Forgetfulness In Our Thankfulness
Last month, we looked at the great miracle that God performed by taking the children of Israel through the Red Sea. This devotion finds the Israelites on the other side of the Red Sea, and they are in a spirit of celebration. In Exodus 15, these people sing and praise the Lord for twenty one verses! In this outpouring of praise, we find phrases like, “…Who is like unto thee, O Lord, …Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance.” Their attitude of thanksgiving was obviously at an all time high. After all, who wouldn’t feel grateful to a God who had just rolled back over 344 billion gallons of water and made a passage through the Red Sea?
Sadly, this story does not end like a fairy tale, “…and they lived happily ever after.” For in verses 23 and 24, we find this passage: “And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?”
Note the word “murmured.” This tells us that they didn’t have a peaceful discussion about their water situation. No, they completely lost their grateful, thankful attitude and began to grumble and complain! But God in his mercy performed another miracle and the water was made safe for these grumbling people to drink.
Exodus 16 starts off with yet more complaining from the children of Israel. This time they are grumbling about food. “Would to God we had died in Egypt,” they said. “In Egypt we could eat bread until we were full, and now we are going to die in this wilderness.”
So in verse 4, the Lord spoke to Moses and said: “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you.” Were they satisfied now? Numbers 11 gives us the answer: “…and the children of Israel also wept again, and said…our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.”
Are you feeling frustrated yet? God Almighty had rained down angel’s food and the children of Israel were still not thankful. But wait a minute before you turn up your righteous nose at these people! Even without all the grumbling and complaining, our prayers can quickly turn into a laundry list instead of praise and thanksgiving. Why is it that prayer requests can last five to ten minutes, but the pastor has to practically beg the congregation for one testimony?? Why does the latest trial always seem to erase our memory of the latest miracle? Child of God, don’t allow your present difficulty to hinder your attitude of thanksgiving!
I’m afraid we keep a mental score card of what we do for God, and what He does comparably for us. Now, if you’re counting your blessings, this would be harmless. But it’s easy to fall into the trap that you “deserve” a reward for your service to Him. My friend, no sacrifice is ever so great that it would make God a debtor to us!
There is story of a little boy and his mother that illustrates this point so wonderfully. I have condensed it for this devotion.
A little boy came into the kitchen where his mother was fixing supper, and handed her a piece of paper. After wiping her hands on an apron, she began to read:
For mowing the yard $5
And for making up my own bed this week $1
For going to the store $.50
And playing with little brother while you went shopping $.25
Taking out the trash $1
And for getting a good report card $5
And for raking the yard $2
Total owed $14.75
Well, she looked down at him and a thousand memories flashed through her mind. So she picked up a pen, turned the paper over, and this is what she wrote:
For the 9 months I carried you $ NO CHARGE
For the nights I sat up and doctored you $ NO CHARGE
For the advice and the knowledge
And the cost of your college
$ NO CHARGE
For the toys, school, and clothes
And for wiping your nose
There’s NO CHARGE son
When you add it all up the full cost of my love is $ NO CHARGE
Psalm 68:19 says: “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits…” As we enter into this Thanksgiving season, let’s put our demands on God aside and offer up some well deserved thank you’s. I challenge you in the coming weeks to take each day and thank God for a specific blessing or an answer to prayer. You may even discover some miracles that you haven’t properly thanked God for. Remember that a thankful heart will produced a faithful heart. Have a blessed Thanksgiving everyone!