Thanking God For His “Studying”

Really, I’m not fishing for compliments or “Thank you”s. It has happened a few times before. It just struck and stuck with me this time. So many people are so thoughtful, kind, and, perhaps, pitying that often I receive “Thank you”s for a sermon I’ve preached. But this past week a brother didn’t thank me for the sermon. Instead he said, “I want to thank you for all the long, hard hours you spend studying before you preach.” I certainly appreciated his “Thank you” but could not help thinking of what he had actually done. He had given thanks for what went into something and not just for the something. He had given thanks for what went on behind the scenes and not just for the scene. He had given thanks for the preparation and not for the production. We often don’t do that. We don’t think to. We enjoy a wonderful steak dinner at a restaurant, and we thank the server. That’s the right, good thing to do and convenient; the server’s right there. Much less rarely do we thank the cook who grilled the steak, baked the potato, and blanched the broccoli. Probably never does anyone go thank the rancher who raised the beef from which the steak came, the migrant worker who dug up the potato, or the farmer who cultivated the broccoli. Often, we thank God for saving us. That is the product, so to speak. Rarely do we thank God for the hard stuff that went into His saving us. We thank God for having forgiven our sins. But our sins were only forgiven because Jesus shed His blood in death on the cross. So, we give thanks to Jesus for dying on the cross, the reason we can be forgiven. But there is some hard stuff God did even before the cross. Stuff way back: First, God wanted to save us. That’s hard stuff. Why would He desire to save God-mocking, self-centered, law-breaking rebels? Then, God took the initiative. There would be no cross, no forgiveness, no salvation had not God took the initiative. From the first alienating sin of the first humans, it was God who came looking for them—to renew them to fellowship and clothe their nakedness. God took the initiative to save us by devising a plan, the plan of salvation. Lastly, God implemented that plan at great sacrifice to Himself and His Son. What must it have “cost” God to send His only begotten Son? What must it have taken for Jesus to come willing and be executed by the most excruciating method ever invented—the cross? I am eternally grateful for the final product, the salvation of my soul. I say, “Thank you, God, for saving my soul.” But I also want to thank God for what was behind His saving me. “Thank you, God, for wanting to save me. Thank you, God, for taking the initiative and devising a plan to save me. And, God, thank you that at great cost you gave your only begotten Son, Jesus. And, Jesus, thank you for willingly, readily, without reservation giving your life to save me.” In the words of an old hymn, “Thank you, God, for sending Jesus; thank you, Jesus that you came, Holy Spirit won’t you tell me, more about His wondrous name.”

Thanking God For His “Studying”

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