The Sapient King
In a kingdom long ago there lived the wisest king that ever was. His fame drove people to come and visit, just to observe this man. He wrote over 3000 proverbs 
and 1005 songs, had all the riches he desired, and nothing was out of his reach. He taught people through his example in judging difficult cases – like when two mothers were arguing over one baby. He built houses and planted vineyards, gardens, and parks with aqueducts and pools to water the trees. He employed skilled musicians and was surrounded by beautiful women.
As his life progressed a growing realization gnawed at his soul: without God, everything is vanity under the sun. Being thankful and content with your work, your wife, and fearing your Creator were the key lessons this man learned and penned in Ecclesiastes. Thankfulness is intricately linked with wisdom.
What is Sapient?
I am glad you asked. 🙂 I had never really heard it either until I was researching for this post. It means intelligent, discerning, or wise. In Hebrews 5:14, God gives a definition of discernment.
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
A sapient person is able to distinguish good from evil.
Knowledge-Understanding-Wisdom
Wisdom is more than knowledge that is gained through experience or reasoning – there is nothing worse than a knowledgeable fool! Dozens of passages and Scripture reveal how these three words are related:
- Knowledge is retaining the raw material of information;
- Understanding is the great separator; identifying what is true knowledge, targeting what is false knowledge, and most critical of all, untwisting and separating the true from the false in one lump of information;
- Wisdom is the ability to take good information, filtered by understanding, and to act on that truth at the right time, to the right people, and with the right motivations and manner. Fearing a righteous and loving God who is watching me every moment propels my commitment to act wisely (Proverbs 9:10).
Wisdom Includes Thankfulness
So hang on, I am going somewhere with this. 🙂 If our God puts a heavy emphasis on thankfulness, would we not also be wise in doing so?
Being th(i)nkful is a function of sapience or understanding. That my struggles are a result of God not knowing, or not caring about, or not loving me enough is false knowledge. Th(i)nkfulness celebrates true knowledge – that my struggles are ordained by God uniquely for me in order to bring about many “greater goods,” that He is with me, has given me grace, and has given me so many things around my struggle for which to be thankful.
Out of the 135 references in the Bible
for thank, thanked, thanks, thanking, thankful, thankfulness, thanksgiving, thanksgivings, thank-worthy, 67 references came from the Old Testament and 68 from the New Testament.
Thankfulness is a very practical part of wisdom; it is good and right action that is based on discernment of true knowledge, and it scatters benefit in every direction:
- Thankfulness is obedience to God
- Thankfulness is part of worshipping God
- Thankfulness gives credit to God and to others
- Thankfulness honors God’s meticulous providence in every detail of our lives
- Thankfulness uses learning to inspire still more learning
- Thankfulness among nonbelievers is contagious and creates gospel opportunities
- Thankfulness is the fruit of really deep and rich theology
- Thankfulness repels our urges to sin
- Thankfulness pushes us toward seeking forgiveness and reconciliation
- Thankfulness builds inward peace
- Thankfulness blurts out heaven’s perspective when ours is distorted
- Thankfulness fosters mental health by searching for and focusing on the good
- Thankfulness displays faith in God as we fulfill His will for us to give thanks in every circumstance
- Thankfulness trains the brain’s neural pathways to keep looking for things to be thankful for
- Thankfulness creates fresh air, motivating and inspiring others
- Thankfulness is part of good leadership, highlighting the good in our challenges
- Thankfulness sees the silver lining but also focuses on the benefit of clouds, rain, lightning and thunder
There is a pervasive emphasis throughout the scriptures on gratitude. Starting with Leviticus 7:11, where the thanksgiving sacrifice is given as one of the peace/fellowship offerings, and winding throughout the scriptures to Revelations 11:17, where twenty-four elders fall on their faces saying: “ We give thanks to You, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for You have taken your great power and begun to reign.”
The wise king from long ago learned some indispensable lessons.
Am I sapient? Am I discerning about the information, speculations, and meditations passing through my mind? Do I act on the true knowledge I have? Do I celebrate what is true with thankfulness?
Being th(i)nkful is like a bridge that takes you from focusing on self to focusing on all that God is and has done ~
Creativity: relating to or involving the use of the imagination or original ideas to design or fashion something
What a great sorrow to Him if I am just “thankful for” and not “thankful to,” as though I could chalk all of this up to chance, or luck, or random mutation, or a cosmic hiccup. No! I must give the credit, the applause, the fame, and my sincerest thanks to this Creator. It is all His work.
loaves and two small fish. Their solution was broken, insufficient.
feet and get a big look at earth’s story – full of creativity and goodness, then full of sin and suffering, and then full of hope because God’s restorative creativity that’s just around the corner.
I find that I want to be in control; I want my superior understanding of what is best, my keen sense of order, and my better set of values, to be on the throne. It is difficult to trust that God has everything completely in control and is sovereign. And even if He is in control, He at times does things in a messy and hurtful way; there seems to be no order, purpose, or reason for an illness, an accident, or a financial reversal. Thus, I indict my God and conclude that my way is better.
In reading to them I came across this book called 
When a person goes through a traumatic experience, that person experiences the happening objectively at first. But the later subjective re-experiencing of the happening is what I want to focus on. We relive notable experiences many, many times. It is in this subjective replay of the original experience where the key lies. You can choose how you relive an experience.
As we leave 2018 and move into the brand new year of 2019 in a few days, I would like to challenge you to make a simple “thank you” part of your living. As you process daily things, as well as work through things of the past, insert a simple “thank you.” Let God help you to develop eyes to see not only all His blessings, for which you can be grateful, but also to see His designs in the dark places, because He is there too. And having His hand hold you through a valley of shadows is a cause for deeper gratitude as you get to know His ways, and heart, and character, and purposes more deeply.
who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” Colossians 1:11-12
He posed the question that more than a few Christian kids have asked: What were we giving to the One who had the birthday?
Take a piece of paper. Give careful thought and write out five characteristics that you love about your God. Take your time and use words that describe the attribute well. Next, write out five things that He has done this year for which you’re thankful.
Did you know sequoias rely on fire to release the seeds from their cones? Those same fires burn off ground debris exposing soil in which seedlings can take root, open forest canopies through which sunlight can reach young seedlings, reduce competition, recycle nutrients into the soil. Sometimes, fire is necessary.
new fresh growth will slowly happen.
Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. In 1863 President Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”
It is interesting to note that President Lincoln proclaimed that thanks and praise be directed to God. He recognized that it wasn’t enough for us to just voice our thanks for each other and for things, but it needed to be to our Creator Father who gave us life. We need to remember to be thankful to, not just thankful for.
Hebrews says that praise is a sacrifice. Jesus’ work enables us to take our sacrifice into the very presence of God. In having the opportunity to praise God, what would you say? If you have a small view of God, the sacrifice of praise will bother you, and you will back out of His presence.
One day, people from every ethnic group will join together around the Throne and lift up their praise to the One who is worth it, far above all other people and things (Rev. 7:9-10; 19:1-8). How cool to get a head start here on earth. 🙂 So whether it is thank you, tusen takk, Ngibonga, do jeh, grazie, merci, danke, khop khun, or arigato, let’s give praise and thanks to our God!
I moved there when I was four years old. I have so many fond memories of that little town, two and a half hours north of Oslo. That is where I learned to speak Norwegian. That is where I began to attend the primary school known as Fagerlund Skole. I had the most amazing teacher, Fru Mørland.
No big deal really, it is just the laundry detergent that she used. The look of the box stuck with me.
Everything can be an absolute mess all around you, but when you let yourself get pulled into that moment and the beauty in such a small thing … you can breathe. In such moments, I am always reminded that God gives opportunity for us to stop and appreciate Him and everything He’s given us ALL THE TIME … it’s up to us to take those opportunities, catch those little breathers, be amazed at the world around us, and be thankful for what we have. 
in the wrong order. We tend to look first at our circumstances and try to interpret God’s love and care, which seems missing.
The strength of being th(i)nkful can only come from trust in a sovereign Creator and God that is good and worthy.
th(i)nkful 