GRATITUDE: #1 Gratitude for What We DO Have

By Dr. Gilbert W. Stafford
Scripture: 2 Kings 4:1-7

EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN 

The place was Kobe, Japan. It was 5:45, Tuesday morning, January 17, 1995. The most devastating earthquake imaginable had just taken place. In thirty seconds time destruction, chaos, and death were everywhere. Electricity was gone, buildings had collapsed, water gushed forth uncontrollably, small items such as books had become hazardous missiles, stones and bricks were precariously positioned to maim or kill at the slightest jar. Some 5500 people did lose their lives, and much of the city went up in flames. Cheryl Johnson Barton writes: “As I stood in the living room surveying a scene of overturned furniture and piles of what remained of pottery and knick-knacks collected during nearly twenty years of marriage, I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t even imagine where to begin the clean-up.”1

Do you sometimes feel that way in the midst of the disasters of your own life? Not many, if any, of us will ever experience the devastation of an earthquake in Kobe, Japan. But all of us live on the edge of some kind of devastation.

DISASTER OVER THE ATLANTIC 

I think of the sixteen bright young people from Montoursville, Pennsylvania and their five sponsors who last July boarded a plane at Kennedy Airport in New York City for a school trip to Paris. They had worked long and hard raising money for this French language experience. When they left Pennsylvania, all was bright and cheery. The glow of going with friends to paris was all pervasive. But within minutes after taking off, the plane exploded over the Atlantic, killing everyone aboard.

A picture on television showed the scribbled sign outside their school back home, saying, “No summer school classes until next Monday.” The normal routine of life had vanished, never to be quite the same again. Disaster had struck not only the school, but indeed the whole community of Montoursville. It had changed forever the family life and the friendships of many. The people in that small Pennsylvania town stood in the midst of some of life’s rubble and, just like Cheryl Barton in the midst of her earthquake rubble, said in effect, “Where do we begin dealing with all this stuff?”

The devastation you face may be that of a broken marriage, the loss of a job, a major disappointment in life, a defeat of some sort, financial disarray, illness, problems in the family or in the church or on the streets where you live. It may be that this very day you stand in the midst of some kind of devastation. Perhaps you, too, are overwhelmed, not knowing where to begin.

AT LEAST SOMETHING WAS LEFT 

But listen to the rest of Cheryl’s story. It gives us a clue as to what to do. She writes: “In the midst of the frenzy, I suddenly stopped short. There on top of one of the largest piles, I discovered a framed family photo. Amazingly, its glass remained intact. Next to it, also undamaged, was a ceramic heart on which these words were painted: ‘Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.’”2

And, Cheryl thought, because he lives, I can face today, too. She called her husband Bernie over to show him what she had found, and together they shared an impromptu time of praise and thanksgiving. The Bartons thanked God for what they did have even though the earthquake had destroyed so much of what was dear to them.

One of the secrets of living the life of Christian gratitude is to be grateful for what we do have.

“TELL ME, WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN THE HOUSE” 

There is a wonderful story in 2 Kings 4:1-7 about this kind of thing. It is about a dead prophet’s widow who is distressed about not being able to pay her husband’s creditor who has threatened to take her children as slaves if she does not pay what her deceased husband owes. And so, she comes to the leader of the band of prophets, Elisha, for advice. The story reads: “Now the wife of a member of the company of prophets cried to Elisha, ‘Your servant my husband is dead; and you know that you servant feared the LORD, but a creditor has come to take my two children as slaves. 2>Elisha said to her, ‘What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?’ She answered, ‘Your servant has nothing in the house, except a jar of oil.’ 3>He said, ‘Go outside, borrow vessels from all your neighbors, empty vessels and not just a few. 4>Then go in, and shut the door behind you and your children, and start pouring into all these vessels; when each is full, set it aside,’ 5>So she left him and shut the door behind her and her children; they kept bringing vessels to her, and she kept pouring, 6>When the vessels were full, she said to her son, ‘Bring me another vessel.’ But he said to her, ‘There are no more.’ Then the oil stopped flowing. 7>She came and told the man of God, and he said, ‘Go sell the oil and pay your debts, and you and your children can live on the rest.’”3

This woman had many reasons to focus on what she did not have. She had lost her husband, which meant that she no longer had a source of income. She had no money to pay his creditor. But worst of all, she had lost the security of having her children whom in that time would have been her only security in old age. She was about to lose them because the creditor threatened to take them as slaves. Evidently, either the creditor had already stripped her of all her possessions, or she had none to begin with. She stood in the midst of the rubble and devastation of her life, calling out for divine guidance from the leading prophet. In response, Elisha demonstrated a very important lesson that all of us would do well to learn. He showed her that she should not concentrate on what she did not have, nor on her losses. “What do you have?” he asked. “Not much.” “But what do you have?” “O, I have a jar of oil.” “Then, that is good enough when offered to God for divine blessing.” She was instructed to borrow vessels and begin pouring from the jar of oil that she did have. She poured and poured and poured until there were no more vessels to use. With all the borrowed vessels full, the oil was sold and the creditor paid. Even after paying him, enough money was left over for her to support her family. Elisha taught her to concentrate not on what she did not have but on what she did have.

The first secret of the life of gratitude is to be grateful for what we do have, and to offer it up to the Lord who is able to make it sufficient for all our needs.

It is rather amazing what happens to us when we begin concentrating with gratitude on what we do have. I know a man who, though in great pain so excruciating that he could not sleep at nights, nevertheless, was able to get through them by concentrating with gratitude on the fact that he did have a bathtub of hot water in which to sit and get some temporary relief. I know a woman who, though she has little money and no family left at home, takes the little she does have and sets a lovely table each time she eats. I know a man whose children were very much on the wrong track leading toward physical and emotional disaster. Nevertheless, he thanked God daily that at least for one more day they were still in the land of the living. In each case, these person were grateful for what they did have. And, in each case, the Lord used what they did have to bring blessing.

I challenge you to make a list of everything you do have. It will surprise you. Never mind what you don'’ have. Even those who have much in the way of this world'’ goods and opportunities and enjoyments face the same temptation, that of concentrating on what they do not have instead of on what they do have.

I remember talking with a well-to-do couple who had a large, expensive house. Yet they were complaining that they did not have a house like the bigger one down the road. Big league ball players who make millions grumble that they are not making as much as other players. Persons with worldly power can always complain that they do not have more. The point is that having lots does not solve the human inclination to concentrate on what we do not have. It is a typical human problem for us not to show much gratitude for what we do have. What we are talking about here, then, has to do not just with some people but with all people. This problem plagues us regardless of whether we are rich or poor, whether we are well or sick, whether we are successes or failures, whether we are powerful or powerless. Whatever our status in life, we are challenged by Scripture to be grateful for what we do have instead of focusing on what we do not have.

Are we grumblers or are we givers of gratitude? As the song says, “Little is much when God is in it.” Though it is not a poetic, it is nevertheless true that little is much when the gratitude we offer it up to the Lord.

PRAYER 

Let us pray:

Gracious Lord, teach us to value what we do have and to offer sincere gratitude for it. Guard us against living in the lamentation mode and move us into the gratitude mode. Forgive us for focusing on what we do not have, or on what we have lost, and turn our eyes to see what we do have. May we use what we do have for your glory. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.

1 Cheryl Johnson Barton, “The Day the Earth Quaked,” in Five Loaves and Two Fish (Anderson: Missionary Board of the Church of God, 1996), p. 14.
2 Ibid.
3 New Revised Standard Version used here and throughout.

Script 2601 (GWS)
November 3, 1996
SERIES: GRATITUDE
1. Gratitude for What We DO Have
Scripture: 2 Kings 4:1-7