What are you thankful for? There must be something.

There is always something to be thankful for, even in the midst of trials and pain.

This is not to minimize anyone’s pain or encourage a facade of happiness. I wouldn’t do that, especially not after posting about lament just a few weeks ago.

Laments may form one-third of the Psalms, but over one-fourth of them are Psalms of Thanksgiving.

The Hebrew word todah, translated as “thanksgiving,” was used in the Old Testament to refer to a form of praise, to stand before the community and declare what God has done for you.

1. In biblical Hebrew, expressing thanks was not done privately, but publicly. 

In this context, no one said “thank you” to an individual the way we do today. To give thanks was to stand before one’s community and lift up the name and reputation of the person being thanked.

Instances of the word todah include:

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. (Ps. 69:30 NIV)

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. (Ps. 95:2)

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. (Ps. 100.4)

Why do the Scriptures exhort us to publicly give thanks and praise to God?

Does He need it – or do we?

When we teach our children to say “thank you,” is it because we need our egos stroked and our vanity appeased, or because we want them to learn the right thing to do?

It’s good for us to express gratitude, especially in times of trouble. When we give thanks for what God has already done, we are reminded of His faithfulness, mercy, and might, allaying our fears and anxieties.

Philippians 4:6-7 says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Expressing gratitude is good for you. Even research says so.

2. Gratitude fosters a sense of contentment, which Satan doesn’t want us to have.

Satan would rather have us dwell on everything we don‘t have: in our relationships, our finances, our status – even our spiritual lives.

The tenth commandment says, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exod. 20:17).

And what does Satan do? He tempts us to covet and envy what we do not, cannot, or should not, have.

He tempted Adam and Eve to eat the fruit and have knowledge in order to “be like God” (Gen. 3:4).

He tempted a hungry Jesus to make bread out of stones (Matt. 4:3).

He then tempted Jesus with worldly power over all the earth – if only he would “bow and worship me” (Matt. 4: 8-9).

What is he tempting you to covet, to crave, to envy? In what areas of your life is Satan highlighting what you lack?

I was hit hard with this a little over a year ago. That’s when my world began to unravel.

I was facing an unexpected career change in my mid-40s, just a little over one year after my family returned from Japan because we discerned a call to return to California.

Leaving Japan cost me more than just my role in ministry.

I had been licensed by our denomination since 2009 and went to Japan as a missionary under them. I was in the denomination’s seminary on a scholarship from them. If we had chosen to remain in Japan, we most likely would have become “lifers” with that denomination.

That trajectory took a nosedive.

Upon our return to California, the church I was working at voted to leave that denomination. Consequently, the denomination would not renew my standing because I was no longer a member of one of their churches.

But it was all right, I told myself, because I was convinced that God had called me to this role. I would give all of that up if this is where God had called me to.

I’d end up losing it all for a job I had to leave after just a little more than a year. And I had no idea what would come next.

Satan pummeled me with this. “You’ve followed God for over ten years, and what do you have to show for it? You have no job, no savings, no house, no church. You lost your standing with your denomination, you gave up career opportunities in Japan, and you can’t even complete your seminary studies. You’re getting old, too. Who’s going to hire you? How are you going to take care of your wife and children? You are done. Your family is done. And all because you followed your God.”

It was a struggle to resist the weight of these thoughts, but I knew deep inside that they were all lies.

I knew that I had followed God to the best of my finite ability.

I knew that God would take care of my family.

In the midst of being assaulted with thoughts of what I lacked, I gave thanks to God for everything He has already done in my family’s life.

3. Remembering God’s faithfulness strengthens you to endure.

As I worked on my resume and LinkedIn profile, I had stressed about how my career trajectory might look to potential recruiters: my career began in film and video production, went into graphic design, veered into pastoral ministry, took a detour into missions, and returned to church ministry as children‘s pastor.

I looked aimless – which one is apt to do when following the Holy Spirit’s lead.

By God’s grace, a friend connected me to an organization that was hiring. I clicked on the job description and found that it perfectly aligned with my crazy-looking resume: not only did the job description mention content generation, copywriting, graphic design, and video production at a faith-based mission, it also included VBS curriculum!

I’ve been in this new role for almost one year now.

God, You are faithful and kind, Your mercies I cannot fathom.

Because my new role was not as clergy, I now qualified for a home loan. A house down the street where we were renting and fell in love with became available for sale. The seller already had three offers, but he decided to sell to us because we were already members of the neighborhood and he was moved by our story of being missionaries.

Lord, You restore the years that the locusts have eaten. My hope and security are in You.

Due to a variety of factors, I was no longer able to complete my seminary studies, as it required the rest of my classes to be taken on-campus in Chicago through summer intensives. I had to withdraw.

Yet, by God’s grace, I was accepted at Fuller Seminary, which has a campus just four miles from my home.

God, you make straight our crooked paths.

I might have “lost” a number of things I once held dear, but I gained more than I ever expected. Out of pain came new life:

“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (Jn. 12:24)

Sometimes, we need to lose in order to gain.

We need to empty our hands in order to receive.

We need new wineskins because the old ones will break.

When we are in the midst of trials, we cannot always think straight or see clearly, but keep your eyes focused on God.

Seek Him first.

Give thanks for what He has done, and fight back the thoughts of what you don‘t have.

Happy Thanksgiving, friends.