11/27/2025
The Hebrew word for “give thanks” in the Old Testament is yadah and it literally means “to acknowledge God in the middle of the mess.”
It doesn’t mean “feel grateful.”
It doesn’t mean “wait until things get better.”
It means “God, I see You present even in this.”
In Jewish worship, yadah wasn’t used for victory it was often used in seasons of fear, uncertainty, and waiting.
Thanksgiving wasn’t a celebration of how well life was going. It was an act of surrender when life didn’t make sense.
And that truth reframes everything we think about gratitude.
Here are several ways I’m practicing yādâ (thanksgiving)in my own life this week
1. Gratitude isn’t something you wait to feel; it’s something you choose to practice. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
2. Today’s pain makes more sense when you remember tomorrow’s promise. Romans 8:18
3. Complaining is often our heart’s way of saying, ‘God, I don’t trust what You’re doing right now.’ Philippians 2:14
4. If Jesus trusted His Father in the worst moment, I can trust Him in mine. 1 Peter 2:23
5. When I think I deserve better, gratitude disappears. But When I remember grace, it returns.” Luke 13:2–3
6. If you can’t lose Christ, then you can’t lose your reason to give thanks. Romans 8:35–39
Thanksgiving isn’t just about being grateful for what you can see. It’s learning to trust God with what you can’t see.
Yādâ is gratitude in uncertainty.
Gratitude in fear.
Gratitude in waiting.
Gratitude in confusion.
Gratitude in the “not yet.”
Gratitude in “even this”
It’s saying, “God, I thank You now because You already know what I don’t.”
So wherever you find yourself right now
if the diagnosis hasn’t come back,
if the finances don’t make sense,
if the relationship is unresolved,
if the future feels uncertain.
you can still yādâ.
Because biblical thankfulness isn’t built on what you have.It’s built on the God who holds what you don’t understand.
And you can trust Him “even in this”.
