Do you ever get so frustrated and discouraged that you are ready to explode? And you just can’t seem to see any way out. Maybe you feel like God has abandoned you, and you have no hope left. And then along comes some well meaning but obviously clueless person who has the audacity to tell you that “All things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). Of course this time of year they feel compelled to quote 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “No matter what, always be thankful.” While I do believe that, how in the world can I be expected to be thankful when I am so spiritually or emotionally wounded that I’m ready to give up?
I think the song “Count Your Blessings” had some pretty solid advice.
1) Acknowledge the hurts, the unfairness, the trials and tribulations.
Acknowledge it to yourself, as well as to God. Be honest, and even blunt about what what you’re feeling. So often we try to hide, even from ourselves, exactly what we’re feeling and thinking. We have this strange notion that we have to tiptoe around God. Like we have to only say certain words, and we can’t tell him how we really feel. Look God already knows what we’re feeling and thinking. Stop trying to lie to God. He’s a pretty big, and I promise, he CAN handle the truth.
2) Listen, to the Holy Spirit, and to yourself.
Listen to your rants, and your feelings, and your thoughts. But also listen for the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit as He reminds you of the blessings that God has given.
Slowly, you’ll find yourself moving from crying out about all the wrongs, to recounting each blessing.
3) Counting our blessings doesn’t change the circumstances; but it does change us.
Our outlook will change from feeling that life sucks, to finding our hope in Christ. We remember who were belong to. God restores our strength.
No. You’re not going to find the phrase “Count your blessings” in the Bible. But we see it at work throughout the Bible. The Psalms are some of the most obvious. Psalm 103:2 reads “Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.” (NLT) The ESV reads “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
Throughout the psalms we see raw emotion, and yet even in the pain and anger, the writers find praise, and remember God’s blessings, either on themselves, or on Israel.
Bottom Line: Even when life sucks, count your blessings.
When the storms are raging, when everything bad seems to hit at once, when it seems as though others are blessed and Good has forgotten you, and you have reached the point you’re ready to give up, count your blessings.