Thankfulness and the Will of God: Trusting His Sovereign Plan in Every Season

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.” — 1 Chronicles 16:34

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not always been the most thankful individual. One of the areas that I used to struggle in was being thankful for God’s plan for me. Before I began to seriously seek to mature in my faith, there were many times where I chose to complain to God about different aspects of the life He had chosen to give me. Over time, with the help of the Holy Spirit, God has taught me to be thankful for His Will for my life. My father told me once that God’s Will was what I’d want for myself if I knew all the answers. It was such a simple statement, yet the profoundness of it still amazes me. Thanksgiving is an excellent time of year to look back and reflect on what we’re thankful for. A spirit of thankfulness is something that all believers should seek to have. Indeed, 1 Chronicles 16:34 instructs us to practice this thankfulness:

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”

Knowing that, let’s look at three reasons why we believers can be thankful for the will of God in our lives, regardless of the trials and struggles we may face.

1) God’s Will is Rooted in His Perfect Knowledge

One thing all of us know is that there’s things we don’t know. God has put a drive and determination in all of humanity to seek knowledge. In a perfect world, our desire to seek knowledge leads us to an understanding of our need for our Creator, but, sadly, not everyone comes to that correct conclusion. There are those who believe that their “knowledge” and “intelligence” are the things that allow them to thrive and excel. The truth of Romans 1:22 rings true and some, professing themselves as wise, become fools. True wisdom comes in knowing that, while we may not know, God definitely eternally and infinitely knows because He made us.

Romans 8:28 offers some insight into what God uses his infinite and complete knowledge for:

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

We can be thankful for the fact that God uses his perfect knowledge to work every situation we face in life ultimately for our good. “All” things means that both the good and the bad. When we face trials and challenges, it’s easy to question God and ask why. I’ve found great comfort in the specific wording God chose to use in this verse. The verse doesn’t state “all things ARE good for them that love God”. It states “all things WORK TOGETHER for good to them that love God”.

God’s knowledge encompasses both the good things that I will experience, as well as the bad. No tragedy or trial is unaccounted for in the plan He has for me. Because of the great love He has for me, He has engineered even my worst moments to be used to chasten me, instruct me, and equip me for life and godliness. When I sin and wander, the Lord chastens me and then draws me back to Him (Hebrews 12:6). When I face a problem, I have no answer for and prayerfully seek God’s direction, He always makes a way. He is true to His Word, continuously instructing me in the path of righteousness (Psalm 23:3). When I suffer loss or undergo challenge, God draws near to me (Psalm 34:18) and uses the pain to equip me to better empathize with others who feel that same pain. This allows me to better build trust and rapport with those hurting people, which then leads to more effective witnessing opportunities.

We can be thankful that God has a purpose for each one of us. His purpose for you and I is crafted from a knowledge far beyond what we can comprehend and there is incredible solace to be found in that truth. Those who live apart from Christ will wrestle the same “why” questions, but they will never find satisfaction in their answers apart from God. A person can’t find closure to the question of “Why am I here?” if they don’t believe in a purposed beginning or a purposed end. The prevalent “Big Bang” and “fade into nothingness” theories that are used to explain our start and end are grounded in accident and irrelevance. If someone truly believes their start had no purpose and their end has no purpose, then, by definition, the life lived in between the start and end can’t have purpose either. While this line of reasoning is quite depressing, take comfort in the fact that a life with no purpose is completely avoidable. If you are a child of Christ, God has called you to serve Him with specificity. He has given us each talents, abilities, and affinities to serve in specific capacities for the furthermost of His Kingdom. No two believers will serve the same purpose, but it will all be meaningful. The sphere of influence that God has placed me in will be different than the sphere of influence that you are in, but both are equally important in God’s grand plan of redemption.

2) God’s Will is Designed to Conform Us to Christlikeness

James 1:2–4, “2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

I can be thankful in every trial I face because I know that God will give me the strength to cleave to Him. Sometimes, it is God’s Will for us to go through times of pain and hurt. Remember, to conform means to be similar to. One of God’s stated goals is to mold us to be more like his Son Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). He wants to make us more reliant, more communicative, more obedient, and more holy. There are times where we go through trials of our own volition, and times God specifically places us there, but God’s desire for us remains the same. He wants us to be perfect and entire in Him. Let’s briefly examine two examples of the trials we place ourselves in versus those that God divinely determines for us.

First, consider God’s Will for Jonah. God’s perfect will was for Jonah to go preach at Nineveh. Jonah, exercising his free will, chose to act within God’s permissive will, and travel to Tarshish against God’s command. As a result, God placed Jonah in a terrifying storm and then the belly of the fish. Even when Jonah went against God’s wish, God still brought his perfect work to pass within Jonah’s life. God still sought to conform Jonah to Himself. In Jonah 2:1, Jonah may have been sitting in putrid stomach acid in the pitch black dark, but God saw His child finally reaching out to Him in prayer and obedience, as Jonah should have done all along. As such, Jonah 3:5 shows us that God’s perfect will still came to pass. The people of Nineveh were brought to knowledge and faith in Him. I am thankful that my God overcomes my sinful shortcomings and brings His Will to pass. Both in my life and in the lives of those He has called me to touch.

Secondly, consider God’s Will for Joseph. He was a favored child who was betrayed by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery in a foreign land, falsely accused of rape, and then forgotten in prison. Years of his youth were ripped from him, and he did nothing to deserve it. His brothers imagined evil against him, selling him to Ishmaelite traders and then faking his death. When he was sold to Potiphar, he served faithfully. He rightfully fled from Potiphar’s wife when she tried to sinfully seduce him, yet he was thrown into prison anyway. He helped the cupbearer regain his position at the king’s side, only to be forgotten again. When he finally came face to face with his brothers again as second-in-command in the kingdom, he didn’t call for their execution. In many ways, Joseph is the epitome of what following exhibiting Christlikeness in the face of trials looks like. I often wonder if his patience ever wore thin during those many years of tribulation he endured. Was he thankful to God when he was staring up from the pit or staring up from the prison cell? When he stared down on his brothers, the day they unknowingly came before him to beg for bread from the famine, I believe his thankfulness for God’s Will in his life shown through. We can get an inner look into Joseph’s thought process in Genesis 50:20:

“But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.”

As it was with Jonah, many people were saved because of the decision Joseph made to turn to God, even when his faith was tried and he was in a place he didn’t want to be. I can be thankful that, in the trials I face, God will always be there. While we’re here on this earth, God’s desire for us is conformity, not comfort. As believers, He will continually conform you and I into an image of godliness. There is joy in knowing God’s Will for me is structured in a way where I, as a child of His, will never be apart from Him. Because of his love for me, if I need correction, He will give it. He will also give me the strength and the patience to endure.

3) God’s Will is Backed by His Faithfulness

Lamentations 3:22–23, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

The original Hebrew word used in verse 22 was Chesed. Chesed means lovingkindness, steadfast love, mercy, loyalty, compassion, and goodness. It’s often used to describe God’s covenant love and active mercy toward humanity. Note that no single English word captures the full meaning of chesed; translations include “lovingkindness,” “mercy,” “compassion,” and “goodness”. So, if we were to use our English, we’d have to say its meaning goes beyond kindness to signify covenant faithfulness and undeserved generosity. A good example to think about is God’s relationship to Israel. That’s chesed.

I’m thankful for a God who is generous and faithful to me, even in the times where I fall short and am not faithful to Him. If you are a born-again believer, God demonstrates that same chesed love towards you that He did towards Israel. Why? Well, when you repented of your sins and believed on the righteousness of Christ, you entered a covenant with God the Father. When you repented and believed on Christ, you wholly acknowledge that your sins are covered by the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, and you resolve to live a life that glorifies Him over yourself. As such, when God the Father looks at you, he doesn’t see your sin. Instead, He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ. As such, your name is written in the Book of Life, you are welcomed into the fold, and you become a child of His. You become an heir to the kingdom of Christ. The Bible tells us that He will always be faithful to uphold His end of the covenant. He is never slack concerning His promises.

2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

So if God is faithful in his covenant love towards us, we can rest assured that He will be faithful in bringing his Will to pass in each of our lives. What an awesome promise to give thanks for. If God will always be faithfully seeking to bring His perfect Will to pass in our lives, then the limiting factor becomes you and me. If we don’t give thanks for the work He’s doing, or if we use our freedom in Christ to run from Him, then we are in rebellion against the Lord. Because He is faithful, He will continue to draw us back, but we risk unneeded heartache in the interim. When I demonstrate thankfulness towards God for Him working his Will in my life, I put aside selfish goals and thus grow in Christ with His help (2 Peter 3:18). Remember, as Numbers 23:19 tells us, God is not fickle as we are, what He has promised, he will bring to pass. Always.

Are You Living in the Light of His Will?

I would encourage you today to make Romans 4:21–22 a focal point in your day.

“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”

Romans 4 speaks of God’s promise to Abraham. As Abraham rested in the promised Will of God for Him, so should we. God told Abraham that he would be the father of many nations, and Abraham believed it, against all odds. Operating solely in human understanding, this seemed impossible. Yet we see God miraculously work, and Abraham’s wife, Sarah, conceived at 90 years old. This shows us that God operates outside what we believe to be possible and probable.

Our job is to give thanks, give glory, and have belief. Whatever you have going on today please remember that God’s Will is rooted in His perfect knowledge and backed by His faithfulness. Put another way, as you follow His plan for your life revealed in Scripture, the Lord will continue to mold and make you more like His Son. So, be strong in your faith in the Lord today and rest on the promises that He has given us in His Word. Resolve this day to live your life in the light of His Will as revealed in Scripture today.