Always, And For All Things
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
— Ephesians 5:20 (KJV)
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The difficult point is to give thanks to Him for the bitter things, for the disguised blessings, for the love tokens that come to us from Him in black envelopes, for those benefits which travel to us via crucis, by way of the cross, which are generally the most heavily laden wagons that ever come from our Father’s country. We are to give thanks for the dark things, the cutting things, the things which plague and vex us, and disquiet our spirits, for these are among the ‘all things’ for which we ought to praise and bless God.
Doubtless, if our eyes were opened, like those of Elijah’s servant, we should see our trials to be amongst our choicest treasures. If we exercise the far-seeing eye of faith and not the dim eyes of sense, we shall discover that nothing can be more fatal to us than to be without affliction, and that nothing is more beneficial to us than to be tried as with fire. Therefore we will glory in tribulations also; we will bless and magnify the name of the Lord that He leads us through the wilderness that He may prove us, and that He may fit us for dwelling by-and-by in the promised land.
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The day will come, when we shall fulfill our text in the widest sense, for then we shall give thanks to God, at the winding up of the drama, of human history, for everything that has happened, from the fall even to the destruction of the wicked. We may not be able to do so now. Our eye sees the gigantic evil, and does not see the over-ruling good which, like a boundless sea rolls over all: the dreadful mysteries of evil make us tremble as we think of them; but the day may come when, with the Lord Jesus, we may not only bless God for electing love, but may even say, ‘I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.’
The day may come when even the darkest side of the divine decrees, and the profoundest depths of the divine action, shall cause us to adore with gratitude, and when even that which can least be understood in providence, shall no longer be the subject of awe-struck wonder, but of unspeakable delight. We shall trace the line of perfection along the course of the divine decrees and workings, and though the way of the Lord may have seemed to us to be inscrutable, we shall then adore Him for that wondrous display of all His attributes— His justice, His love, His truth, His faithfulness, His omnipotence — which shall blaze forth with tenfold splendor.
In heaven we shall give thanks to God always for all things, without exception, and throughout eternity we shall magnify His holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us do it as best we can today, God’s Spirit helping us.
— ‘Always, and For All Things’ - The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Vol. 19 pg. 66-68 (C.H. Spurgeon)
Beloved? (gentle) I know today was a hard day for you, and that’s ok. (tender) Hard days, they tell us that something isn’t right - with us, with the world. Hard days cause us to recognize our immense dissatisfaction and need, and point us to the only One who can satisfy and provide for us perfectly, do you know? (gentle) So hard days are nothing to be ashamed of or regret, please?
When you have a hard day, you never need fear that you’re ‘dragging me down’ or ‘not being strong for me’ or any such nonsense, beloved. (gentle) When you are having a hard day, I want to know. Because I want to know you, my beloved! And because it’s my delight to walk beside you in and through anything and everything here, in this pilgrim land, beloved - just as you do with and for me, yes?
Do you see what these words of Spurgeon and of Scripture are trying to tell us, beloved? We are to give thanks for All Things, my sweet one! Even - perhaps, especially - those things which come to us by way of the cross. The cross always looks like death, beloved, but what follows always is Life! Beautiful, glorious, everlasting Life!
Our eyes just can’t see that clearly much of the time, beloved. We’re stuck in the blackness, the dark, scary, silent tomb…but do you see how that isn’t the end of the Story, beloved? (gentle) Love and Life are always the end of every story He writes!
We don’t understand now, beloved, but we will, some Day! We will see how every tear, every ache, every longing was His wooing and His weaving - His priceless gift to us, beloved! It will be so! I have faith! Please have faith with me? May we trust His words Together, please? May we practice, Together, giving thanks in all things? I would like to learn that with you, beloved, alongside you. I think it would please Him so.
We will do our best then, my sweet one, to honor and worship and adore Him in this way, day by day, moment by moment, until we are - at last! - Home, Together, forever!!! What a blessed Day that will be, yes?! (excited) Soon and very Soon, beloved! He is coming for us! All praise and thanks be unto our Good King, now and always - come what may!