giving thanks in all circumstances

I was thinking this morning that Thanksgiving could not have come at a better time this year- a person is hard pressed to find much good news these days (unless of course you are a Sooner fan and your team obliterated the number 2 team in the nation last week!).

Providentially, our text and memory verse this week is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thess 5:16-18)

I will never forget my New Testament professor at Southwestern Seminary, Dr. J.W. McGorman lecturing on this verse one day in class. He said to us in his thick Nova Scotian accent,

"Give thanks IN all circumstances, not FOR all circumstances. One never gives thanks for those things that break the heart of God. But one can always find reason to be thankful."

C.S. Lewis has famously said he believes the first words we will say in heaven are the words, "Ah hah, now I understand..."

I think of a classic example of this in the story of Corrie Ten Boom, the committed Dutch believer whose family provided refuge for Jews during the German holocaust of World War 2.

She and her other family members were caught and as a result were thrown into several prison camps before eventually ending up at the infamous Ravensbruk concentration camp in Germany. She tells the story in her autobiography, The Hiding Place, of complaining to her sister Betsie about the horrible filth surrounding her bunk in that prison- and especially the flies. Her sister reminded her of this very passage- give thanks IN all circumstances. The two women sat on Corries bed and Betsie led them in a prayer of thanks for the flies.

Corrie commented that she could be thankful for just about everything in her life- except for those blasted flies.

It wasn't until years later after Corrie had been liberated from the prison that she had a conversation with one of the men who had been a prison guard at the camp that she learned the reason she and Betsie were provided relative freedom in their rooms- and thus were able to keep Bibles and to hold Bible studies and to develop somewhat of a Christian community in that horrible place-

The reason was that the guards couldn't stand the flies.

We may not always know why we are giving thanks IN the circumstances- but God does.

This Thanksgiving in between watching football and cooking meals and catching up with family-why not spend some time thanking God for those blessings you can see all around you- and then devote some time thanking Him even for the things you don't understand right now-

but one day will.