Should you thank God for your bad things?

Nobody enjoys suffering. Bad things that happen to us aren't fun. So why does God want us to be grateful for them?

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

Gratitude is hard sometimes. Have you noticed that? When you look at your life and you see all the unfairness and the missed opportunities and the trouble and struggle and loss—is your first inclination to be grateful for it?

You do? Try that response again.

Let’s be honest about this, y’all. Because life is hard. Life sucks sometimes. It’s a constant cycle of grief and frustration and failure. Am I wrong? Correct me if I’m wrong.

That’s not saying there aren’t good things. There are loads of good things too, but it’s so much easier to be grateful for good things. Who in heaven’s name is grateful for BAD things?

Is it possible to be grateful for bad things? For the things that hurt? For the things that make us cry? For the things that make us feel afraid?

I don’t think that we’re supposed to love bad things. When bad things happen, I don’t think God expects us to rejoice about the bad thing. But I DO think He wants us to rejoice about what He will do as a result of the bad thing. We can be grateful because of how He will USE the bad thing to do something good.

God’s the only One who can do that. He can take a bad thing and use it in something that’s extraordinarily beyond good. He can take bad things and turn them into something GREAT.

When you lose a job, He can give you a better one. When you are suffering with an illness, He can provide you with opportunities and relationships you never would have had without it. When you don’t have money to pay your bills, He can provide in ways you didn’t expect. He always does.

So are you drowning in a heap of bad things right now? You don’t have to love the bad things. You don’t even have to appreciate them. But instead of just seeing them as BAD, could you try to see them as the stepping stones to something GOOD? Because that’s how God sees them.

It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be angry. God understands. But once you’re on the other side of sad and angry, give grateful a try, even if it’s for something that feels bad right now. It won’t always be that way.

Questions for Reflection:

• Why do we have to go through bad things?

• Why do you think God uses our bad things to make good things?

• Is there a bad thing that could happen to you that you believe God couldn’t use for good?

Memory Verse: