In I Thessalonians 5, the Apostle Paul wrote that we are to “Give thanks in all circumstances”. He goes on to write that this is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus. It is amazing how clear the Scriptures are about the importance of gratitude and yet how prone we are to murmuring and complaining. When Satan tempted Jesus by encouraging Him to turn stones to bread to feed His hunger he was encouraging Him to complain. Temptation always attacks the faithfulness of God by shining a light on what we currently don’t have that our appetites long for.
As Israel made it’s way through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land they ran out of food. After they panicked, feared for their lives, complained loudly and longed to be back in slavery in Egypt God kindly and lovingly provided manna from heaven, “angel’s food” for them to eat each day for the rest of their journey. In Number 11 we find a group of people that had come out of Egypt with Israel called the “mixed multitude”, giving in to intense craving, influencing Israel until they all together made this complaint “now our whole being is being dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!” At some point along the journey that stopped being thankful for heavenly bread and started wishing they still had the meat, fish and vegetables of Egypt. They were actually longing for the days of slavery not because they were starving but because they craved a different meal than the one God had provided.
I believe that we all face this same temptation. We are tempted to give up our gratitude which always leads us to complaints. We read about thsi and wonder how Israel could ever complain about such miraculous provision as bread that comes from heaven every morning, but if we look closely I am sure that we have all fallen into the same trap and yielded to the same temptation. There are provisions that God has made for us that have gotten old in our minds, have become familiar and that we have stopped enjoying. In those places the enemy is swift with his lies, swift with his taunts and swift to shine a light on what your stomach, wallet or ego would rather have.
Once again in Matthew 4, when faced with the opportunity to provide for Himself and make a complaint against His Father, Jesus announced that the lack of bread was a small thing as long as He was filled with the voice of His Father. Jesus chose gratitude which led to intimacy. Why is gratitude important for intimacy? How intimate can you be with God when you believe that His provision is less than you really desire? How near can you draw to Him when you are filled with complaints against Him? How good do you think He is if you believe His plans are not what you had hoped for? Gratitude keeps us near to God because it takes our thoughts captive and trains our minds to believe and declare that God is good, God is faithful, God is sovereign, God is loving and God is for me. I pray that we would search our hearts today and purge out any complaints and ask God to give us hearts of gratitude. I pray that we would rely upon God to be our sustenance and trust Him to provide our necessities. I pray that we would give thanks in all circumstances and let gratitude lead us to intimacy. In our war with temptation, we have been given an incredible strategy for victory: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances”. If we stand in these three positions the enemy will flee and our hearts will become