How to Be Thankful

INTRODUCTION

Today we come to the close of our current study on “Living a Life of Thanksgiving.”

For the past three weeks, we have looked at the “who”, “why,” and “what” of thanksgiving.

With the “who” of thanksgiving, we said that we are to worship God through the Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the “why” of thanksgiving, we said that we are to be thankful because it is commanded, because it is God's will, and because God is sovereign.

Under the “what” of thanksgiving, we said that we are to be thankful for who God is, for what God has done, for what God is doing right now, for spiritual blessings, for daily blessings, and for future blessings.

And now we come to the “how” of thanksgiving.

Alistair Begg said, “Gentleness is not a temperament, nor is it a personality. It is, with the rest of the fruit, an outflow of the love of God.”

And the outflow of the love of God is through the Holy Spirit

Paul said in Romans 5:5, “…the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

And when you walk by the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit will be produced in your life.

So as Begg said, “Gentleness…is with the rest of the fruit.”

So in the words of Charles Spurgeon, “So long as we are receivers of mercy, we must be givers of thanks.”

When Cody, Nathan, Samuel and Hannah were much younger, we went on vacation one year to the Florida caverns.

At one point in our tour of the caves at that state park, the guide turned off the lights and we were standing there in pitch black darkness.

I remember everyone got quiet.

I had my hand on my phone in case the kids started getting scared.

At that moment, we were all helpless.

And no one new how to navigate the cave, except for one, the guide.

We had two choices.

We could have panicked or we could trust the guide.

In other words, we had the choice of being anxious or being thankful.

You say, “being thankful?”

Yes, remember 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Trust is important because it reveals something important about you.

Do you lean on your own understanding?

Or do you “trust Yahweh”?

Your version says, “trust in the LORD”.

The word of LORD is Yahweh.

Today we are looking at a very familiar passage of Scripture.

It’s one you have memorized.

Bookstores have mugs with this passage on it.

It’s Proverbs 3:5–6 which says, “5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.”

I have been thinking about these two verses all week as I have asked myself the question, “How are we to be thankful?”

Does Scripture actually tell us “how” to do this?

I believe it does and it is found right here.

Proverbs 3:5 begins with…

The Foundation of Thanks: Total Surrender (v.5a)

Proverbs 3:5 begins with “Trust in the Lord” or “Trust Yahweh” “with all your heart…”

Proverbs 3:5-6, penned by Solomon in the 10th century BC, is wisdom for life's rains.

It calls us to trust God wholly, and in doing so, cultivates thankfulness.

Why link trust and gratitude?

Because self-reliance breeds entitlement and frustration, while trusting God reminds us everything is a gift from Him.

As we have said several times in this study, God is Sovereign.

So therefore we can trust Him.

The Hebrew word Solomon uses here is batach.

It literally means to lie helpless, facedown. 

It is the picture of a servant lying prostrate before a King, awaiting a command.

It is the picture of a defeated soldier throwing down his sword and yielding himself entirely to the conquering general.​

There is nothing passive about batach.

It is an active, aggressive casting of one's entire weight upon God.

This echoes the command of Deuteronomy 6:5 to love God with all our being. 

The verb trust is complemented by the verb “lean.”

Trusting in God is a conscious dependence on God, much like leaning on a tree for support. 

Over a hundred times we are told in the OT to “trust in Yahweh.”

We hear in the Psalms:

Psalm 4:5 “5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in Yahweh.”

Psalm 9:10 “10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek You.”

Psalm 21:7 “7 For the king trusts in Yahweh, And through the lovingkindness of the Most High he will not be shaken.”

Psalm 25:1–2 “1 To You, O Yahweh, I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me.”

Psalm 37:3–5 “3 Trust in Yahweh and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself in Yahweh; And He will give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to Yahweh, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.”

Solomon says to “Trust Yahweh with all your heart”

That encompasses your entire inner self—emotions, intellect, and will.

It’s wholehearted, leaving no room for doubt.

Notice the scope of this trust: "With all your heart." 

Not with 90% of your heart.

Not "Trust in the Lord with your Sunday morning," or "Trust in the Lord with your eternal salvation, but handle your finances yourself."

When we trust with "all our heart," we are admitting, "Lord, I am not the captain of my soul. You are."

And that admission is the birth of gratitude.

When you realize that every breath you take, every meal you eat, and every day you live is sustained not by your hustle but by His grace, the natural response is "Thank you."

Abraham had a gracious heart

We are told in Genesis 13:2–12 “2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver and in gold. 3 He went on his journeys from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, 4 to the place of the altar which he had made there formerly; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. 5 Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents. 6 And the land could not sustain them while dwelling together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to remain together. 7 And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. Now the Canaanite and the Perizzite were dwelling then in the land. 8 So Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no strife between you and me, nor between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are brothers. 9 “Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me; if to the left, then I will go to the right; or if to the right, then I will go to the left.” 10 Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere—this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah—like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar. 11 So Lot chose for himself all the valley of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they separated from each other. 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom.”

Ann Voskamp, in One Thousand Gifts, writes, "Thanksgiving—giving thanks in everything—prepares the way that God might show us His fullest salvation in Christ."

Trust opens the door to thankful living.

But there is an enemy you must be aware of

If you’re not trusting Yahweh with “all your heart,” then you have a divided heart.

A divided heart leads to a complaining spirit.

If you trust God with your soul but not your schedule, you will be anxious about your time.

If you trust God with your theology but not your children, you will be a wreck of worry over their future.

And a worried heart has no room for gratitude.

Solomon gives next…

The Enemy of Thanks: The Idol of Control (v.5b)

v.5b, “…and do not lean on your own understanding.”

Solomon moves from the positive command to the negative prohibition: "And do not lean on your own understanding."

The Hebrew word for "lean" here is sha'an.

It means to support yourself, to rest your weight upon something—like leaning on a staff

Solomon is painting a picture of a man with a broken leg. He needs support. He has two options: he can lean on the unshakeable rock of Yahweh, or he can lean on the flimsy, brittle cane of his own "understanding."

The word for "understanding" is binah.

It refers to our mental capacity to distinguish, to plan, to figure things out.

Solomon is not saying we should be mindless.

The book of Proverbs is full of commands to seek wisdom and understanding. 

This is the purpose of the book.

Proverbs 1:2–5 “2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,”

We are told in Proverbs 2:3 to “call out for understanding.”

Verse 4 says to “seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures.”

Proverbs 4:5 “5 Acquire wisdom! Acquire understanding! Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.”

So what does it mean to not "lean" on it?

It means we must not make our human perspective the ultimate support for our lives.

We must not trust our interpretation of events more than we trust God's character.

Here is where the connection to thankfulness becomes painful.

Why do we grumble? Why do we complain? Why do we find it so hard to "give thanks in all circumstances" as Paul commands in 1 Thessalonians 5:18?

We grumble because things are not going according to our understanding.

"Lord, I understand that if I work hard, I should get the promotion. I didn't get it. This is wrong."

"Lord, I understand that if I serve you, my family should be healthy. We are sick. This is unfair."

When we lean on our understanding, we create a transactional relationship with God.

We say, "God, I will trust you as long as your plan makes sense to me."

But that is not trust; that is negotiation.

And when the deal falls through—when the darkness comes—negotiation turns to bitterness.

The poet William Cowper, who struggled with deep depression throughout his life, understood this better than most. He wrote:

"Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for His grace; Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face."​

"Feeble sense." That is our understanding.

It is limited.

It is like looking at a parade through a knothole in a fence.

We see only one small slice of reality—the pain of this moment, the bill on the counter, the empty chair.

We do not see the beginning or the end.

If you lean on your limited view, you will break under the weight of life's tragedies.

But if you refuse to lean on your understanding, you are free to thank God even in the dark.

You can say, "Lord, I do not understand this path.

It hurts.

It is dark.

But I know You.

I trust the Guide more.

And because I trust You, I can thank You that You are working this for my good, even if I can't see how." (Rom.8:28)

This is the cure for anxiety.

That’s why Paul said in Philippians 4:6 “6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Anxiety is simply the arrogance of thinking we know how the universe should be run, and the fear that God is getting it wrong.

When we stop leaning on our understanding, we lay down the burden of being the General Manager of the Universe.

And in that space, thankfulness can finally breathe.

The Practice of Thanks: The God-Drenched Life (v.6a)

v.6a: “In all your ways acknowledge Him”

So how do we do this practically?

How do we move from the theory of trust to the practice of it?

Solomon gives us the method in verse 6: "In all your ways acknowledge Him."

The Hebrew word for "acknowledge" is yada.

It is one of the richest words in the Old Testament.

It means far more than "tip your hat to God" or "admit He exists."

It is the word used for intimate, relational knowledge.

It is used in Genesis 4 where it says, "Adam knew (yada) Eve his wife and she conceived."

To acknowledge God in all your ways means to have intimate fellowship with Him in every single aspect of your life.

It means to "know Him" in the boardroom, to "know Him" in the traffic jam, to "know Him" while changing diapers, to "know Him" in the hospital waiting room.

This is the secret of the thankful life.

It is what Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century monk who worked as a cook in a monastery kitchen, called "The Practice of the Presence of God."

Brother Lawrence hated working in the kitchen.

By nature, he was not a servant type.

But he decided to "acknowledge Him" in the pots and pans.

He said:

"We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of Him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before Him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king."​

Do you see what he did?

He took a mundane, annoying task—frying a cake—and he made it a sanctuary.

If we want to be people of thanksgiving, we must learn to see God in "all our ways."

When you drink your coffee in the morning, do not just drink it; acknowledge the God who created the bean, the water, and the taste buds to enjoy it.

When you solve a problem at work, do not just pat yourself on the back; acknowledge the God who gave you the mind to think and the breath to speak.

When you face a trial, acknowledge Him. "Lord, You are here. You have not left me. You are teaching me."

The unthankful heart sees life as a series of random events or personal achievements.

The thankful heart sees life as a continuous walk with a Friend.

If you acknowledge Him in all your ways, you will find something to thank Him for in all your ways.

You cannot be in the presence of the King of Kings and remain a grumbler.

His glory swallows up our complaints.

Paul said in Philippians 2:12–18 “12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. 14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing; 15 so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, 16 holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain. 17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. 18 You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.”

We’ve seen the foundation of thanks, the enemy of thanks, and the practice of thanks…

Notice last…

The Promise of Thanks: The Straight Path (v.6b)

v. 6b: "...and He will make your paths straight."

Finally, we come to the promise.

What happens to the man or woman who trusts totally, refuses to lean on their own logic, and walks in intimate communion with God? "He will make your paths straight."

The Hebrew word is yashar.

It means to make smooth, to make level, to remove obstacles.​

Now, we must be very careful here.

This is not a promise of a trouble-free life.

It is not a promise that if you trust God, you will never get cancer, never lose money, and never face rejection.

Jesus Himself, the only One who perfectly trusted the Father, had a path that led to the Cross.

That path was not easy.

But it was straight.

Philippians 2:5–8 “5 Have this way of thinking in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

A "straight path" in Hebrew wisdom literature refers to a path that reaches its goal.

It is a path of purpose.

It is a path where you do not wander in the wilderness of futility.

When we try to control our own lives, our paths become crooked.

We manipulate, we worry, we strive, we burn bridges.

We take shortcuts that turn into dead ends.

Our anxiety makes us restless.

But when we trust God, He clears the way.

He removes the obstacle of our own pride.

He levels the mountains of our fear.

He leads us exactly where we need to go to become the people He created us to be.

Think of a pilot flying through a storm. The clouds are thick. The turbulence is shaking the frame of the aircraft. His "understanding" (his physical senses) tells him he is upside down. His inner ear is playing tricks on him. If he leans on his own understanding, he will crash the plane.

But on the dashboard, there is a device called the Attitude Indicator. It tells him the truth about his position relative to the horizon. If he trusts the instrument—if he acknowledges the truth over his feelings—he will fly straight. He will cut through the storm and land safely.

That is the promise.

God says, "I will be your gyroscope.

I will be your compass.

If you keep your eyes on Me, I will ensure that your life is not wasted.

It will land exactly where I intended it to."

And isn't that the ultimate reason for thanksgiving?

To know that our lives are not random accidents?

To know that we are being led by a Shepherd who loves us?

Conclusion: The Prayer of the Thankful Heart

So, how do we apply this?

How do we leave this place and be more thankful this week than we were last week?

It starts with a decision of the will.

It starts with the "Batach"—the lying facedown.

Maybe today you are holding onto something tightly:

A worry about your finances.

A resentment toward a spouse.

A fear about the future.

You have been leaning on your own understanding, trying to figure it out, trying to fix it, and you are exhausted.

You have no thanks in your heart, only stress.

The invitation of Proverbs 3:5-6 is to let go.

Stop leaning on the broken crutch of your own strategies.

Fall into the arms of the Father.

We can trust those arms because they were stretched out on a cross for us.

The ultimate proof that you can trust God with your life is that He gave His life for you.

Jesus Christ walked the darkest path—the path to Calvary—and He trusted the Father perfectly so that our path to God could be made straight.

He took the crookedness of our sin and gave us the straightness of His righteousness.

If He did that for your soul, surely you can trust Him with your schedule.

If He saved you from death, surely you can trust Him with your daily bread.

So I want to close with a prayer from King David that turns this trust into our thanksgiving.

Let this be the confession of our hearts today:

"The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart exults, And with my song I shall thank Him." (Psalm 28:7)

Trust Him, look to the Cross, and go with a thankful heart.

Let’s pray.