“Thankful for God’s Concern” – Hebrews 13:5-6

In our recent study of 1 Peter, one of the verses that jumped out at me was found in 5:7: “Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.” It is the profound truth that God genuinely cares for us that allows us to be content in Him and give Him thanks.

As we enter into the Thanksgiving season, we will be looking at how God cares for us, and, as a result, why we should always be grateful. In today’s passage, we learn our cause for thankfulness comes in the fact that God gives us amble reason to live in contentment with all He gives us.

Background

The story is told that John Rockefeller, at the time the richest man in the world, was asked during an interview just how much money was enough. Rockefeller’s answer allegedly was, “Just a little bit more.”

There is nothing wrong with ambition, with aspiring to seek to better ourselves or to find success. The apostle Paul wrote of his discontent in where he was in his relationship with God in Philippians 3:7-14. In this passage, Paul speaks of his discontent in his old way of living and of his desire to grow to be more like Christ each day. In this sense, the apostle was not content to rest in his relationship with God through Christ, instead striving to draw closer to Him each day.

Nor did Paul find contentment with his physical wellbeing. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, he wrote about a thorn in his flesh that he pleaded with God to remove from Him. Paul wanted healing, but he finally comes around to say that he boasts about his weakness, because God is glorified through our weaknesses.

In these regards, there is nothing wrong with ambition. We should each follow the apostle’s desire to grow closer to God in Christ and to be physically able to do what God calls us to do.

The trouble comes in the things we use to determine success. Paul wrote to Timothy, “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:6-10).

To the Philippians, the apostle wrote, “. . . for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hunger, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through Him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:11b-13).

In these verses, Paul expresses the secret to finding peace in Christ is to find contentment in our daily circumstances. We should learn to be grateful for all God gives us and learn to be content in His provision for us.

Central Truth: God’s concern for us allows us to be thankful.

Because God cares for us:

1. We can be content with what we have (5a)

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have . . .

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned us, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

The danger of pursuing money is that we become much like Rockefeller, never satisfied with what we have. I had a friend several years ago that was caught up in this pursuit. For the first year or so that we knew him, he was trying to sell stock in a company his uncle ran. He said his uncle was under investigation by the SEC, but once the investigation was through, he would be making all kinds of money. Only the reason the SEC was investigating was because the uncle was dealing with shady issues. When finally confronted with the truth, my friend had to find new work before he got caught up in the investigation. At one point my friend told me, it wasn’t the money that was so enticing; it was the pursuit of the sale that gave him the adrenalin rush.

It’s that idea that the writer tells us to keep our lives free from the love of money. When we are so consumed with the pursuit, we can never truly find contentment. The writer tells us that contentment in life is the key to a grateful heart.

The reason we find contentment in accepting what we have materially is that such an attitude is one of faith in God. It’s the idea behind the Lord’s Prayer element of asking God for our daily bread. It was the lesson God was trying to teach the nation of Israel with the daily gift of manna. Learn to live in the moment, become content with what you have and trust God to provide our needs as they arrive.

The vain pursuit of money and a “little bit more” is to place our needs above our relationship with God. When we become so focused on what we do not have we become bitter and resentful. The issues of envy, covetousness and jealousy come to the fore, and we find our hearts and our thoughts turned away from the Father and toward the things of the world. John tells us, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:15-16).

It is only when we learn to be content in what we have and what we do that we can truly free our hearts and minds to rest in God. It is then that we can give thanks to the Provider of all that is good (cf. James 1:17-18).

Once we realize that God cares for us that we can learn to be content and be grateful for what we have and who we are.

2. He never leaves us (5b)

. . . because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.

I’ve shared with you before the night I learned of my father’s death. It was that night that God reminded me of a truth that has carried me through my life since: God is always with us. Even in the darkest nights, in the most uncertain times, there is a peace that comes from knowing that God is always with me, that He never abandons me.

The Bible verse that the writer uses is from Deuteronomy 31. It is in this passage that Moses gave instructions to Joshua, who would soon succeed Moses as Israel’s leader. The full verse is, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

The eternal presence of God in our lives should give us reason to celebrate, to give thanks. The fact that God is always with us, never leaving nor forsaking us lets us know that we never have to face life’s difficulties alone. We stand in the presence of the Creator of all things. As Jesus told us, Christ is in the Father, we are in Christ and Christ is in us (cf. John 14:20).

God’s presence is a source of constant fellowship, constant assurance and constant comfort. God is with us because God cares for us, and for this we can be grateful.

3. Frees us from fear (6)

So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

The Bible has a lot to say about fear. John tells us that perfect love casts out fear, that fear reflects a lack of faith (cf. 1 John 4:26-29). Jesus told us not to fear those who could harm us physically but to fear the One who can harm us spiritually (cf. Matthew 10:26-31). Someone has stated that there are 365 verses in the Bible that tell us not to be afraid; one verse for each day of the year.

Learning to live with contentment frees us from the fear of losing what we have, since all we have is a gift from God. Knowing that God can and does provide for our wellbeing frees us from fear.

One of the main the followers of Christ can live a fear-free life is knowing that the God who cares for us is our helper. Paul wrote in Romans 8:28-39 a wonderful passage that speaks to our reason to live free of fear. Two verses that summarize Paul’s lesson are v. 31—“What then shall we say in response to this? IF God is for us, who can be against us?”—and v. 37—“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

The writer of Hebrews makes it clear—the reason for our contentment, for our gratitude, is that God, who is always with us, is always walking beside us, and that frees us from fear.

In elementary school, I had a classmate that wanted to beat me up. I always avoided a fight with him, because I thought he could do it. He and I were roughly the same size, but he seemed to be more athletic and quicker. One day, it seemed a fight was inevitable. Fortunately for me, one of our biggest classmates, Mike, was also a friend of mine, and he was nearby. As the fight seemed imminent, I quickly went to Mike and quickly told him of what was about to happen. Mike looked at my nemesis and said something to the effect of, “Knock it off.” My enemy understood that Mike would intervene, and with that the threat of a fight disappeared. I still had a healthy wariness around the foe, but knew that I would never face him alone.

God is the big friend who stands with us and tells our greatest foe, Satan, to, “Knock it off.” As James wrote, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and He will come near to you.”

Knowing all the promises of God, His presence and His love, and knowing that all God’s promises are yes in Christ, we can find rest, peace and contentment in being free from fear. For this we must be grateful, and give thanks to Him who is our helper.

Conclusion

We have been taught a version of the Pilgrims story from the time we were small children. We can all recite how the Pilgrims landed in New England and struggled through a difficult winter, surviving only by the help of the native people who taught them about native plants and how to grow them.

The Pilgrims celebrated their first successful harvest with a feast of thanksgiving, inviting their native neighbors to join them. The grateful feast was a recognition from the Pilgrims that all that they had had been a gift from God and so gave thanks to God. In this first feast, the Pilgrims were content with their lot and grateful to God for providing for them.

Today’s passage reminds us that we need to learn to be content in all we have. A contented heart is a grateful heart, and a grateful heart will give thanks to the One who gives us all we need.