“WHERE ARE YOU GOD? Where are your blessings? How do I find you?” Beneath the words of heartache in the emails I often receive, these are the underlying questions that I hear in them. The pain is palpable. And at this time of year, it’s especially difficult.
As Thanksgiving approaches, I know some of your hearts are heavy with pain and longing, and you’re groping to see the blessings. Thanksgiving is coming on too quick. And you know Christmas is close behind. You’re just not ready to celebrate.
When life hits us hard, how do we enter in?
Psalm 100:4 says “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise.”
If you grew up in church like I did, you probably heard this phrase many times. It’s a familiar psalm, and if you’re like me, it’s probably so familiar that it just rolls off the tongue and through the mind . . . without truly connecting . . . . But last night as I lay in bed, thinking about this coming week . . . thinking about and praying for many of you for whom Thanksgiving comes in the midst of difficult times, these words swirled through my mind with new meaning. For these words give us God’s answer to the question many of us are asking. How do we enter in?
The psalmist says:
“With thanksgiving.”
When God seems distant, when life offers more questions than answers, when our hearts are heavy, Psalm 100 says to enter into his gates with thanksgiving.
It’s another one of God’s paradoxes, another one of those spiritual truths that hovers above our sense of logic. How do we grasp it?
By entering in . . .
With thanksgiving.
When we can’t find God, when life is hard, when questions abound, lifting our voices with thanksgiving brings us into the gates of God’s presence. All it takes is starting with just a few words of thanks.
What do we have to be thankful for?
Anything.
Something small perhaps. A ray of sunshine pushing through the mist of a gloomy day. Raindrops sparkling on the windowpane. A soft pillow to lay our head. The smooth aroma of coffee on a cold morning. A friendly voice on the phone.
As we thank God for small things, He will begin to fill our minds with more. And one by one, little by little, we will enter in.
And in the midst of our thanksgiving, we will find God . . . embracing us, comforting us until our hearts open up with praise. And then we are in His courts. We are in His presence.
In His presence, His light shines upon us. No, the problems are not gone. But there in His presence we have all we need, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the God of creation, the God who loves us, the God who walks with us through the mazes of life. And this is something to be truly thankful for.
This is thanksgiving.
“Enter into his gates with Thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” Psalm 100:4-5
Let this song of praise lift you into a time of Thanksgiving. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn5CMSSAx_c
A heavy heart grows lighter through thanksgiving.
So I’m entering my second year of separation. With thanksgiving. I’m thankful for friends and family and church family that have wrapped us up during this very difficult heartbreaking season. I look forward and am thankful for this experience because I know that someday I will be in a place to help someone else through it. Isaiah 61:1-3 I am thankful for a God that promises to replace my tears for joy. Psalm 30:5 He promises that what was meant for evil, He will use for good. Genesis 50:20 I am thankful He promises that even though we have hard times now we will inherit double and our joy will go on forever. Isaiah 61:7
That has been such a key in all of this for me personally. It seems my anxiety leaves when I have a spirit of praise. Do everything with thanksgiving because He is worthy! Love ya, Linda!
God bless you, Chris! Have a very blessed Thanksgiving.
Beautiful reminder of God’s sovereigness!!! Thank you.
You’re so welcome, Teletha. God bless you this Thanksgiving!
Loved your word for Thanksgiving! Great reminder as my husband ran out on me four years ago, many fractures and pain that is beyond my imagination! Much heartache for many years and I find myself just as you described!!! Thank you for your encouragement!