Thanks for Nothing.....

"Thanks for Nothing!" Ever say this phrase? I was trying to think about thankfulness and somehow the phrase came to mind. I started thinking about how we spend a lot of time asking God for what we want and what we think we need hoping He will say OK and make it happen. One of the Coaches wives at Tech and I were talking this summer about God and how He chooses to answer our prayers. She recalled a sermon Johnny Hunt (Woodstock Baptist) gave on this topic. He said that there are different types of answers God can give: Yes, No, and Wait. When you hear the "no" answer or even the "wait" it can leave you feeling let down. But when I look back on the situations that God didn't provide in the way I had asked for, I am more thankful that I am not in control! Knowing that God doesn't listen to my choice for His answer is so comforting because I definitely don't know what is best for me... so God, Thanks for nothing!

There is another way the "thanks for nothing" phrase is used. It is when God allows us to stay in the midst of a situation that is particularly painful in order to draw us closer and become more dependent upon Him! God allowed Satan to affect Job, Paul had been allowed to receive a thorn/messenger of Satan to keep him from boasting. In 2 Corinthians 12 Paul discusses his thorn. He even begged God to take the thorn from Him 3 times. But God knew what was best and, while God didn't say "wait" or "no" He answered "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor 12:9a) This answer provoked the response from Paul that God expected and desired. Paul's response: "I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor 12: 9b-10) Isn't this an amazing resolve from someone who is in the middle of being tormented by Satan? What an experience to be in a fire that is so intense you are begging to be removed from it, then be able to look back on it and say I will delight in any hard knock life gives me because I have already experienced the worst torment and I have learned that through these bumps and bruises I become stronger in Christ Jesus! Sometimes we just don't want to bear the situation we are in and want God to just take it away! This portion of scripture was one that resonated with me from early on in my life. What an amazing outlook on life! I will boast all the more GLADLY about my weaknesses, persecutions, difficulties, hardships and even insults! Most of us try to hide our weaknesses but Paul boasted about them! We should all be boasting about our trials - they make us rely upon Jesus in a way that goes above and beyond prayer! We cling to Him, we completely focus on Him, we are in constant conversation with Him, we practice His Presence, we realize His purpose for our life!

Jesus, "Thanks for Nothing"... because if You took me out of the fire and chose the "yes" answer I would pick, I wouldn't be able to boast in Your power becoming perfect in my weakness! "Thanks for Nothing"