GIVING THANKS by A. Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Tuesday, February 17, 1885

FromThe Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Vol. 62, No. 7

GIVING THANKS.

By A. Smith

BY A. SMITH.

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thess. 5:18.

Whatever is in the heart is very apt to find vocal expression. Therefore, language articulated or expressed in tone, look, or action, is a thermometer of the heart. Thankfulness for favors bestowed, or good enjoyed, between man and man, is a social grace essential to the well-being of communities; but when, in addition to the social duties we owe to our fellow-men, are taken into account the obligations we are under to our beneficent Creator and Redeemer, the field for the exercise of this grace becomes co-extensive with the capabilities of our nature. But how often does the voice of murmuring take the place of thanksgiving, or utter silence reign when fretting is repressed as being wrong. “These things ought not so to be.”

When we remember that all the ills we suffer in this life are the results, direct or indirect, of our fallen nature, and the fruits of our volition, and that every mitigation of that suffering, and every pure joy, is a gift of God, a token of his mercy and love, we shall find abundant reasons for thanksgiving. When we suffer ills, we shall be thankful that they are no worse; and when we enjoy a good, that it is an evidence of his mercy toward us, and a pledge of the more exceeding glory of the world to come.

Mingling with our fellow-men, the first greetings having been exchanged, oftentimes the condition of the weather is next mentioned and commonly disposed of as an evil, and then we are ready for the business at hand. But how few there are, even among professed Christians, who, though sometimes admitting the existence of a “fine day,” “a soft, cooling wind,” etc., ever thence turn their conversation to the evidence therein of the goodness of God. In our prayers we go through a form of thanksgiving to God; but if our hearts were analyzed, I fear that many times we should find ourselves lying to God.

In this section of the country the summer of 1883 was unusually wet, and farmers did not therefore raise enough crops to pay expenses; consequently, during the following winter much suffering might reasonably have been looked for among the poorer classes. But provisions and feed for teams continued low in price; a mild winter followed, characterized by little depth of snow, but constant and excellent sleighing, enabling farmers to market a great deal of wood and timber, and thus pay expenses. In the following summer, the earth produced bountifully, making up the loss of last year. But among the many with whom the writer has conversed upon this subject, he has not found one who has advanced the thought that the love and mercy of God is seen in all this, the marked good being acknowledged, but the hand of the Giver, never.

If men prosper they thank their “lucky stars,” or are entirely silent; but if they suffer ills, often their own fault, they curse God for it. The sick will send for a doctor who will put them through a course of medicine that would completely sicken and prostrate even a strong, healthy man, and then, if they get well the doctor gets all the credit; but if the patient dies, it is charged as “a dispensation of Providence,” which means that God is to blame for it.

A thankful spirit ought to be cultivated. If we were to note down all the mercies and blessings we enjoy even for a single day, we would be surprised at the abundant cause for thankfulness which the list would afford; and like David (Ps. 40: 5), we should find the mercies of God to be without number. Those who become soundly converted to God are often placed in perplexing circumstances, creating doubts and fears of their acceptance with God, and then chafe and murmur over ills that they cannot avoid. Such ones should remember that God, through his great love for us, has so ordered our surroundings as to bring to the surface every evil trait in our characters that they may be discovered and washed away in the blood of the Lamb. When in darkness and doubt for a time, let us apply Job’s consolation in like distress (Job 23: 3–10), and follow the instruction given by the inspired prophet of God (Isa. 50: 10), and give thanks even in affliction and tribulation, looking to the final recompense of reward. (See 2 Cor. 4: 17; Rev. 7: 14.) If Jesus, the sinless one was led up by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil, why should we wonder if he is permitted to tempt us also that we may prove our loyalty to God, and our fitness for the inheritance of the saints in light? (See 1 Pet. 5: 6–10.)

“Afflictions may press me, they cannot destroy, One glimpse of his love turns them all into joy; And the bitterest tears if he smile but on them, Like dew in the sunshine, grow diamond and gem.

“Let doubt, then, and danger my progress oppose, They only make heaven more sweet at its close. Come joy or come sorrow, whate’er may befall, An hour with my God will make up for them all.”