Title Daniel's Thanksgiving / Dan 6:10
A person who knows how to be grateful is a beautiful person. He is a mature person. That is why we receive the love of God and the love of people. A person who is ungrateful is not beautiful and immature. Such a person does not receive the love of God nor the love of people. A grateful person has a pretty face and a pretty voice. Daniel was a grateful man. “Daniel gave thanks to his God” (Daniel 6:10). So Daniel received God's love and blessing, and he was also loved and praised by people. I'm going to tell you three things this morning about Daniel's thanksgiving.
1. First, Daniel was grateful in the midst of adversity.
Daniel said he was thankful "even after he knew that a fish seal was engraved on the record." Daniel thanked God, knowing he would soon be caught and thrown into the lions' den. Gratitude in the midst of adversity and gratitude in a crisis situation are true thanks. Even though Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned, they praised and gave thanks to God. Job praised and gave thanks to God's name in the midst of the extreme disaster of losing his children and all his property. In the fall of 1621, the Puritans gave thanks to God in the wasteland where they had lost their homeland, home, property, and everything, and held their first Thanksgiving service in Massachusetts.
Daniel and all the believers after him thanked God in the midst of adversity and suffering. Rather, he may have thanked God because of adversity. Adversity due to faith is a condition of gratitude. Suffering because of the Lord is rather a reason for gratitude. [So Jesus said: “Blessed are you when they curse and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad.” In other words, it is a word to give thanks and praise.] Some hardships are given to strengthen our faith and character, while others are given as a way to effectively spread the gospel. Therefore, Daniel and all believers give thanks to God in the midst of all kinds of adversity and suffering.
2. Second, Daniel looked at God and gave thanks.
3. Third, Daniel prayed regularly and gave thanks.
Daniel said he thanked him, “I got down on my knees three times a day and prayed, just as I had done before.” Gratitude springs from the heart of a person who prays regularly. Prayer creates gratitude. Paul and Silas got up in the middle of the night from prison and prayed and praised God. Prayer and thanksgiving are inseparable. That's why the Apostle Paul said, "If you pray without ceasing, you will give thanks in everything" (1 Thessalonians 5:17,18). He also said, “Watch out in prayer with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2) and “Let your requests be made known with thanksgiving” (Philippians 4:6).
Now let's organize the words. A grateful person is a beautiful person and a mature person. That is why we receive the love of God and the love of people. God bless you. Daniel, who was thankful in the midst of adversity, was rescued from the lions' den, and the name of God was exalted, and he ascended to a high place again. Job, who was grateful during the disaster, later received abundant blessings. Paul and Silas, who were thankful from prison, were rescued from prison, and the jailer knelt before them, and an amazing thing happened that the gospel was preached in Philippi and Macedonia. The Puritans who were grateful in the wasteland were blessed to become the ancestors of the most prosperous nation in the world.
Dear saints, what kind of person do you want to be? Do you want to be grateful people? Do you want to be the complainers? We Koreans are stingy with gratitude. Americans are generous with gratitude. That's why I always say "Thank you, thank you." Even when you say it's okay, say "No thank you". We, too, are grateful people. Let us give thanks in the midst of adversity and hardship. So let's receive God's love. Just look to God. Just pray regularly. I hope that all of you who are always grateful like Daniel will be.