Scripture Introduction
I discovered “Holiday Heart Syndrome” from the electro-cardiologist who was a member of our church. Over the holidays, people often eat and drink more than usual. The sudden excess can cause an otherwise healthy heart to develop an abnormal rhythm, a fast and ineffective heartbeat. I am no cardiologist, but I would warn you of another heart danger — the Ungrateful Heart Syndrome.
Like a “Holiday Heart,” this condition strikes those who overindulge. Not in drink, but in focus on self and forgetfulness of God. And as with every heart condition, we ought to know the causes and cures, that we might live full and happy lives. Psalm 107 tests our hearts, asking if we know the grace of gratitude toward God. [Read Psalm 107. Pray.]
Introduction
A certain man, living in Budapest, Hungary, went to his rabbi, complaining: “Life is unbearable. Nine of us must live in the one room of my house. What can I do?”
The rabbi answers, “Take your goat into the room with you.” The man is incredulous. Certain he has misheard, he asks again. But the rabbi insists: “Do as I say; take your goat into your one room and come back in a week.”
One week later the man returns, even more distraught: “We cannot stand it; the goat is filthy, it stinks and it destroys everything.”
The rabbi pauses, thinking deeply, and says: “You will return to your home and remove the goat. And come back in one week.”
When the man returns the next week, he is radiant: “Life is beautiful! We enjoy life so much and are so thankful — there are only nine of us in the house.”
Perspective — a different perspective transforms attitudes. Our thoughts actually bend our feelings. So the Bible says that becoming truly grateful requires that we think about life and see the world as God does.
William Shakespeare has King Lear say: “Sharper than a serpent’s tooth is a thankless child.” Maybe you feel Lear’s sentiment. Mom labors hours over a hot stove, and dad rises thrice during the meal to refill cups, clean up plates, and serve desserts, but not a peep of gratitude reaches their ears. “Sharper than a serpent’s tooth is a thankless child.” The bite hurts when those for whom we do so much appreciate it so little.
Scottish Presbyterian Pastor, David Dickson (c. 1640): “There is no duty to which we are more dull or at which we are more awkward than the praise of God and thanksgiving unto Him; neither is there any duty for which we are in more need of being stirred up.” (Quoted in Spurgeon’s Commentary on the Psalms, in loc).
As we prepare for a national day of Thanksgiving, we may not feel particularly thankful. We are easily discouraged; life is difficult; often, things do not go the way we plan. We may not appreciate God because we do not feel appreciated by God. Maybe God would have us “bring a goat in the house” and be stirred to gratitude. I have entitled today’s message “A Holiday Heart.” Just as your cardiologist runs tests, may the Scriptures diagnose the disease and set us on a cure. To do so, let us first ask:
1. Question 1: Am I Naturally Thankful?
Most people consider themselves to be. On Wednesday night, at our Thanksgiving eve service, we will read from the President’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation, which begins: “Americans are a grateful people, ever mindful of the many ways we have been blessed.” Ever mindful — are we? Is the music of our hearts truly tuned to thanksgiving for what we have, or complaining for what we lack?
Psalm 107 was written because Israel needed reminding to be thankful for God’s redemption — his redemption from wandering in the desert, from imprisonment, from sickness and sin and from being lost on the sea. Though experiencing God’s help and favor again and again, the people were not grateful. Their attitude was more of: “What have you done for me lately?”
Those who claim to be Christians have far more reason for grateful hearts than even the church of the Old Testament. Yet we may be quick to leave off thankfulness when God’s providence includes a frown.
I admit — thanksgiving is not my ready response to trials and troubles. James reminds me: “Count it all joy…when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1.2-4). But what James counsels me to call “all joy,” I typically grumble about as misery.
One particularly disappointing time in my career, I called one of the elders from the first church I pastored. I told him of my struggles, of how being a pastor threatened to overwhelm me, and of the inadequacies I felt. I said, “Jim, I’m not sure I know how to find God’s will anymore.” He immediately responded: “1Thessalonians 5.16-18: Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Jim is correct — when we doubt and despair and don’t know what to do — then we most benefit from giving thanks with rejoicing!
But is that my natural response? The Apostle Paul summarizes the introduction of his letter to the Romans by saying, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation.” The thought of salvation then compels him to explain from what we need saving. We need saving (according to verse 18) from God’s wrath, since we all stand before him guilty. But of what are we guilty? Paul gives several specifics, and in the middle of the list, notes something which condemns all mankind, a proof of our common fallenness, a testimony to original sin — our lack of thankfulness!
Romans 1.21: “For although they [mankind] knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him….” Therefore, we are guilty. Maybe you imagine that too severe an accusation? Aren’t we (as Mr. Bush says) a grateful people? Yet listen to some modern thinkers.
Josef Stalin: “Gratitude…is a sickness suffered by dogs.”
Dorothy Parker (author, poet, critic for Vogue and Vanity Fair): “Gratitude — the meanest and most sniveling attribute in the world.”
William Faulkner: “Maybe the only thing worse than having to give gratitude constantly…is having to accept it.”
These moderns merely reflect the accuracy of the Bible: we emerge from the womb ungrateful. How might a lack of thankfulness manifest itself in our lives?
• Maybe we never get around to thanking God for his many common mercies: life and health, water and food, clothing and housing, friends and family, God’s revelation and his redemption. Psalm 107 is a song; has God heard our voices singing praise?
• We may dwell most often on what we lack: yes we have bread, but no fish; fish, but no vegetables; some cash but not wealth; a car, but a clunker; a computer, but not a iMac. Has God heard us singing songs of self-pity?
• We may fret too much over our ills. The Bible insists that afflictions are for good; does God hear our thankfulness in troubles? Matthew Henry (pastor in the early 1700s) was robbed one day and wrote in his diary the next: “Let me be thankful. First, because I was never robbed before. Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life. Third, because although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”
We could list other manifestations. Instead, note this: if we are to learn the joy and contentment of a thankful heart, we must begin by confessing our lack of thankfulness and asking God’s forgiveness. We are all, by nature, ungrateful.
2. Question 2: Should I Be Thankful?
This psalm seems to command thanksgiving: Psalm 107.1: “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good….” And at least 23 other Psalms do also, like Psalm 30: “Sing praises to the LORD, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.”
Additionally, genuine gratitude characterizes Jesus’ prayers. And the Apostle Paul, in his 13 letters, mentions giving thanks forty-five times. And the book of Revelation clearly characterizes worship in heaven with thankfulness. Revelation 11.16-17: “The twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17 saying, ‘We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.’”
And back to Psalm 107.2: “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble.” Have you been redeemed from destruction and damnation? Have you been saved from sin and the eternal suffering which it deserves? Then say so! Give thanks to the Lord!
Now to accurately diagnose ourselves, we must realize the thankfulness required is both an attitude and an action.
Since we are approaching a “gift giving” season, we might remind our children of this. Sometimes kids are not grateful if the gift is not what they want. Parents then prod their children to say the words, but end up with an palpably insincere, “Thank you.” The attitude is not one of gratitude because the thoughts are self-consumed: “My wants are critical; if I receive what I want then I am grateful.”
Of course Americans are grateful when life is good and we are happy. But what about when times are hard and there is less to please the flesh? Maybe we need “a goat in the house,” a different way of seeing. Instead of asking, “Is this gift what I want?” we learn to ask, “Did the person giving the gift demonstrate love and kindness?” Our perspective of who is most important can change.
But thankfulness is more than an attitude. Suppose tomorrow is your wife’s birthday. You arrange for babysitting and make reservations at a fine restaurant. You shop hard for the right gift. You leave work early and surprise your wife with flowers and a special evening. What if she says nothing? You assume she enjoys the details, the dinner and the gift, but what if she never offers a word of thanks, never gives a hint of appreciation, or even says, “You did better than last year”? Any husband treated that way would be angry. We expect the action of thankfulness when we do something special for another. So why should we be thankful in both attitude and act?
• We have ample reason to be — God is good.
• It is commanded.
• We demand it from others.
• It is our joy.
Did you hear about the farmer known for complaining? A neighbor stopped by for a visit, and noticing the wonderful crop, said, “You must be delighted with this year’s harvest!” The farmer grudgingly admitted: “Well, yes, it does look like the best I’ve ever had.” “But,” he added, “a bumper crop is awfully hard on the soil.”
We have a bumper crop of blessings, but a failure of gratitude will make us bitter before our time. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”
3. Question 3: How Do I Become Thankful?
I am not naturally thankful, though I should be. How will that gap be bridged? All true believers desire to be more appreciative. Six steps to happiness:
3.1. Confess ingratitude and ask for a new heart
Begin by agreeing with God: “I am naturally ungrateful.” That will be really hard for some of us, because we pride ourselves on writing thank you notes and showing appreciation. The answer, however, is not simply to “turn over a new leaf” and make a resolution to be more thankful.
Jesus did not die so that we would feel guilty for past ingratitude and promise to do better. Jesus died because we cannot do better. It is not within me; he alone is perfectly thankful. Apart from him I can do no good work—including giving thanks. Agree with him and ask of the Spirit that which you cannot acquire on your own—a new heart.
3.2. Believe Jesus’ Promise To Make You Thankful
The new covenant guarantees Christians a new heart. Believe God’s promise to remaking us into truly thankful people. The Bible makes it a joy to give thanks in all circumstances; your father loves you too much to deprive you of such pleasure!
3.3. Thank God For His Goodness, Grace and Gifts
Wishing does not make it so; guilt feelings are not acceptable. Practice the promise—“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” Speak it; sing it; form the words. It may seem awkward or mechanical at first, but ease and joy come from giving thanks.
Some of us may also need to practice our thankfulness in deed, as well as word. Puritan Pastor John Flavel made this comment about giving thanks to God through works of mercy: “Think not what God bestows upon you is wholly for your own use: but honor God with your mercies by clothing the naked and feeding the hungry, especially such as are godly. This is a due improvement of your estates; thus you may make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. Ah, how little do we consider what praise, what glory we may occasion this way, from others, to the name of God.”
3.4. Meditate on the Freedom from Ingratitude which will be Yours in Heaven
The opposite of thankfulness is slavery to dissatisfaction. Those who believe that God owes them more are never happy with what they have. But such discontent cannot cling to us in the presence of God. We will know that every circumstance was and is for our good and will be eternally grateful.
3.5. Begin to Give Thanks Even in Times of Trouble
Difficulty smothers gratitude, but the answer is not to wear a plastic smile, it is to focus on the cross. He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all [good] things? God is for us! Who can be against us? Who can separate us from the love of Christ? In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us!
Why don’t we leave the goat in the yard, and bring in, instead, the cross of Jesus? I think it might be effective at changing our perspective, so that no longer is every trouble a sign of God’s disfavor and cause for grumbling. Now it is the assurance of God’s love and the guarantee that all things work together for out good!
4. Conclusion
Harry Ironside preached in the early 1900s in the famous Moody Church in Chicago. One day he was just sitting down to eat lunch in a crowded downtown restaurant when a man approached and asked if he could share the table (for there were no other places to sit). Ironside welcomed him and then, as was his custom, he bowed his head in prayer. When he opened his eyes, the other man asked, “Do you have a headache?”
Ironside replied, “No, I don’t.”
The other man asked, “Well, is there something wrong with your food?”
Ironside replied, “No, I was simply thanking God as I always do before I eat.”
The man said, “Oh, you’re one of those, are you? What a waste of time. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow and I don’t have to thank anybody when I eat. I just start right in!”
Ironside said, “Yes, you’re just like my dog. That’s what he does too!” You think about that. Amen.
