Hope for Thanksgiving

America celebrates Thanksgiving this week, but things have seemed pretty bleak for some time with all the evil that’s happening in our nation and around the world.

While evil will increase over time, there’s still hope that life will get better (2 Timothy 3:12-13; Matthew 24:4-13, 21-22).

But this article isn’t about the present evils. It’s about our blessings and how we should still be thankful despite all that’s going on around us and that we shouldn’t let ourselves get so distracted by evil that we forget about God because he’s our only hope (Ephesians 2:12-13; 1 Thessalonians 4:13; Colossians 1:27).

The greatest hope-giving book of all time, the Bible, gives us much to be thankful for, the most significant of which the world will celebrate somehow in about a month – the birth of Jesus, who gave his life and was raised again to pay for our sins so we could have hope through peace with God and therefore peace within and among ourselves (John 3:16-17; Luke 1:26-38; 2:1-14; Matthew 1:18-25; Ephesians 2:14-22; Romans 6:3-9; 1 Peter 2:24-25). Whatever our concerns, we’re to turn them over to God with thanksgiving (Philippians 4:4-9; 1 John 3:1-3, 21-24; 1 Peter 5:6-7). We’re even to be thankful and pray for our governmental leaders, especially if they’re “mis-leading,” because their authority from God is for our good (1 Timothy 2:1-4; Romans 13:1-4).

We should be thankful that God hears and answers the prayers of his people (2 Chronicles 7:14-15; John 9:31; Galatians 3:26-4:7; Romans 8:15-17). In fact, we’re told to present our prayers and requests to God with thanksgiving, I think, because we know he’ll hear and answer when we ask for the right things with the right motive (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Matthew 7:7-11; 1 John 5:14-15; James 4:1-3).

The guarantee that God hears our prayers doesn’t mean that even if the request seems right and we have the right motives, he’ll grant the request in the way we want, if at all. Paul was told “no” when he asked God for relief because God was using Paul’s problem to strengthen him through his grace (2 Corinthians 12:7-10). Paul rejoiced in that, and so can we because we can know that God may have a better answer than we could imagine and he always works toward our best interests when we’re trying to live according to his will (Isaiah 55:8-9; Romans 8:28; Acts 2:38-39).

Our Thanksgiving holiday is based on the great things God has done for America – a land rich in resources, human diversity and talents by which he meets our needs as well as the needs of a large part of the world. So we should be thankful as Americans, but we should also live as God wants so we can continue to have fellowship with him and receive the blessings (Deuteronomy 8:1-10; 2 Corinthians 9:8-11; Proverbs 14:34; Psalm 34:12-22; Ephesians 5:15-17; 1 Corinthians 2:9). That’s our only hope for the future because Jesus has overcome all evil (John 15:18-21; 16:33)!

Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected].