In Retrospect...

 

 I love the month of November! Not just because it is my birth month, but also for what it brings. It is that time of year when people get to step back from the hustle and bustle of life, spend time with family and friends, and thank God for His many blessings. So often, however, we only get to thank God in retrospect, after we have been through the situations in our lives.  While in that moment, we are too busy seeing what “could have been” or “should have been,” to appreciate God for what is. 

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Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”  “How can I help you?” asked Elisha. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil (2 Kings 4: 1-2).  Like the widow in the story, when faced with a situation, our mind quickly goes to what we do not have; “I don’t have a husband, I don’t have money” The man of God was trying to redirect her by asking “What do you HAVE?”A  roof over your head? A jar of oil?  Some friendly neighbors?

I heard a preacher say recently “looking back now, I realize I had good children, but I didn’t know it then!” How sad that we should miss out of the pleasure of enjoying God’s blessings because we are too engrossed with our perceived lack or discontent. The Bible says God brought the first animals to Adam to see what Adam would call them. I picture a loving father sitting back to enjoy the child’s squeals of delight as he unwraps his gifts. At that moment, it’s all worth it! The thoughtfulness that went into selecting the gift, the money and time spent, the sacrifice made, all pale in comparison to the pure delight of a grateful child. We rob God of that same delight when we are ungrateful.

The book of Ruth tells a captivating bible story. There was a famine in Israel. Naomi and her husband Elimelech along with their two sons left Bethlehem, the house of bread, to Moab where they thought to find bread. They ended up dwelling in the land of Moab, and Naomi lost her husband and two sons there. Then she heard that the Lord had blessed Israel and there was food in her home country again. As she returned to the land with Ruth her daughter in-law, Naomi raised a bitter lamentation saying “I went away full, but now I return empty.” In retrospect, Naomi could say that she was “full” because even though she lacked bread or food at the time, she was blessed with a husband and two sons. Isn’t it interesting how we do not quite appreciate what we've got until we lose it? At this point, she would have gladly borne temporary pangs of hunger to have her husband and sons beside her again.

What do we learn from these stories? Be thankful for little things; a roof over your head, the love of family and friends, the oil (or money) in reserve, a neighbor that cares, and a God you can call Abba Father! He is the one who promised that He will never leave you or forsake you. He has assured you, “I have good plans for you, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope, to bring you to your expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11). Even for that alone, you can be thankful! Don’t wait to look back, thank God now!

Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:18).