2 Samuel 4:8-9 – Thankfulness
Don’t miss that phrase at the end of v9: ‘out of every adversity’. Tucked away in 2 Samuel 4 is this great tribute to the goodness and grace of God. Here’s a verse we can cling onto in the midst of suffering. He has delivered us out of every adversity – and he’s not going to stop now. That sense of gratitude will help us to keep on suffering for him.
In 155AD an elderly man called Polycarp was burned at the stake for refusing to say that Caesar was Lord. He was given the chance to renounce Christ and escape the flames. But he said: ‘Eighty and six years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour?’
One of your best protections from giving in to temptation, whether temptation to commit some sin, or temptation to despair, or to self-pity – one of your best protections is living a life of thankfulness. So that in that moment of temptation, you wouldn’t simply be thinking ‘I shouldn’t do this’. But you’d be thinking: ‘I’ve served him however many years and he has done me no wrong. How than can I sin against my king and my Saviour?’
Outside the kingdom of God, people may be thankful from time to time – but their lives aren’t marked by it. When they get things, it often doesn’t occur to them to be thankful because they think they’re entitled to it, they deserve it, or they’ve worked hard to earn it. That’s the world we live in. It’s so easy to take on their values. It’s easy for us even as Christians to live lives that aren’t marked by gratitude.
Idolatry and ingratitude are the two sins that Romans 1 picks up on that explain why the world’s in the state that it’s in. Romans 1.21: ‘For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God (idolatry) or give thanks to him’. (ingratitude) I wonder if we were to make up a description of a spiritual person, how high up the list would we place gratitude? The citizens of God’s kingdom are – or should be – marked by thankfulness. Just like their king. What was it that revealed Jesus to the Emmaus disciples? Breaking bread and giving thanks.
Question
- How does being thankful help us resist temptation?
Prayer Points
- Pray for the preaching and hearing of God’s Word tomorrow.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.