Very fitting for the 'season' I find myself in currently....
The Hebrew word for “give thanks” in the Old Testament is yadah and it literally means “to acknowledge God in the middle of the mess.”
It doesn’t mean “feel grateful.”
It doesn’t mean “wait until things get better.”
It means “God, I see You present even in this.”
In Jewish worship, yadah wasn’t used for victory; it was often used in seasons of fear, uncertainty, and waiting.
Thanksgiving wasn’t a celebration of how well life was going. It was an act of surrender when life didn’t make sense.
And that truth reframes everything we think about gratitude.
Here are several ways I’m practicing yadah (thanksgiving)in my own life this week
1. Gratitude isn’t something you wait to feel; it’s something you choose to practice. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 " give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."
2. Today’s pain makes more sense when you remember tomorrow’s promise. Romans 8:18 " I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."
3. Complaining is often our heart’s way of saying, ‘God, I don’t trust what You’re doing right now.’ Philippians 2:14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
4. If Jesus trusted His Father in the worst moment, I can trust Him in mine. 1 Peter 2:23 “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly."
5. When I think I deserve better, gratitude disappears. But When I remember grace, it returns.” Luke 13:2–3 " Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
6. If you can’t lose Christ, then you can’t lose your reason to give thanks. Romans 8:35–39 "35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Thanksgiving isn’t just about being grateful for what you can see. It’s learning to trust God with what you can’t see.
Yādâ is gratitude in uncertainty.
Gratitude in fear.
Gratitude in waiting.
Gratitude in confusion.
Gratitude in the “not yet.”
Gratitude in “even this”
It’s saying, “God, I thank You now because You already know what I don’t.”
So, wherever you find yourself right now
if the diagnosis hasn’t come back or did and it was not what you wanted
if the finances don’t make sense,
if the relationship is unresolved,
if the future feels uncertain.
You can still yadah.
Because biblical thankfulness isn’t built on what you have. It is built on the God who holds what you don’t understand.
And you can trust Him “even in this”.
