Hosanna Restoration Church

On a recent trip, I had much time while driving to look at the things God has made and to consider all that He has done and continues to do in the world around us. I tell you, God is good and He just keeps getting gooder! Of course, this is not due to Him changing, but rather to us growing in understanding. He has always been great!

So as I was marveling at His goodness, my heart overflowed with thanksgiving. As I did this, it occurred to me how sad it is for people who are not thankful to God. It is so good to be thankful, and if you are not thankful to God, who or what are you going to be thankful to? If your thanks is focused on people, they will fail you. If you are thankful to some false god, whether it is a rock, a tree, a statue, or a cloud, how long can that last? But when we are thankful to the living God, there is some substance to our thanks. There is future and hope in thanking God, because it is His desire to give us reason to give thanks.

God would not tell us to give Him thanks and worship and love Him if it was going to be for no reason. That would be just plain stupid, and God is not stupid. He cannot lie and He would not pressure us to give thanks for nothing. And yet, that is the attitude that many people have concerning God.

It is so strange how people will expect the worst in their lives and then complain that they have nothing to be thankful for. I did an exercise with young people in a class and told them they had to write down what they liked about their family relationships. Their first response was that there was nothing good about it. Why did they feel that way? They felt that way because all they thought about was the bad. In the end, they could all list some good things. Even for many Christians, the only real good they expect from God is that He might take them to heaven someday. You see they are not even sure about that. I can see why people are not very thankful if they are not even sure God would save them. That is why God gives us assurance of salvation and then encourages us to go deeper into His love. The more we know God, the more we will trust Him. The more we trust Him the more we will rely on Him and the more we will recognize His goodness. The more we recognize His goodness, the more we will give Him thanks. The more we give Him thanks, the more we will have reason to give Him thanks.

I know that some would think this just makes God out to be some big loving daddy whose greatest pleasure is to make us happy. Well, personally I think that is the absolute truth. After all, it was His idea to tell us He would be our Father. Yes I know that we have some behavior problems that He may have to deal with, but even then, He blesses us with the power to overcome so that we can enter into His blessing place. What is so wrong with believing God wants to bless us? It makes me just want to give Him thanks.