Acts 27:27-38, Gratitude vs. unthankfulness (3)

c)    Thanksgiving is an act of faith.

This principle can work in two ways.  First, if we are in the midst of a difficult situation, and we haven’t yet recognized God’s answers to prayer, we might be sure from Scripture that our request is the will of and would be led to thank God for the answer before the answer has come.  That would be an expression of faith.  We need to be careful about that.  I have been a part of several situations where people were certain Biblically that God would heal them of a disease, and they thanked Him for the healing.  Without getting into a detailed discussion, the problem with that is that nowhere in Scripture are we assured of physical healing in this life. 

Another way we can express faith through thanksgiving is to give our thanks to God for His work even when we don’t have assurance of how He is going to lead us in our trial.  We are basing this on the underlying principles.  We know God is always at work.  And we know God is always deserving of praise.  We can even know these certainties in the face of certain death.  Meditate on the following passages that connect faith and thanksgiving.

i)      Phil. 4:6: If the issue is that we are anxious about our situations, Paul calls us to pray about everything “with thanksgiving.”  What other attitude might we have?  Perhaps praying with complaint.  Or perhaps we pray without coming to God with thanksgiving, suggesting that we are not happy with the way He is operating.  So “thanksgiving” says, “You are a good God, always, and I trust you.”

ii)   Col. 4:2: Paul asked the Colossian Church to “continue in prayer (for him particularly, 4:3-4) being vigilant in it with thanksgiving.”  Paul was in prison at the time.  There were always things to be thankful for; Paul did not want the brethren to be worried or upset as they heard the news about his situation. An attitude of thanksgiving says we are trusting God as we intercede.

iii)            John 11:41: Jesus gave thanks to God before calling Lazarus to come out of the tomb.

iv) Acts 27:35: Paul gave thanks to God before all the crew on the “doomed” voyage to Rome.  He did this after assuring everyone no lives would be lost.  What he did encouraged the others to eat and be strengthened.

Thanksgiving is contrary to unbelief.  Unbelief shames man and ridicules God.  When we doubt God we are not walking in faith.  When we are not walking in faith we are trusting ourselves and that will always bring us to shame or disappointment.