By Andrea Guachalla
I’m sitting on my desk next to the window taking notes on my Christian planner/journal. Today I’m reading John 14, according to the reading plan that I’m following. The Christian journal that I use has a section for taking notes, a section to write prayer notes, and a section for… thanking God.
After taking notes I get to the section that is titled: “Today I’m thankful for:______”
As I try to write something in the blank space I suddenly run out of ideas, my mind goes blank. I look through the window at the right side of the desk. The sky is clear, the leaves of my neighbor’s tree sway in the breeze.
I try to think of something, but the only thing that pops up in my mind is a question: “What am I thankful for?”
Not being able to answer it rises confusion and even another question: “What on earth would I be thankful for?”
I assure myself that it is completely fine to ask myself something like that, and it makes sense that I struggle to find something for which I am thankful for…
I’ve been locked down for over 40 days, only being able to go to the supermarket once a week. I haven’t seen my friends in person for over a month, and even worse than that – given the big chaos the world is going through – I’m not gonna be able to fly to my homeland to visit my beloved mother, siblings, and friends, whom I haven’t seen in almost a year and a half.
I’ve been forced to depend on screens: I socialize through screens; I work through screens; I learn through screens… I spend more time staring at my computer, cell phone or TV, than I spend seeing actual faces. Not knowing exactly what’s gonna happen in a few months tempts me to be anxious from time to time.
So, what would I be thankful for?
As I try to force myself to write something in the “thankfulness” section of the journal, something that I read a week ago comes to my mind: Bethesda. A pool in Jerusalem where, thousands of years ago, people would go to be ‘healed’ of their diseases.
I distinctly remember that I read that there was a man -A disabled man who had been sick for 38 years. That is what John 5:5 says. This man had been sick for so long, and even though he would have gotten the chance to be ‘healed’ in the pool of Bethesda – where it was known that the first person to come to it after it stirred up would get healed – he never accomplished it, since no one ever helped him to get there at the right moment. Every time he would go there, someone else would enter before him.
And then comes Jesus who sees him lying there, and recognizes that the man had been sick for many years, and he approaches him and asks him:
“Do you want to be healed?”
And the man, probably surprised that someone would come to him and ask such a question, answers:
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water
is stirred up, and while I am going another one steps
down before me.”
That’s when Jesus, with all authority and power, and without asking further questions, just says to the man:
“Get up, take up your bed and walk.”
And the man does. He gets up, he takes his bed, and he walks.
After 38 years of being disabled and having his needs ignored by others, his health is completely restored, and he is able to walk. His greatest desire was fulfilled.
Isn’t that amazing?
After reading this you would expect, naturally, that the next scene would show this man thanking Jesus and praising God for what He did. You would even expect to have the people around him rejoicing for his healing; because they had seen him sick for so long, and he was suddenly restored. But the account of his story takes an unexpected turn…
The man doesn’t thank anyone, and neither do the people. There is no rejoicing; there is no praising God. There is only complaining and blaming.
When the Jews see the man carrying his bed, the only thing they say is:
“It is the Sabbath and it is not lawful
for you to take up your bed.”
Sadly, the man’s attitude is not at all thankful or joyful. Rather, worried about the Jews’ opinion and judgement, he responds by blaming the one who healed him, Jesus, since he was the one who told him to take up his bed.
“The man who healed me, that man said to me
“take up your bed and walk.””
When I got to this point of reading the story, I felt disgusted by the ungratefulness of both the man who had been healed and the Jews -both only cared for their human standards of fulfilling the Law rather than responding rightly to the one who fulfilled the Law. They cared more for the appearance of keeping the Sabbath ‘holy’ rather and the societal acclaim that came with it than being made holy by the Lord of the Sabbath and loving him with all their minds, strength and souls.
My disgust only grew with the next part of the story.
After a while, Jesus approaches the man again and calls him to repentance, thankfulness and joy. He says:
“See, you are well! Sin no more,
that nothing worse may happen to you.”
Jesus knew his heart and knew the source of his ungratefulness. He knew that having his health restored wasn’t the most important thing. Instead, this man needed to repent from his sin, and give thanks. But the man proves to have no ears for this calling.
He goes to the Jews, and accuses Jesus as the one who prompted him to ‘break’ the Sabbath by healing him and telling him to take up his bed. Afterwards, the Jews started persecuting Jesus.
As I reflected about that man’s and the Jews’ ungratefulness and how poorly the man reacted to God’s calling to repentance and thankfulness, I realized something that I wish I could have ignored: I was that man.
God didn’t only heal me from an earthly disease, HE BROUGHT ME TO LIFE. He gave me life when I was dead in my trespasses. And I’m still here sitting on my desk thinking of all the things that are not going right; I’m struggling to find things for which I am thankful to God.
I am that man, who received something great from God. He had his health restored; he also received a calling to repent and thank God, but he didn’t listen, since he was more concerned about the things of the world.
I am that man.
I am the one who thinks I actually deserve what I have and more, I’m prideful. Therefore, I cannot be thankful.
I recognize that instead of focusing on the eternal blessings God gives me, I focus on my temporal shortages. Therefore, I don’t feel there is anything to be thankful for.
The same way the Jews did, I too ignore the blessings of others, and I’m not interested in being thankful to God for how he provides for them. My heart is unable to thank the Lord.
With my human wisdom, I am unable to understand that gratefulness is not merely a feeling and that it doesn’t depend on earthly circumstances, but it is the natural response to what God has accomplished in the life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus for me.. Gratefulness is only achievable when we keep our eyes on Christ and ask the Father to soften our hearts in prayer.
In my weak nature, I forget that God’s providential rule is always working for my good:
“None of us will ever be in circumstances in which
John Blanchard
there are no blessings for which God deserves thanks.”
Joe Carter shows what that looks like in practice:
“You [pray thanks] before meals. All right.
Joe Carter
But I [pray thanks] before the concert and the opera,
and [pray thanks] before the play and pantomime,
and [pray thanks] before I open a book,
and [pray thanks] before sketching, painting, swimming,
fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing,
and I [pray thanks] before I dip my pen in the ink.”
Oh, if I could see God’s blessings in even the smallest details, I’m sure I wouldn’t ponder minutes on end to think of something I am thankful for!
I must remind myself that the same words Jesus said to that man, he’s saying to me today:
“See, you are well! Sin no more…”
I too am called to rejoice for God’s blessings, I too am called to turn away from my sinful ways. I am called to confess my sins and repent wholeheartedly in front of the Lord. I am called to repent from my ungratefulness and pray that the Lord will give me a thankful heart.
It’s my turn to pray that God will open my eyes to see the beauty of Christ’s work in the cross, a work that I didn’t deserve and therefore should result in gratefulness. It’s my turn to ask the Lord that he will help me see his blessings and gifts including among those the hardships that life brings. I must ask God to enable me to see those hardships the way he sees them, that I will let him lead me and teach me through them, while enabling me to set my eyes on Christ, my loving savior.
The sole privilege of being allowed to approach God in prayer is already a blessing to thank for… There is always something to be thankful for, whether eternal blessings or temporal blessings. The few lines I get in the “Today I’m thankful for:_______” section in my journal wouldn’t be enough, the ink wouldn’t be enough. As the hymn writer Frances Ridley says:
“If I could write as I would about the goodness of God to me,
Frances Ridley
the ink would boil in my pen.”
I see outside, the sun settles down in the horizon while a new desire settles in my heart: I hope that from now on I can start my days praying with my heart and soul to our Lord:
“Today I’m thankful.
Amen.”
Other sources:
- Why we should be thankful for the gift of gratitude. The Gospel Coalition.
- The Attitude of Gratitude (series). Revive Our Hearts.
I would say our thankfulness and joyfulness stem from understanding and experiencing the grace of the Lord, not only from His past grace that He died for our sins and brought us salvation, but also from His future grace that we will join Him in heaven for the eternity.
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” Ephesians 2:4-5
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” 1 Peter 5:10
That is so true! Thanks for sharing Haimiao. 🙂 We are thankful not only for what He did, but for what He does in the present and will do in the future.