Faith from thanksgiving

Luke 17:11-37 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; ¹³ and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”¹⁴ When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”And as they were going, they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? ¹⁸ Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

²⁰ Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

²² And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. ²³ They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. ²⁴ For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part ^[f]of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. ²⁵ But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. ²⁶ And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: ²⁷ they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.²⁸ It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; ²⁹ but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. ³¹ On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. ³² Remember Lot’s wife. ³³ Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. ³⁴ I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁵ There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. ³⁶ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.” ³⁷ And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”

Yesterday we saw how forgiveness is a key to the power of the kingdom of heaven. Today we will see how gratitude also helps us to see the kingdom and its power. Today’s text begins saying:    While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him;  and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”And as they were going, they were cleansed. Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice,  and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.  Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”  And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.” As I read this, I thought, how often at the end of the day, do I fail to thank the Lord for what He has done? How often are we quick to go to Him with our needs, but neglect to return with our thanksgiving and praise? If we would pay close attention to all that God does for us throughout the day, do we even give thanks one out of ten times. The more grateful we are, the more we will see God. The more we see God, the more our faith increases. In Luke 16:10 Jesus said:  "He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.”  This is also true with gratitude. If we are grateful for the little things we will also see God and be grateful in bigger things. As we live a life of gratitude and praise, thanking God, returning often to Him our faith increases. In Psalm 37:4, the psalmist says:  Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.   In truth, as we delight in the Lord we find that it is not that we get all that we wanted, but rather that He is all that we need.

In today’s text Jesus is also asked when the kingdom of God would be established. He says:   “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;  nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”  They sought a physical kingdom and Jesus told them about the spiritual kingdom of God. He spoke of the kingdom that must be seen through eyes of faith, a kingdom that is seen by those who delight in the Lord and live lives of gratitude, praise and thanksgiving.     And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.  They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man:  they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building;  but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”   If we will live lives of gratitude; if will return often to thank Him even for the little things; if we will delight in Him, our faith will increase and even more, we will know Him. We will hear Him when He speaks and know Him when He comes. If we delight in Him, we will have the desires of our heart. We will know that He is all that we need. We will not look back if Jesus is always before us.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; thank You for all that You have done, all that You are doing and all that will be done. You are all that I need. You are my daily bread, my complete provision. As I become intentional to see You and thank You in the little things, may my faith increase to see the greater things that You want to do. May I see You when You come in every situation and circumstance.  Amen.