"Thank God for Fleas"

Hi there, this is Lon Solomon and I'd like to welcome you to our program today. You know it's a tremendous honor that God has given us to be on stations all around the nation bringing the truth of God's word as it is uncompromising and straightforward. And I'm so glad you've tuned in to listen and be part of that.

Thanks again for your support and your generosity that keeps us on the radio. And now, let's get to the Word of God. I want to ask and answer three questions today about biblical thanksgiving. The first question is this, is there anything wrong with circumstantial thanksgiving? Is there anything wrong with thanking God for things when they go the way we want them to?

Well, absolutely not. Look right here in Psalm 103. David says, beginning in verse one, praise the Lord, O my soul, all my inmost being praised His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits.

And here are some of them. He forgives your sins. He heals your diseases. He redeems your life from the pit. He crowns you with love and compassion. He satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Here, David is looking around him and is seeing things that are going good. And he's saying, well, God, I want to thank you for these things that are going good. And folks, this is right. This is good.

This is appropriate. This is proper for us to do as Christians. And the sad thing is we don't do it enough, really. We don't thank God enough for the good things He sends. Which leads me to my second question, and that is, well, how does real biblical thanksgiving go beyond simple circumstantial thanksgiving?

I mean, what more is there that you're looking for, Lon, or that God's looking for? Well, let me answer that. Remember I said earlier that biblical thanksgiving is a type of thanksgiving that is not based on our circumstances. Let's face it.

Let's be honest. Whoever feels thankful for a flat tire, whoever feels thankful for an official reprimand at work, who feels thankful for cancer or diabetes or a root canal, who feels thankful for a sick child or for a broken nose or for an auto accident or for a sour real estate deal? Nobody in their right mind feels thankful for these things. And you know what's more? God never asks you and me to feel thankful for these things.

Never. God doesn't expect us to feel thankful for them. You say, well, then what does God ask? God asks for us to rise above how we feel and thank Him for things that are even unpleasant, undesirable, painful and disappointing because we're thanking Him on a different basis than how we feel.

Listen to the Word of God. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 20 says, Always give thanks to God for every thing. Is a flat tire something you should give thanks to God for? Well, is it part of everything?

Well, yeah. Well, then you should give thanks to God for. Is a sick child something you should give thanks to God for? Well, is it part of everything?

Then, yes, you should give thanks to God for it. Let me show you one other passage of scripture. First Thessalonians chapter 5, if I may.

It's page 837 if you return there with me. Page 837 in our copy of the Bible. First Thessalonians chapter 5, the first letter that Paul wrote the church at Thessalonica chapter 5. Look at verse 18. First Thessalonians 5 18. Look at the beginning of the verse.

It says this. Give thanks in all circumstances. Now stop there for a minute. Give thanks in all circumstances. What God is asking for here is that regardless how we feel about some situation that enters our life, God is asking us that by an act of our will, we are to rise above how we feel and thank Him for it anyway.

God is asking us to give thanks for the liver in our life just as much as we give thanks for the pie and the ice cream in our life. You say, Lon, this is ridiculous. There is nobody who lives like this.

No rational human being ever acts like this. Oh, really? Oh, really? May I submit as exhibit A a lady named Fanny Crosby? Fanny Crosby was a great and probably the greatest American hymn writer of all time. She wrote many hymns that you love. Eight thousand hymns to be exact. Many of them that you love like blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Fanny wrote that and many, many more that you sing and grew up singing if you went to church. Fanny Crosby lived to be ninety two years old for ninety one and a half of those years. She was blind. She wasn't born blind. She had an eye infection as a six month old baby and a quack doctor mistreated her to her eyes and she went blind and all the specialists available in that day could not fix her eyes. But she had a grandmother and a grandmother sat her on her lap and this grandmother would read her the Bible as a little girl and this grandmother would build into Fanny and understanding that God was going to use this blindness for his glory. And that she should thank God for her blindness rather than resenting it. And rather than growing up to be a bitter, resentful, mean old person, she grew up to be one of the most wonderful blessings that the world has ever known. She wrote at age eight this little poem. She said, Oh, what a happy child I am, even though I cannot see. I know that God has a plan and I know that he loves me. How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't. So weep and cry because I'm blind.

I cannot and I won't. Eight years old. Eighty four years later, she wrote this. She said, and I quote, she said, The greatest blessing of my life was when God took away my earthly sight. I have always been able to thank God for doing so. And I am still able to thank him today at ninety two. End of quote.

He said, Lon, was this woman authentic? When she said that totally say, all right, well, that's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I don't say anybody in their right mind could thank God for being blind. But that's wonderful.

But how normal people how does a normal person get to be like this? Well, that brings me to my third and final question. And that is, how can you and I as normal everyday Christians cultivate this kind of biblical thanksgiving in our life? Well, it all comes down to biblical worldview. Biblical Thanksgiving is an overflow of a biblical worldview. Here we go again, talking about biblical worldview. It's all you ever talk about. There's biblical worldview, biblical worldview, just biblical worldview that we get so sick of hearing about biblical worldview sitting out here.

Well, that's tough because I'll tell you why. Because what God is trying to do in your life as a Christian is develop a biblical worldview above everything else. Biblical worldview means that the truth of the Bible dominates how we see every event in the world. And when you come to Christ and when I came to Christ, we came to Christ with a totally secular worldview.

Every one of us does. And God's goal over the next 10, 20, 30 years, however long you're a Christian, is to change our worldview from being secular to being biblical so that biblical truth dominates every aspect of how you and I see the world. That's what God's trying to do in our lives. So if you come to church, you better hear about biblical worldview because that's the goal God has for you. Now, what about a biblical worldview for our circumstances? Well, it's right here in the verse where I ask you to turn to. Chapter 5, verse 18 of 1 Thessalonians.

Look, give thanks in all circumstances. Here comes a biblical worldview, friends, for this, that circumstance is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. What the Bible is telling us is that we need to see every circumstance through the lens of the Word of God. And the Word of God tells us that every circumstance that enters your life and my life, if you're a Christian, has been inspected by a sovereign God, authorized by a sovereign God, approved by a sovereign God and sent our way by a sovereign God because it all fits into the plan that a sovereign God has for our life. And what do we know about this plan that he has? Well, Romans Chapter 12, verse 2 says that this plan, God's will for our life, is good and perfect. Jeremiah 29, verse 11 says that God's plan for our life is to give us a future and a hope. And Romans Chapter 8, verse 28 says that God's plan for our life means that all things work together for good to those who belong to Jesus Christ. If you're here today and you've never trusted Christ as your personal Savior, I want you to understand that you're missing more than just a ticket to heaven.

There's a lot more going on here. One of the things that happens when we give our life to Jesus Christ is that Almighty God himself engages with the everyday affairs of our life. He takes a personal interest in our life and we become his personal project. And after that point, when you trust Christ as your Savior, you're not running your life anymore. He is and he's running it to give you a future and a hope to produce good things and work all things together for good in your life. And so if you've been running your life yourself and you haven't been doing such a great job, that's why we offer you Jesus Christ here every week.

Because he wants to come in and run your life and he'll do a much better job than you're doing. Something to think about. This is what we want for you, for you to come to the place where you let him take the steering wheel and you move over into the passenger seat. Now for those of us who are Christians, we know this is true. We know it's true because the Bible says it's true and we believe what God tells us. And let's put together some logic now, some biblical logic and see if a biblical thanksgiving doesn't come out of it. If it's true that every circumstance that enters our life as a Christian is part of God's plan. And if it's true that God's plan is for our good, for our benefit, to give us a future, to give us a hope. And if it's true that every single detail is working together for good to make that happen. If all of that is true and the Bible says it is, then, then by faith, we should be able to thank God for every circumstance he sends our way.

Whether we like it or we don't, whether it is pleasant or not, whether it feels good or whether it doesn't. Because we know it's all part of a bigger plan that God is working for our life that's for our benefit. That's a biblical worldview. And do you see how biblical thanksgiving flows right out of it? You want to have more biblical thanksgiving in your life? God wants you to.

The way to get there is to let the Word of God and what it teaches about circumstances dominate more of how you see your situation in life. And a biblical thanksgiving will be the natural result. And may I also say that biblical thanksgiving, therefore, is based on faith. It's not based on feelings.

Doesn't matter how you feel. Biblical thanksgiving defies human logic. It's the unique possession, the unique territory of the Christian. The world doesn't go here. The world doesn't want to go here. The world doesn't know anything about living like this.

And they never can. This is where only you and I as Christians can live. Thanking God for the things we don't like. Thanking God for the things that are uncomfortable because we know God has a bigger plan at work.

Because he says he does. You know, one of my favorite books is The Hiding Place. I don't know if you read the book, saw the movie. Wonderful story of Corrie Ten Boom, her sister Betsy, their mother and their father, living in Holland during the time of the Nazi occupation. And how they, as Gentiles but Christians, hid Jewish people from the Nazis until they were finally caught, captured, and sent to concentration camp along with the Jews that they hid. Corrie's sister Betsy died in concentration camp. Her mother died in concentration camp. Her father died in concentration camp.

She was the only one that survived Corrie Ten Boom. And when I was in Israel a couple of years ago, I went to the Holocaust Museum called Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. It's a huge museum that commemorates the Nazi Holocaust. And as you walk up the tree-lined path to the main entrance, it's a very long path, there are trees dedicated along the path, little plaques at the base of each of these trees dedicated to people during World War II, Jewish people who resisted the Nazis and fought the Nazis and smuggled Jewish people out of Europe. There's only one Gentile honored in that entire walk of trees going up to Yad Vashem. And you know who it is?

It's our friend Corrie Ten Boom. I had the privilege a few years ago of seeing the tree that was dedicated to her there. Very moving experience to stand there and realize that they chose this one Gentile woman among all these Jewish people and dedicated a tree to her. But there's a story in the book that's one of my favorites. She and her sister Betsy have been sent to concentration camp and they've been moved to Ravensbrück concentration camp. And here's how the story goes. They arrive at camp and they get put in this dormitory, this big dormitory, and they get put way in the back in the dingiest part of this big dormitory. And there aren't even any beds back there. There's only straw and, you know, just loose straw thrown all around. And it stinks. It's awful. It smells just awful.

And that's where they are. And so they climb into bed and the first night as they're trying to go to sleep, suddenly Corrie feels like people are sticking pins in her leg. And she gets up and suddenly realizes that there's fleas all through this hay. It is totally flea infested. And she leaps up and grabs her sister Betsy and says, we can't do this. I can't do this.

I'm not staying with fleas. And Betsy says to her, now Corrie, she said, what was the Bible verse that we had yesterday that we read? See, they smuggled Bibles into these, into the barracks with them in their clothing. And so they had a Bible. And Corrie said, well, we read First Thessalonians 5 18, give thanks in everything for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Betsy said, OK, so that means that we're going to stand here right now, she said, Corrie, and we're going to give thanks to God for our situation. And Corrie said, what is there in this situation to possibly give thanks for? Betsy said, well, first, we're going to thank God that we're still together as sisters.

We could have been separated, but look, God put us together. So she said, now, Corrie, bow your head and I want you to give thanks for that. Corrie bowed her head and said, Lord, I thank you for that.

Then she said, all right, what else? She said, well, now, Corrie, we're going to thank God that we got those Bibles through, that they didn't take our Bibles away, because that means that there's a lot of people right here with us that are going to come to know Jesus. So she said, now, Corrie, I want you to thank God for that. So Corrie bowed her head and thank God for that. And then she said, now, Corrie, what I want you to do is I want you to thank God for how crowded it is in here and how we have so many women pressed in here, because what that means is there's a whole lot more people in here to hear about the Lord. And Corrie's bowed her head and she said, all right.

And she bowed her head and she said, Lord, I thank you for this jam, cram stuff, packed, suffocating place. And she said to Betsy, now, is that enough? And Betsy said, no, Corrie, now I want you to thank God for the fleas. And Corrie said, I'm not doing it, Betsy.

I'm not doing it. I'm not thanking God for fleas, Betsy. And Betsy said, Corrie, thank God for everything. Isn't that what the Bible says? And somehow those fleas are part of God's plan. Now, she said, Corrie, you bow your head and you thank God for the fleas. Corrie said, I did it.

My heart wasn't in it, but I did it. Well, you know what happened? They started holding Bible studies.

And the most interesting thing happened. The guards didn't bother them. They would get back there in this area where they lived and they would hold Bible studies timidly at first.

And even though the guards had absolute ironclad control everywhere else, they never came into the barracks. So after a while, they got bolder and started inviting people to their Bible study. And after the first Bible study filled up and they began leading all these Jewish women to Christ, there were so many people wanted to come.

They had to start a second Bible study that met after the first Bible study. And they could not get over why the guards did not come in there and bother them. About two months later, Corrie was coming back from gathering firewood, as the story concludes. And she said she saw Betsy standing at the door with this huge grin on her face. And she said, what are you grinning about? And Betsy said, Corrie, do you remember how we wondered why those guards wouldn't come back in here and bother us? And Corrie said, yeah. She said, Betsy said, well, I know why now.

She said, we were knitting socks back here earlier today and we got mixed up on the order and we yelled out for the guards to come back here and help straighten us out. And they yelled back, we're not coming in there. There's fleas in there. And they wouldn't come in because of the fleas. And she said, see there, Corrie?

The fleas were part of God's plan all the time. I came back from Israel a couple of weeks ago and took the weekend off. I got back because I was exhausted. But my wife, Brenda and I, we were going to come to church anyway. We were going to get up and come.

So Sunday morning we got up and my son Jamie was home from the Naval Academy with his car and all the cars parked out in front of the house. So we sent the boys out early and they were going to head to church early and we were going to come to a later service. And they came back in in about a couple of minutes and they said, we can't go to church.

And I said, why not? And they said, well, because somebody broke into the car out there, into Jamie's car. They stole his CD player.

They ripped up the car and they broke a bunch of windows in the other cars. And I said, what? Right in front of my house?

So I had a pair of jeans and old sweatshirt on. I went out there and sure enough they had broken in, taken his CD player. And I said, well, you can still get in the car and drive the car to church. And they said, no, they took the battery too.

They did. They reached under there and stole the battery. So I called the police, you know, and I'm standing out there. I sent the boys in another car to church.

I'm standing out there waiting for the policeman to come, Fairfax County. And you say, Lon, here's what we want to know. Were you bubbling over with biblical Thanksgiving right at that moment? Friends, I got to tell you, I was not bubbling over with anything biblical right at that moment.

Do you understand what I'm saying to you? I was in a pretty foul mood, to be honest with you. So the guy comes, the cop drives up and he looks around and he goes, do you have any enemies? I said, well, none that I think would do this. So he took fingerprints.

There were no fingerprints. And he looked around, you know, we did that for a while. And finally we came in the house and I went in the back room for something. And he was sitting out there at the kitchen table and he started taking down the pertinent information. And he asked my wife, Brenda, he said, well, where did the boys go off to church to, you know? And she said, well, they went off to McLean Bible Church.

And he was like, oh, okay, you know, no big deal. And then he's taking out the material and he says, okay, so what's your last name? And she says, Solomon. He goes, Solomon, Solomon. He says, Lon Solomon? The guy on the radio with not a sermon, just a thought?

WJFK, I listen to him with not a sermon, just a thought on the radio all the time. Just Lon Solomon? And she said, yeah. He goes, wow. And just then I came walking out and he goes, are you Lon Solomon?

And the guy on the radio? And I said, yeah. And he goes, wow. He said, I thought you'd be a lot younger than that. I'm like, well, I'm not.

He said, well, no offense intended. And I'm like, that's all right. He's like, wow, I can't believe it.

Wow, somebody broke into your car. Wow, I can't believe it. I'm like, yes, wonderful, isn't it? And he's like, this is amazing.

I'm here in Lon Solomon saying, this is wonderful. And I'm like, just take the report, okay? So he took the whole report and stuff like that and we gave him a cup of coffee. And then he's getting ready to leave. And he said, do you have a couple of minutes?

Well, we had already tanked church for the day. And I said, yeah. He said, you know, he said, there are a bunch of questions that I've always wanted to ask somebody about God. He said, but I've never had anybody to go ask. He said, would you mind if we sat here for a few more minutes and I ask you some questions about God? I said, no, that'd be wonderful. Do you want a doughnut? Well, he's a cop.

You got to do what you got to do, you know. And so for almost 30 minutes, we sat there together and he asked me questions like, can you really know you have a personal relationship with God? Can you really know that you have eternal life?

If you have eternal life, can you really not lose it? And he began asking me all these questions. Why did Jesus really have to die on the cross? I never understood.

Why is that so important? And for almost 30 minutes, he's asking these questions and I have the privilege of answering them. He shook my hand. He said, I'm going to come visit your church sometime. He left.

I was standing in the driveway and as he drove off and I waved to him, boy, I really felt crummy because I said, all right, all right, go ahead. You can say it. You can say it. You're right. You're right. You had it all under control the whole time. I know, I know. You know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry because if God would have said to me, hey, Lon, would you be willing to let somebody come by and steal a CD player out of one of the cars and a battery if that meant you got a half an hour to share Jesus Christ with a Fairfax County police officer?

I would have said, you bet. And besides, the battery was old and I needed to replace it anyway and the insurance gave me a new one free. It's a great deal. It's a wonderful deal. But folks, if you've got some fleas in your life...