Title: Gratitude That Impresses God
Contents
Acts (133) Gratitude that moves God (Acts 27:27-44)
<Grateful Faith>
When Paul was being escorted to Rome in captivity, the ship he was on met with a storm to Euraquill. At that time, the 276 people on board had left their luggage and tools necessary for the voyage to lighten the ship, but with little hope of surviving. Such a time of fear continued for 14 days. At that very moment, Paul encouraged the people to eat, took bread, gave thanks to God, and began to eat it, and the people all accepted and ate (verses 33-36).
Like Paul, the faith to be thankful in the midst of suffering is the true faith. If you have the faith to give thanks for the fact that “I am in God” rather than “What did you get?”, you can be thankful in any circumstances. Also, if you keep your place while giving thanks, you will be given more things to be grateful for.
One day, nomads living in Saudi Arabia made their sheep drink water from a spring, and they all drank from the spring and died. Then the nomads left the village one by one, saying they had no hope of living there. Hearing the news, a man named Hank Daniel studied what the sheep ate and found that the water was crude oil. In the end, only a small number of those who did not leave the country were rejected and established the royal family of Saudi Arabia.
Even if something disappoints you, stay where you should be. When God gathers something, He prepares something better and more precious. When God closes one door, He always opens the other door. When you are empty-handed, it is a time to receive even greater blessings. If we do not lose our faith, God will start a bigger work at a dead end. Even in the midst of suffering, if you give thanks and keep your place, God will surely grant you more than suffering.
< Reasons to be grateful during hardship >
The reason to be thankful even in the midst of suffering is because you are still alive. In the text, people lost all their possessions, but they did not lose their lives. If there is such a life, especially if there is faith in salvation and a holy vision in that life, 99% of the success is achieved. If you lose something and you still have life, don't be shaken and give thanks. If you always think about what you have lost, misfortune will come, and if you rejoice in what remains, happiness will come.
I prayed while planting a church in 1992. "God! Since I planted a church at a young age, please do not lead funeral services for 10 years!” Ten years passed and I led the first funeral in 2002. Although I was tired, the first funeral was not a shocking one. It was a funeral for a person who had suffered from dementia for 13 years and went to heaven, so I led the funeral service with a comfortable and grateful heart.
Now, there are people living with their mother-in-law, who has suffered from dementia for more than 10 years. Also, there are many people who live with the traces of more suffering. Even those people are grateful and live a good life, but if they complain easily over small things, that is not a blessing at all. About 4.5 million people, or 10% of the total population, are disabled in a large or small sense. Considering them, complaining to a healthy person is a sin, a luxury, and a vanity.
Of course, the complainer himself will certainly have difficulties. Still, if you always look, you see that complaints breed problems and gratitude solves problems. So always think with a positive attitude. Then there is much to be thankful for. When it seems that there are no conditions to be thankful for, you can give thanks that moves God the most, and God accepts such sacrifices of thanks more than anything else.
Take a look for yourself. When I had my first love, even though it was more difficult than it is now, I was very happy with the small things of gratitude. Gratitude is not a matter of the environment, it is a matter of faith and a matter of the heart. Like Paul, be a person who can hold a piece of dry bread in the midst of a storm and say, “Let’s all give thanks together.” If you truly give thanks in such difficult times, then God will be with you with even more amazing blessings.