A Posture of Thankfulness
At Oasis, we have recently begun a series exploring the life of David; the Shepherd King. As we’re going to see over the coming months, the theme of thankfulness, which is a key vision focus for 2024 as a community (find out more about that by listening to Adrian’s Vision 2024 talk below!), is one which is weaved throughout David’s life and story.
Whilst David has many flaws, his posture as “a man after God’s own heart” is one that is typified by how thankfulness flows out of him within and despite his circumstances. This was something that was desperately needed in his time, as is revealed in the book of Samuel before we even meet David! In the story of Israel coming to Samuel and asking for a king, they reveal the extent to which thankfulness has fallen off the agenda of the people.
You can read it for yourself in 1 Samuel 8, but as they pitch their request for a king, the people give three reasons: 1) to be like the nations, 2) to judge them, and 3) to fight their battles for them.
Yet, even the structure of the story makes a mockery of what the people think they want! The author of Samuel has deliberately chosen to place this story directly after an incredible event in 1 Samuel 7 where the Philistines, Israel’s arch-enemy throughout this period, raise an army to attack them. In response, but Samuel leads the people in prayer and worship, and God delivers them — confusing and terrifying and scattering the Philistine army such that the Israelites don’t even have to fight, all they have to do is chase the Philistines away.
There’s a deep irony being communicated through how the story right before they ask for a king sees God:
- Demonstrating by His care for them that the Israelites are not “like the nations”, but rather, are His own covenant people, blessed to be a blessing.
- Judging on their behalf — ensuring justice for His people in the face of unwarranted aggression.
- Fighting their battles for them, miraculously and incredibly delivering them in the face of overwhelming odds.
God has already shown Himself as willing and able to give them everything they wanted from a king, out of His abundant generosity and power. This is why, as He says to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8:7, “they are rejecting me, not you”.
Now, between 1 Samuel 7 and 1 Samuel 8, a number of years pass, but as I’ve been reflecting on these stories, what’s struck me is that, in placing the two together, the narrator is giving us a picture of why having a posture of thankfulness — a position of the heart that continually looks for opportunities to be thankful — is so vital to a healthy spiritual life.
Because the Israelites had slipped out of their regular rhythms of celebrating who God is and what He had done for them, of thankfulness, they had become inclined to hopelessness, to grumbling, and to fear.
They weren’t living with a posture of thankfulness, and so whilst they may have thanked God for delivering them in the moment, they quickly moved on from the lessons of 1 Samuel 7 — that God was with them, that He was for them, and that He was enough. In doing so, they planted the seeds for 1 Samuel 8 — turning away from God, rejecting His leadership and care, and descending into brokenness, division, and ultimately exile from the land God had given them.
When we aren’t living with a posture of thankfulness, it is so easy to instead slip into living with:
- Hopelessness: Where the amazing things that God has done in the past become muted in our minds, blinding us to what He might want to do in the future.
- Grumbling: Where we begin to doubt the reality of God’s kindness and provision, becoming easily disillusioned with Him and with others.
- Fear: Where the challenges we are facing begin to overwhelm us, and we struggle to see how God might want or be able to bring us through them.
Reflecting on these passages was a real challenge to me, because the reality is, I am just the same as the Israelites were in Samuel’s day! I too am frequently forgetful of what God has done, and, without seeking to nurture a posture of thankfulness in my life, am so easily drawn to hopelessness, grumbling and fear, rather than their opposites — hope, encouragement and faith.
How slow am I to remember what God has done? How slow am I to thank him for all He has so generously given me? How slow am I to trust that the faithfulness of the God who is the same yesterday, today and forever means that whatever the future holds, Jesus is enough?
So, this week, I’m taking the challenge and encouragement of this passage to think about how I can be increasingly building a posture of thankfulness into my life; someone who is continually looking for opportunities to be thankful (rather than forgetful), and who lives with that as an ongoing reality in a way that grows the fruits of hope, encouragement and faith in my life. How about you?
