or failure or misfortune? Because He loves you!

It’s easy to give thanks when everything is going well, anyone can do that. But God’s kids are special and He desires of us to behave differently as well. God knows that we are going or will go through tough times… he directs them our way… Psalm 44:22; Isaiah 45:7; Judges 9:23; 1 Chronicles 21:15; Also, God is very concerned with our hearts. He’s not so concerned with our appearance, our circumstances, our income, or our status… God looks at the heart… “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7.

Character matters! Especially to God. Character-Fruit such as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… Galatians 5:22… these are what God is looking for in our lives… so he must purge out of us… “immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing”… Galatians 5:19-21…

So, what happens if we have a terrible thing happen and we don’t for a moment… pray and find His grace to give Him some form of thanks? We become bitter. A tiny root of bitterness is planted in our heart. God loves us and so he sends us back around the same mountain again… again, we don’t see God in the circumstance, again we fail to give him any recognition at all… that root of bitterness… grows. Unfortunately, we have myriads of roots of bitterness working in us now and we don’t realize it… when we fail to glorify God then we start down the Romans 1:21-32 road…

Yet, there is a great hope found in Hebrews 13:15 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” and “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” James 1:2-3

Giving thanks makes us thankful over time. Giving thanks during hard times stops bitterness in its tracks and allows us to have a pure heart… a pure God can see God in the circumstances, in the instruments that he is using… all to work on our lives… change our hearts.

This Thanksgiving… can you give God thanks for all that’s gone wrong this past year? Can you will your stubborn nature to do that? Can you look back and see God there? Or, when looking back… are you bitter, you will know… Proverbs 14:10…

Or, can you look at all that you’ve gone through and see that most of the pain and problems… you caused… and in seeing that, tasting that… find the sweetness there?... Proverbs 27:7

May the Lord give you grace to see the sweetness even in the midst of great bitter moments in this coming year!

May you and yours enjoy a peaceful, quiet, and thank-filled Thanksgiving!