I Thessalonians 5:18 says, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." Paul first tells us to give thanks "in" every circumstance not "for" every circumstance.

It would be silly to thank God if your house burned down to the ground but in the midst of that circumstance we could find many reasons to thank God. We could thank Him if no lives were lost, or for His promise to meet all of our needs. We would not thank God for losing a job and being unemployed but we could praise Him for the promise of a new job. We would not thank our heavenly Father for any tragedy that comes into our lives but we can thank Him for His promise to be with us to comfort us. Many times there is a valuable lesson for us to learn through the tragedy that we don’t always see at the present time.

We are also told that it is always God’s will for us to give thanks in all circumstances. So there is not one circumstance that could ever come in our lives that we could not praise God in the midst of. Giving thanks should be a constant and consistent activity towards our heavenly Father. There are a lot of things that we question as to whether they are the right things to do and as Christians we are ever trying to find God’s will for our lives. By faith we never need to question whether it is appropriate to give God thanks.

Even in this life if we have to endure hardship every day and every hour, the scripture tells us that this cannot be compared to what is in store for us in the next life. This life is a few short years while the next one is for eternity.