Thankfulness is what Thanksgiving is all about, right?

And yet, when thinking about thankfulness, I’m seeing that we have to live with a certain amount of tension, of what are apparently conflicting thoughts.

Thankfulness is an attitude we should grasp and hold onto. Countering that, though, is the pervasive presence of evil. How do we reconcile that?

Here’s some ancient script, from Ephesians 5:15 – 20a.

¹⁵ Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶ making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸ Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹ speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰ always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Good ol’ Paul nails it again. When talking about thankfulness, he isn’t naive. He knows that he (and we) live in a pretty awful world.

He said “Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present age” (Galatians 1:4). In one of the great mysteries of God, He has given Satan a lot of leeway to do his evil, to the extent of him being called “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Why does God have Satan on a leash, and yet give him some freedom to do his wickedness?

Beats me. But when talking about thankfulness, I am thankful that we do have a choice in who we follow. Maybe that has something to do with free will.

Fact is, God is allowing wickedness and sin in the human heart to go wild, at least for now. You might want to argue that, and some of a more cynical bent might say, “Well, He’s not that much of a God if He doesn’t have any more power to restrain than that.”

This age is evil because there is so much suffering and catastrophes in this world, and it affects good folks and bad folks alike. I don’t get it either, but I do trust in God, Who has a much broader vantage point than I do.  That’s some reason for thankfulness right there.

If Paul embraced thankfulness – and he did – it came from some firsthand experiences.

He dealt with his own sin. Romans 7 – check it out.

He was stoned, beaten, thrown in prison, shipwrecked, snakebit, and went without food, clothes and shelter. He never knew when someone might flat-out kill him. His walk with God wasn’t exactly the proverbial bed of roses.

Still, Paul knew how to experience thankfulness, because he was able to see to some extent what God was up to with him. Christ told Paul that His power was made perfect in his weakness, and dang, do I ever take comfort in that!

Verse 20 is one of those verses that God slips in the Bible when I’m not looking. I read this earlier and said, “Whaaa…?”

Paul is telling us to do something quite extraordinary: Be thankful for everything. It does not say be thankful in everything. See the difference?

Thankfulness doesn’t, then, grow from a sense of knowing God is going to use circumstances to make us better. He does that, sure. But He says something really, really challenging – be thankful for everything. Everything. Ev-ree-thing.

I don’t think that means we should lead cheers at the graveside of our grandmother. God isn’t saying that we shouldn’t cry if our child has cancer. He doesn’t say we can’t be angry about sin, injustice, poverty, or anything else like that.

It’s complicated, this thankfulness thing. God said it, and I’m just sharing.

I’m trying to be helpful here without diving too deep into theology I can’t grasp. Here’s what I do know, though:

• When the angel appeared to Mary to tell her she’d have a son without a husband, he only told her what she needed to know – “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you … with God nothing will be impossible.” That’s a good word for us.
• Verse 18 talks about an exchange – don’t get drunk, but be filled with the Spirit. That may be the key, right there – swapping out worldly things and thoughts for the power of the Spirit that lives in us.
• That Spirit? He searches everything. He wants us to experience thankfulness. Trusting Him for that means that we can accept His total control over us and all creation. He can take the evils of this world and make them work for our eternal good. That doesn’t mean that life here won’t be hard. There is, though, that eternal promise, and we should remember – again – that we are pilgrims and sojourners here, and this world isn’t our home.

God wants to teach us that lesson, and it isn’t easy, now is it? I’m still wrestling with it.

Here’s where my thankfulness has landed: The days are evil, but I can give thanks always to God the Father. He’s up to something – lots of somethings. He is wise and sovereign and good.

Once I grasp that, thankfulness comes easily.

Be well. Let me hear from you.