Saturday, November 30, 2013
1 Thessalonians 5:18 Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
GOD'S GRACE INSPIRES THANKSGIVING IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES
Secular history as well as biblical history testify to the grace of the Lord who enables His believing children to live victorious Christian lives -- lives of gratitude for His blessings -- not only when all is going smoothly in their life but also in difficult and stormy times. A striking example of this is that of Rev. John Mentzer. After having suffered numerous setbacks, hardships, and troubles along his life's pathway, he suffered yet another devastating blow. He lost everything he owned in a devastating fire which destroyed his home, from which he barely escaped. But the Lord gave him the ability to triumph in the midst of this ordeal. In patient endurance borne of faith, John Mentzer exclaimed to friends: "I will not let the devil have the pleasure of saying he filled me with sorrow or discouragement!" Not long afterward, he sat down and penned the immortal lines of the beautiful hymn of praise:
Oh, that I had a thousand voices To praise my God with thousand tongues!
My heart, which in the Lord rejoices, Would then proclaim in grateful songs
To all, wherever I might be, What great things God hath done for me.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 243:1)
(Adapted from Rein's Treasury of Themes and Illustrations)
