Pomona First Baptist Celebration Choir: Let All Things Give Thanks

Psalm 69:30

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

Our song this week gives praise to our Creator God – our protector, our Savior, our Almighty King. Just the being of God and His relationship with us gives us a lifetime of thanksgiving. This is the easy part.

It’s much harder to remember to give thanks for the little stuff, the day-to-day life stuff, the hard-to-see-God-in-it stuff.

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Wait…but if you’re praying for something, what is there to be thankful about?

You may have heard the story of Corrie Ten Boom. During the holocaust, she was the only member of her Dutch family who survived the Ravensbruck concentration camp after being arrested for hiding Jews in a secret room in their house. The lessons that she learned and wrote in her book The Hiding Place are always good to hear again.

"That's it, Corrie! That's His answer. 'Give thanks in all circumstances!' That's what we can do. We can start right now to thank God for every single thing about this new barracks!"

I stared at her, then around me at the dark, foul-aired room.
"Such as?" I said.
"Such as being assigned here together."
I bit my lip. "Oh yes, Lord Jesus!"
"Such as what you're holding in your hands."
I looked down at the Bible. "Yes! Thank You, dear Lord, that there was no inspection when we entered here! Thank You for all the women, here in this room, who will meet You in these pages."
"Yes," said Betsie. "Thank You for the very crowding here. Since we're packed so close, that many more will hear!" She looked at me expectantly. "Corrie!" she prodded.
"Oh, all right. Thank You for the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds."
"Thank You," Betsie went on serenely, "for the fleas and for -----"
The fleas! This was too much. "Betsie, there's no way even God can make me grateful for a flea."
"Give thanks in all circumstances," she quoted. "It doesn't say in pleasant circumstances.' Fleas are part of this place where God has put us."
And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.

Later in the story, Betsie comes to this realization and shares it with her sister:

"You know we've never understood why we had so much freedom in the big room," she said. "Well---I've found out."
That afternoon, she said, there'd been confusion in her knitting group about sock sizes and they'd asked the supervisor to come and settle it.
"But she wouldn't. She wouldn't step through the door and neither would the guards. And you know why?"
Betsie could not keep the triumph from her voice: "Because of the fleas! That's what she said, 'That place is crawling with fleas!"
My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place. I remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for. *

What are the fleas in your life and are you thankful for them? Does your life reflect a habit of thanksgiving - pausing often to say thank you for the big things, the little things, and even for the hard things?

This month, I followed the example of some of my friends on Facebook and committed to give thanks for something every day during the month of November and then share it. What a difference it has made in my perspective! It’s hard to dwell on the stress of the day when you’re considering something to be thankful for.

This attitude of thanksgiving is truly blessed by the Lord. He delights in the praise and thanksgiving of His people.

Jeremiah 30:19

From them will come songs of thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing. I will add to their numbers, and they will not be decreased; I will bring them honor, and they will not be disdained.