T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
376
November, 1933
offer believing prayer with thanksgiving and obtain peace ? On one occasion, when H. B. Gibbud, a Christian worker who went to be with the Lord several years ago, found his flour barrel empty and his wife tempted to anxiety, he suggested that they have prayer about the need, and that they sing the Doxology into the empty flour barrel. This they did, and peace settled down upon their souls. The next morning, Mr. Gibbud found a barrel of flour on his back porch, and he never knew how it got there! God had met His two believing children as they stood— the empty flour barrel between them— upon the promise of Philippians 4 :6 and 7. W e have learned much o f grace when we can give thanks fo r all things. But are we not on higher ground when we can give thanks in spite o f all things ? Some who are without Christ may be grateful; but many others have reached the place described in Romans 1:21. The Christian should be as thankful without things as with them, remem bering that to have the One who blesses is of far greater value than merely to obtain a few blessings. O ur E xample in T hanksgiving Thanksgiving was a characteristic o f the Lord Jesus Christ, even in circumstances o f adversity and sorrow. When the people of certain cities rejected Him, He said: “ I thank thee, O Father, Lord o f heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Matt. 11:25, 26). When about to break the bread symbolic of His body broken for us— an act reminding Him o f His imminent death—He gave thanks. When He took the cup, He also gave thanks. His thanksgiving arose, not from congenial circumstances, but from the knowledge that in His adversities, the will of His Father was being accomplished. Christ’s circumstances made Him a man of sorrows. His submission to God made His heart glad even in the face o f death. He not only taught His disciples to rejoice, to pray, and to give thanks, but He was Himself the per fect Example in these things. His conduct and His message together were revelations of the will of God to the world. The exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5 :18 recurs with added emphasis in Ephesians 5 :20: “ Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the'Father in the name o f our Lord Jesus Christ.” The name of the Lord Jesus suggests His character, and therefore His example; while the title given to God, “ Father,” suggests, first of all, His com passion : “ Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” (Psa. 103:13, 1 4 ); and then, His care: “ Your father knoweth what things ye have need o f ” (Matt. 6 :8 ). Faith is encouraged to abound in thanksgiving, and those who believe are to be “ rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Col. 2 :7 ). “ And let the peace o f God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body: and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name o f the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him” (Col. 3 :15-17). G od ’ s W ill for H is O wn He who can say “ amen” to the will o f God, will always be able to say “ hallelujah.” Frances Ridley Havergal de clared : “ Once the will o f God was to me a sigh, but now it has become a song. When we are in tune with that sweet will, it becomes easy to sing praise.” Thanksgiving is the
expression of joy Godward; and like joy, it is the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the heart o f the believer. It is ever the will o f God that we should be joyful, prayerful, and praiseful. By this we understand that this is His gracious design, rather than our determined resolve. God’s purpose for us in redemption is that we should yield our will and respond in glad obedience and praise, but even here, He remembers that we are dust. Thanksgiving has many contributing factors. Look, for example, at the life o f Paul. We admire the great apostle because o f the richness of his life in Christ;' There is an intensely human touch in the account concerning him, given in Acts 2 8 :1 4 ,15: “ We went toward Rome . . When the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us, . . whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage/’ Was Paul depressed in spirit, perhaps through ill health, or the exertions and strain o f the voyage and wreck ? Did he need these greetings from Christian friends to encourage him? Do you recall the occasion which prompted him to send Titus to Corinth in order to calm his anxieties con cerning the Christians there? It was not till the good report came back that he could say: “ Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour o f his knowledge by us in every place” (2 Cor. 2 :14 ). Paul had suffered much in order to give forth the gospel in Corinth. Yea, in all his journeys he had met poverty, persecution, and distress; yet as Titus re ported the success o f his ministry, he received new joy and courage. In a very definite sense, we may contribute to the thanksgiving o f another child o f God. Are we fail ing him, and failing God, in this ? S acrifice , the H andmaiden of T hanksgiving Our Lord Jesus Christ is worthy o f perpetual praise. “ By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice o f praise to God continually, that is, the fruit o f our lips giving thanks to his name” (Heb. 13:15). Thanksgiving and sacrifice go together. Peter speaks o f spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ Jesus. This expression cannot mean that the sacrifice o f Christ was not sufficient for us. It may be explained, rather, in the light o f Hebrews 13 :16: “ But to do good and to communicate forget n o t: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” “ To do good” will often awaken praise to God when every cause for it seems lacking. A minister one Sunday preached a sermon about heaven. The next morning, on his way to town, he met one of his older, wealthy members. The brother stopped the preacher and said: “ Pastor, you preached a good sermon on heaven; but you didn’t tell me where heaven is,” “ Ah,” replied the preacher, “ I am glad for the oppor tunity this morning. I have just returned from the hilltop yonder. In that cottage, there is a member o f our church. She is sick in bed with a fever; her two little children are sick in another bed. She has not a bit o f coal, nor a stick o f wood, nor flour, nor meat, nor any bread. If you will go down and buy a sovereign’s worth o f good things—good provisions— and send them up to her; if you will go there and say, ‘My sister, I have brought these provisions in the name o f our Lord and Saviour’ ; if you will ask for a Bible, and will read the Twenty-Third Psalm, and will then go down on your knees and pray—- if you will do all that, and you do not see heaven before you get through, I will pay the bill.” The next morning, the man met him and said: “ Pastor, I saw heaven yesterday, and I spent fifteen minutes there!” The day is coming when we who trust in Christ will enter into the “ many mansions” that our Lord has gone to prepare. A foretaste o f that coming glory may and should be ours today. Thanksgiving and thanks-living will make it ours. They will bring heaven itself into our souls.
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