Have you noticed that so many of the items listed on our thankful lists this month are what we might call “small mercies?” We call them small mercies, I think, because they are so commonplace that they don’t seem like a big deal. We go through our lives not taking much notice of them because we are surrounded by gifts like these day in and day out, every single minute.
But there is no substantial difference, you know, between the small mercies and the big miracles. They all come from the same place and by the same means—from the plan of God and by the power of God.
God’s powerful word “calls into existence the things that do not exist (Romans 4).” These are the sort of things we think of as the big miracles—the impossible things that are possible for God, like giving a biological son to Abraham and Sarah in their their old age.
But it is also God’s powerful word that “upholds the universe (Hebrews 1).” Everything that exists continues to exist only by God’s power. Day by day, minute by minute, he holds our everyday world together for us. We receive our small mercies by what we think of as ordinary means, but those ordinary means are the result of God’s decision and God’s energy just like the big miracles are. Our small mercies are a big deal.
What do we have that we did not receive? The right answer is nothing. Every single thing we have, whether it comes to us by way of big miracle or small mercy, comes to us from the mind and hand of our good God. And we are obligated to thank God for all of it.
So today I’m thankful for small mercies—all the works of God that are right now flying under my radar.
What are you thankful for?
I’m celebrating good gifts from God during the month of November and hoping you’ll be thankful for your good gifts, too. Here’s how you can join in the thanksgiving and even, perhaps, get something material from it. If you’ve posted something you’ve posted something you’ve expected me to include and you don’t see it on the list, please let me know. I do miss things sometimes.