Be thankful to God in all circumstances
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus (NLT) 1 Thessalonians 5:18
At the tail end of November 2015, I joined the evangelism team at my congregation to a village to revive the Lord’s church there and win more souls for Christ. On the Sunday after church, our job was done and we were making our trip back home, singing and praising God at the top of our lungs, and I personally sharing the good news with a mid-aged woman, whom we picked on our way. Suddenly I heard an explosion, like that of a ruptured tyre. Momentarily, some brethren alighted from the bus to check the cause of the explosion and report came through that the fulcrum around which the rear tyres revolved and moved had broken lose. The bolts and nuts that fixed the fulcrum in its place were smashed into smithereens. As if that was not enough, we were caught in the middle of a very dusty road, not to talk of tons of dust that was in the air. It was an experience that people promised with ‘beautiful feet’ (Romans 10:15) will wish not to have encountered. However, we didn't lose our joy; we knew God was in control.
The brethren with mechanic expertise pitched in to fix it. We just needed to replace the broken bolts and nuts and we will be on our way. But where will we get bolts and nuts in the middle of nowhere? We just had to fall on the benevolence of other drivers plying that road. Vehicle upon vehicle, request upon request, no single driver seemed to have what we needed. All of a sudden, a driver heading towards the direction we were travelling speedily drove past us. He didn't stop when we beckoned to him and he seemed not to care that he was messing up our breathing with the dust from his screeching tyres. Finally help came and we were on our way again.
After about a quarter of an hour, we saw ahead of us ambulances whisking away accident casualties. To our greatest surprise, the driver who had sped past us whilst we were on the dusty road looking for help, had run into a huge inter-city bus. We felt terribly sad for what had happened to them but we couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that God in His own mysterious way may have used that mechanical hitch to save us from a certain accident. It was heart warming to know that indeed God was in control. We were overwhelmed with praise and thanksgiving to God.
Beloved, the story I have related to you is not so different from those testimonies we hear every day about how God uses seemingly terrible experiences to achieve a good end in our lives. The inspired prophet Isaiah knew this when he revealed to us in scripture the sovereignty of God: “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine” (Isaiah 55:8, NLT). That is why scripture enjoins us to be thankful to God in all circumstances, even in our darkest moments.