Are we obliged to thank God for His Providence towards us? Well, I guess if that’s the way one chooses to frame it, then there may be more than one answer and yes or no don’t quite make muster as an acceptable answer at all. If we see giving thanks as an obligation, then we obviously miss the point.
When our Heavenly Father bestows a blessing on us, we need first of all to recognize the blessing as such. For instance, I grew up in a poor household and for much of my life I regarded our poverty as some kind of curse which obviously didn’t merit any gratitude. As I’ve come of age (and by now have become somewhat overripe), it has occurred to me that living as one of the poor of the earth was indeed a blessing of the highest order! Look at what Jesus said: [Luke 6:20]: “Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, For yours is the kingdom of God.” How can being dirt poor and having to struggle to get by possibly be a blessing? Well, to start with, we learned compassion for our fellow travelers who were needy because we have walked that walk. Our family was very close with relationships born of mutual hardships – relationships that still bind us today as we grow into the autumn years of our lives.
We learned to appreciate neighbors who were willing to lend a hand and thus became those same neighbors to others. We learned to appreciate the genuine grace of God that was ours as we watched folks who lived better financially and how in many instances their prosperity deprived them of the will, or even the ability to appreciate Him.
I remember being a little barefoot ragamuffin in the early springtime and how wonderful the new clover felt on my feet – kids with shoes didn’t experience that, so how could they develop those kinds of fond memories that I’ve carried all my life? My point is that though many – ok most – aspects of growing up poor were significant trials, after everything is said and done, God has grace me with uncountable richness, in brotherly love, in precious and much beloved memories I would never have in my heart, in appreciation for God’s abundant grace and inestimable wisdom – He knew all along what He was developing and later on He gave me the wisdom to understand how it all came together and that it was indeed a blessing – now that I’m able to look back on my youth from an aspect beyond the hard times.
So do I thank Him for the tough years we went through? Absolutely! I wouldn’t trade one of my memories of my precious family living in that old house with crumbling wallpaper, eating macaroni and home-canned tomatoes made with bone broth from cracked and broken crock plates, having to draw water from an old cistern with a rope and rusty pulley. Most poor folks back in those days kept a metal bucket on the kitchen counter with an old dipper in it. When someone was thirsty, they just picked up that dipper and dipped out a drink from the bucket and drank from it. Even people who came by from a different family. That’s just how things worked back then for poor folks. We all obviously shared the same germs, but rarely got sick (another blessing?) Those recollections are a big part of who I am and who I hope to still be when this old ticker goes still. Perfect? Not at all, but He knows my heart, and in the final judgement, that’s the most important thing.
Among the blessings we received but did not recognize as such, there are those obvious ones. We have no excuse for not being appreciative for those. Jesus encountered ten guys who had leprosy and healed all of them, but afterwards only one of them, a Samaritan no less, came back to thank Him. [Luke 17:17]: “So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Even Jesus Christ Himself considers thanksgiving to be giving glory to God!
Our Lord knows all, and He obviously recognizes gratitude for His kindness and blessings. For the obvious ones in real time and for the long term ones that we don’t regard as blessings when they are happening, but come to understand later. I think those ones are the most significant to our Spiritual development and thus are the ones we should be thankful for the most.
In any case, and I’m writing this as one who sometimes forgets to acknowledge and thank Him appropriately (and in a timely manner), we need to make sure we properly thank God for His mercy and grace in our lives. We should never miss that opportunity to go back and thank Him even in those times we forgot or overlooked earlier, because of his unfathomable love for us, He will forgive our ignorance. The thing is, we have to actually appreciate Him in our hearts, because that’s the place He is interested in.
This Thanksgiving Day when we say our prayers, let’s make it a point to pray from our heart and soul, Jesus said [Matthew 5:8]: “Blessed are the pure at heart, for they shall see God” so He knows whether or not we’re being sincere or are just completing a step in the holiday checklist.
God bless all and Happy Thanksgiving!
MK