Thankful to the One Who Leads Us Triumphantly: 2 Corinthians 2:14

Thankful to the One Who Leads Us Triumphantly

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ.

2 Corinthians 2:14

The history books are filled with great leaders and heroes. Names like Julius Caesar, Constantine, Napoleon, Winston Churchill, and many others. Men, and women too, who courageously led others, willingly sacrificing in order to obtain their dream, their vision, or their resolved purpose. These leaders come from all backgrounds, personalities, stature, and ethnicity. Their desires likewise can be as diverse as their appearances. And yet, despite their zeal, their accomplishments, like themselves, cannot endure forever. Their finite bodies die, and the accomplishment in their lifetime may be remembered, but it too will reach an end. But for the believer, our Lord and His triumph last forever, and He is always leading us in that triumph. This is a reason to be thankful.      

Paul, after acknowledging changes to his plans (2 Cor. 1:15-16; 2:12-13), reminds the Corinthians and us that regardless of our best laid plans, our driving desires, and our failures, our God always leads us. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” A robust view of the sovereignty of God in all things enables us to be thankful for and in all things, the things that go “according to plan” and the things we wish we could scratch off the path of our lives. I have been reading Sam Crabtree’s book Practicing Thankfulness and he makes this point repeatedly. If we know that our God is good, if we know that He is working all things for our good, if we trust that His plans for us are infinitely wise, then we can be thankful in all things. 2 Corinthians 2:14 agrees with and enforces this truth in my mind. “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ.” We give Him thanks because He always leads us in His triumph in Christ. Always. In triumph.

Knowing that our Lord always leads us in His triumph, what should our thankfulness look like? Our thanksgiving should be in every circumstance and for everything. 

1 Thess 5:18 says, “give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Many times it is easier to respond in praise and thanksgiving when we see our prayers answered, when things have made an obvious turn for the good, when life seems to be smooth sailing, when a clear answer is shown, or when blessings seem abundant. But do we? Have we grown so accustomed to the abundant grace and mercy that Christ has lavished on us, that we don’t really respond very often in gratitude? Have we heard the stories and listened to so many sermons expounding the beauties of Christ and the magnificence of His sacrifice on our behalf that we’ve lost the depth of appreciation that should be appropriate? Are we so used to having the blessings of a comfortable bed, a home where our children reside, food on our table, reasonable safety in our community, eyesight, the ability to hear, the ability to walk on two legs that we are no longer truly grateful? Are we so used to them that we’ve grown immune to the daily blessings that are so abundantly ours? Nothing is too small to give thanks for to our God. 

In all circumstances includes the difficult and stressful times as well. This is where we tie together the not only “all circumstances” of 1 Thess. 5:18, but the “for everything” of Eph. 5:20. Paul says there, “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” A story that demonstrates this truth so well is the story of Corrie ten Boom and her sister Betsie.

Corrie ten Boom, in her biography The Hiding Place, shared about a time when she and her sister Betsie were prisoners at the concentration camp Ravensbruck during WW2. They were being moved to new quarters. Corrie recalls,“On either side doors opened into two still larger rooms-by far the largest dormitories we had yet seen. Betsie and I followed a prisoner-guide through the door at the right. …Our noses told us, first, that the place was filthy: somewhere plumbing had backed up, the bedding was soiled and rancid.Then as our eyes adjusted to the gloom we saw that there were no individual beds at all, but great square piers stacked three high, and wedged side by side and end to end ….”

Corrie said that as they settled into their “beds,” she was bitten by something and realized the place was infested with fleas. Betsie asked the Lord to show them how they could live in such a place of filth and fleas, and He reminded her of the Scripture they had read that morning together. The passage was 1 Thess. 5, and Betsie said she knew they needed to give thanks in all circumstances. So, under Betsie’s encouragement they started to give thanks to God for specific things, to which Betsie added, “and the fleas.” Corrie said, “The fleas! This was too much. ‘Betsie, there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.’” Betsy replied, “Give thanks in all circumstances. It doesn't say ‘in pleasant circumstances.’ Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.” Corrie was sure that Betsie was wrong. 

Time passed and Betsie and Corrie noticed that as they held meetings in their large dormitory room where they read the Scriptures and encouraged one another, and many of the ladies joined in, they had relative freedom to share the Scriptures and the hope of Christ. At first, they were holding these meetings with timidity, “but as night after night went by and no guard ever came near us, we grew bolder.” They even had to have a second service after the evening roll call. They had almost no supervision at those times, and they didn’t understand it. Later, Betsie found out why they had so much freedom in their big room. Neither their supervisor nor the guards would come in because of the fleas. Corrie said, “My mind rushed back to our first hour in this place. I remembered Betsie’s bowed head, remembered her thanks to God for creatures I could see no use for.”

To be able to give thanks in all circumstances and for everything “requires faith in the completely sovereign God who isn’t done working all things [like fleas] for the good of those who love him” (Sam Crabtree). Our “ingratitude prejudges God before more of the story is revealed. God is not done.” Sometimes God shows us what He’s doing. Sometimes He lifts the veil, reveals a mystery, shows us His inscrutable providence. We have examples in Scripture. We have the classic story of Joseph and how his slavery, unjust accusations, and being forgotten by the cupbearer for 2 years were all designed by God to put Joseph in the place He needed him to be to save many lives, and ultimately the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What man intended for evil, God intended for good. 

And that is a banner we can have over all circumstances and in everything. God intends good for His children. And if we can’t see it yet, it’s because He is not finished. Sam Crabtree said this, “God isn’t finished producing fruit through your circumstances, no matter how painful they may be…In this very moment he is using your current set of circumstances as one link in the unbreakable chain of links forged by his unrelenting love and infinite wisdom to accomplish for you the unspeakably valuable privilege of being conformed to the image of His Son.” Even in the hard things that seem to overwhelm us with grief, or anger, or confusion, we are to give thanks. It is commanded. It is a matter of obedience. Will I obey God and give thanks for everything? Ingratitude is sin and we must repent of our sin of omission for the many times we have not thanked Him for His abundant blessings, and repent of the sin of refusing to thank Him in all circumstances because we did not trust Him. Spurgeon said, “Let us praise Him by being perfectly satisfied with anything and everything that he does or appoints…It is not ours to arraign the Almighty, but to submit to Him. We are not His censors, but His servants.”

Sometimes we pray for a desired end, and God will bring us there, but He may have a different path that He leads us on than the one we hoped for and planned (Skepple). Paul was well acquainted with changes in plans. The whole trajectory of his life changed when God converted him on the road to Damascus. He was once a Pharisee hunting down Christians, and then God transformed him to become one of the greatest catalysts to the spread of the gospel. In his work as a missionary, Paul desired to go to Rome to strengthen the believers there, and God did send him there, but in chains. The result? Paul stayed under house arrest for a full two years welcoming all who came to him and preaching and teaching with all openness, unhindered (Acts 26:30-31). God took Paul where he wanted to go, in a way he would not have chosen, to produce a result that God intended. Along the way, there were apparent defeats, but God always leads His people in His triumph. The difficulty for us is that when we walk through the hard things, the changes in plans, the unexpected detours in our lives, we can’t see the triumph. But with eyes of faith we must look ahead and trust that our God is leading us to triumph.

Ultimately we will reign with our Lord for eternity. What greater triumph can there be? Nothing in this world will hinder the eternal destiny of those who claim Christ as their Lord and Savior. All of Scripture and all of history leads to this triumphal end. We get a glimpse of this triumph in Revelation 17:14, “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings…” “Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude” (Hebrews 12:2). We can have joy and confidence and gratefulness in all the apparent defeats, discouragements, and rearrangements of our plans knowing that our God sits on His throne in heaven and has a victor’s crown ready for His children. And He will not be deterred. 

Photo credit to colinandmeg