Dear Christian friends:

St Paul admonishes us Christians to, "Give thanks always for all things." (Ephesians 5:20) But I think that we complain more than we thank God. And it is true, we have many reasons to complain. We are sinners and live among other sinners. Therefore things often happen to us that are not good and lead us to complain. Yes, we have many reasons to complain, but we also have many reasons to give thanks to God.

In our text Isaiah the prophet gives us some good reasons to thank God although we perhaps feel like complaining. God's people, Israel, to whom Isaiah wrote these words had reasons to complain. The Assyrian King and his soldiers had defeated them in war and were now ruling over them and forcing them to pay high taxes to the Assyrian government. But Isaiah tells them that they nevertheless have good reasons to thank God as they wait for Christ's coming and His glorious rule.

We are God's people today, "the people of Zion" (verse 6). Christ has come! He has established His kingdom! We today see more clearly the wonderful rule of Christ, “the Holy One of Israel." Therefore


We should thank God because He gives comfort to us. The prophet writes in our text, "On that day (the day Christ comes to rule), you will say, I give You thanks, O Lord; though You have been angry with me, Your anger has abated, and You have given comfort to me." (verse 1)

God's anger "has abated." God is no more angry against us! God had good reason to be angry against us, the same as He was angry against His people, Israel. The reason for God's anger is our sin. The Bible says: "We were by nature the children of wrath, the same as others." (Ephesians 2:3) "Death passed upon all men, because all have sinned." (Romans 5:12) "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23) And David complains to God, "Because You are angry, we must die; and through Your anger we are frightened. You lay our sins before You; Your face sees our secret sins. Therefore our years are a long and heavy burden under Your anger. All our years are as a story. You let us live 70 years, and perhaps 80 years, yet we have much trouble and sorrow because our strength is cut off, and we fly away. Who can know the terrors of Your anger? Who of us can fear You as we should?" (Psalm 90:7-11) Yes, truly God has good reason to be angry against us because we are sinners and daily sin much.

But praise and thank God as the prophet here writes, "I give You thanks, O Lord, though You have been angry with me, Your anger has abated, and You have given comfort to me." (verse 1) God's anger has "abated"! Why? Because Christ suffered God's terrible anger on the Cross! The Bible says, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, God cursed Him instead of us; because the Scriptures say, "Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree." (Galatians 3:13) And Jesus Himself comforts us with these precious words which you know very well, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16) Yes, through Christ Jesus God's anger against us is abated and He has given us comfort. In Christ God forgives all our sins! In Christ God gives us precious comfort!

God Through Christ Jesus has prepared a never-ending salvation for us. The prophet writes in our text, "With joy you will drink water at the fountain of salvation." (verse 3)

God never stops showing love and mercy to His sinner sons and daughters. His love and mercy is the same a spring of fresh, tasty water! In the Gospel Lesson I before read to you, the parable about the two bad sons and how their father continued to love them and show mercy to them although they sinned much against him, Jesus is telling us that our Father in heaven is the same as that father. (Luke 15:11-32) What God has done for us in Christ Jesus is the same as a life-giving spring of water that continually flows to quench our spiritual thirst. John the Baptizer says of Christ, "Of His fullness (riches) we all have received, and grace and more grace!" (John 1:16) And Jesus at Jacob's well invited the sinner woman to drink His "living water." (John 4:10) And Jesus invites all of us, "If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink! He that believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his heart shall flow living water." (John 7:37-38)

Truly, we have good reason to give thanks to God! His anger is abated, and He has given us comfort in Christ! The prophet gives us a second reason why we give thanks to God.

We should thank God because He strengthens us to live for Him in this world full of evil and trouble.

The prophet writes, "God truly is my Savior; I am confident and not afraid. My strength and my courage is in the Lord, and He is my Savior." (verse 2)

We can trust God to strengthen us in our weakness. We feel our weakness in times of trouble and are afraid of what might happen to us. But God is an expert in using weak things and weak people to accomplish His goals here in the world. (1 Corinthians 1:27-30) God wants to use weak people in His work so that He can show how powerful and wise He really is! Our weakness permits God's strength to come in. God doesn't want us to depend on our own strength and wisdom to do His work, but He wants us to depend on Him and pray to Him to guide us and inspire us for His work. Paul said, "When I am weak, then am I strong...I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13)

This is the second reason why we should thank God and not complain. God strengthens us so we can thank Him!

We thank Him when we consider His wonderful and good deeds, such as we are doing this hour! The prophet writes, "Give thanks to the Lord, praise His name. Sing praise to the Lord for His glorious achievements; Shout with exultation, O city of Zion, because great among you is the Holy One of Israel!" (verse 4-6) We also thank God when we tell others of His deeds through our support of the missions and ministries of our church, our District and our Synod. (verses 4-5) During March and April we all will have a special opportunity to do this through our Synod's ALIVE IN CHRIST special offering. O thank God! He comforts you and strengthens you!

Amen.