In Everything Give Thanks

“In everything give thanks” is a tough command and it sometimes gets under my skin. But I have learned that whenever I follow Christ’s example – “not my will but yours be done” – gratitude for the situation will bring comfort and blessings into my life.  Even though being grateful for suffering sometimes seems to make no sense to me and I wonder: How can giving thanks for prison make sense?  How can God expect me to be grateful for this misery?

The truth is most of the time I just don’t feel thankful for being in prison.  It’s not reasonable.  But then I realize the verse doesn’t say “in everything give thanks when you feel like it or when it is reasonable.” This command has nothing to do with feelings. It’s a choice to do what God says. Whenever He gives us a command in the Bible, it’s for our benefit. God is not calling us to set aside reason. He doesn’t enjoy watching us suffer. But He knows that being thankful in all circumstances will have a powerful impact on every area of our Christian life.

I learned this lesson not long ago when I found myself in the box for something I didn’t do. The box is another name for a confinement unit, a prison inside a prison. Anybody can end up in the box. It is actually reserved for those who deliberately disobey the rules. But sometimes it is abused and used to retaliate against an inmate or to discourage him from filing an official complaint against an officer. I ended up in the box because I was looking at an officer’s I.D. tag. He had it turned around so no one could read his name. They do that when they know they are planning to do something wrong or to abuse their power.

A group of officers came to my dormitory to do a mass shakedown of all the inmates’ lockers and bed areas. Shakedowns, an occupational hazard, are routine occurrences in prisons.

“What are you looking at?” an officer asked.

“Your name tag,” I said.

“Oh, you want to write me up?”

“No, I said, “I just want to know your name.”

“Do you need a form?”

“No sir, I said.  I have plenty of forms.”

“Oh yeah!  Well let me see if I can help you find them.”

“That’s okay,” I said.

But it was too late.  He was angry now and started throwing my property around. Before I knew it, he had me handcuffed and outside the dormitory in front of the Captain.

“What did he do?” the Captain asked. 

“He called me [a nasty profanity].”

“That’s not true,” I said.  I didn’t say that.”

But it was my word against his, and the Captain believed him. Being grateful for being in confinement for something I never said was hard to do. But I did it – I thanked God for being in confinement, not because I like suffering but because it gave me strength like fire tempers steel. And I felt the comfort of His presence as I began to look for His purposes in my circumstances.

Thankfulness brought my will into submission to God and left an officer wondering how I could forgive him for fabricating a lie that landed me in confinement. Confinement is filled with inmates that are angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed with the difficulties of prison life. A believer with a grateful attitude is like a light shining in a dark place. Those around him want to know why he doesn’t grumble or complain. It opens the door to tell them about my amazing Savior.

The box was good for me because it taught me that when I thank Him in tough times He gets bigger and the circumstance gets smaller. I focus on who God is not what my circumstances are. The apostle Paul is an example. He suffered but remained thankful. He saw life from God’s perspective. He wrote that our present suffering is “momentary light affliction.” (2 Corinthians 4:17) It causes us to look beyond this brief life.  Trials teach us patience and help us to grow to be the kind of people God wants.

Being thankful transforms my anxiety into a peace that passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:6-7) Instead of complaining, getting angry, and arguing about my predicament, I became thankful and I received God’s incomprehensible peace, a blessing in the midst of the ugly circumstances.

The choice to be grateful when we suffer isn’t easy.  Most of the time we’d rather ask God to take us out of difficulties than see us through them. When I look back at all my suffering, I realize that God knew what was best for me. He was working for my eternal good. Thank God today in whatever circumstances you may find yourself. “In everything give thanks for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:18)