When I fell out of the garage rafters as a child and hit my head on the iron car bumper, I was happy not to be paralyzed. I was on the concrete floor doing sit-ups (to shake off the pain) with my hands clasped behind my head, and I was so thankful not to be dead or paralyzed, that with every sit-up I said, “Thank you, God! Thank you, God! Thank you, God!” I was in pain, but I was thankful.
Are you thankful? Can you be thankful when you are isolated or socially distanced? As bad as COVID stigma was in 2020, the stigma of leprosy was worse.
One day Jesus was met on the road by ten men with leprosy. They stood at a distance (“isolating themselves” as required) and they yelled for Jesus to heal them. He told them to show themselves to the priest—which was the step AFTER a healing, the equivalent of taking a COVID test after healing so you can show your negative result to all who might ask. The ten obeyed and were healed as they walked.
“But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God. He fell facedown at the feet of Jesus, thanking Him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus said, ‘Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?’” Luke 17:15-16.
What would you do? Would you run back to thank Jesus while you could still find Him? Or would you be so concerned with that ticket back to society that you would skip saying thanks, assuming Jesus would understand?
After 2020, we know the feeling of being shamed for a health condition. It is so incredibly inconvenient that you just want things back to normal. I understand the ungrateful “other nine” better than I did before COVID-19.
But I want to be grateful.
Dear God, make us thankful. Let NOTHING be more important than giving You glory and thanks and a heart filled with gratitude EVERY DAY. Help us see blessings EVERY DAY—even when it hurts.
Read Luke 17.
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Dad's Daily Devotional 