Being thankful . . . in the Hole

In Everything . . . Give thanks.   I Thessalonians 5:18

Not thankful FOR everything . . . but thankful IN everything . . . even in the hole.

In the hole . . . in the red . . . over your head . . .

You know . . . down and out (or down, but not out)

Up to your neck . . . 

Thankful.

There's a great gospel song about a grandmother telling her grandchildren the story about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the Book of Daniel in the Old Testament.

They refused to bow down to the image of King Nebuchadnezzar . . . so he threw them in a fiery furnace.

But God protected them from the fire.  They were in the fire . . . but the fire didn't win. The three Hebrew Children were freely walking in the flames of the furnace: unharmed.

King Nebuchadnezzar looked in and saw them . . . he also saw a Fourth Man walking about with them in the blaze. He said that it looked like the Son of God.

The three young men walked out of the furnace . . . and the Bible said that they didn't even smell of smoke!

In the song the grandchildren asked their grandmother, "But grandmother . . . what about the Fourth Man? Where is HE?"

She smiled and happily said, "He's still in the Fire!"

Whenever we are thrown into the fires and flames of life . . . He is already there . . . waiting for us . . . to be with us . . . to see us through.

Phillip Yancey has written a wonderful book for Christians in the Pit:  Where is God when it Hurts?

You should read the book.

Sometimes when we are in the hole . . . in the pit . . . in the furnace . . . we cannot see Him there. Sometimes we can't find Him, or sense Him, or feel Him. In the hole.

Yancey's conclusion at the end of the book is profound . . . and we knew it all along.

Where is God when it Hurts?  He's in YOU!

The Apostle John wrote: "Greater is HE who is IN YOU . . .  than anything or anyone in the world . . . or in the hole."

He is.

I am thankful.