Luke 17:11-19, “And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks”
Thanksgiving is a time of reflection on what the Lord has done in the past year and giving Him thanks. I have been disappointed in many occasions where at thanksgiving dinners people gave thanks but directed them to no one. My question is, did things just happen that could not be traced to the one who caused them to happen?
Luke 17:11 begins, “Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee“. “It happened“, to some it may sound like it was a coincident that He passed through these cities however we know what God does He already planned it. The bible continues to tell us in verse 12, “Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood a far off“. Jesus appears in this village, I am not sure if anyone knew of His passing by, we are only told that there met Him ten lepers. If you look at people who had leprosy in the bible, they were considered cursed people, unclean, outcast, they were not to live in the city with everyone, they lived in caves. They walked around chanting “unclean, unclean”. How they happened to be in the city at the time Jesus was passing by is no coincident. vs. 13. “And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us“. Their cry indicates they knew that nothing just happens. If there was going to be any change in their lives, someone had to do something to cleanse them. This was the type of disease that was not easy to get rid of, but I can imagine them having the faith to believe in Jesus. They all lifted their voices because they all believed in what He could do.
vs. 14, “So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go show yourselves to the priests”. How many times have you prayed for something to come in a way you expected it only to be told to do something different? Imagine coming to Jesus, crying for healing. Instead of saying you are healed or even touching them, all He tells them to go and show themselves, in other words go and testify, and as they go they became healed. I don’t know how these men reacted but they had faith to believe without questioning. vs. 14, “…And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed“, nothing just happens right?!!!. Jesus did not speak healing, did not touch them, He sent them away and in the process, they got healed. Your surviving this year did not just happen, trace the root of it and you will see that God was behind it, your promotion did not just happen so was your good health, your joy, peace, confidence, strength, provisions, protection, guidance, your raise, you name it did not just happen. James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is not variation or shadow of turning“. Nothing just happens, both good and evil can be traced from their authors.
Vs. 15, “And one of them, when he saw he that he was healed returned…” Can we say that it was just one of them who realized that this did not just happen? that Jesus had something to do with it? He is healed, he has been restored, no longer is he an outcast, now he can have relationships again, he can be close to his family. Too good to show the priests first but come back and give glory to God, falling on Jesus’ feet and giving Him thanks. He could have given thanks to the mother nature since Jesus did not touch him or speak healing in him, he could have thought of being lucky but this man understood that what happened was no coincident, Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the reason for His healing and because of it he came back. Jesus asked about the other 9 who were also healed. He did not question whether they were healed, He knew they were healed because when He said go, it was done. His question was, vs. 17, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? vs. 18, “Were there not there any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?. We can be spoiled brats just snatching what has been offered to us and going away without giving thanks. When kids are growing, the parents tend to teach them to give thanks when something is given to them or anybody else they approve of, how come when we get older we think that things just happen? And this is not only left for thanksgiving day but always being thankful. David speaks in Psalm 92:1, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord”, Psalm 26:7, “offer to God thanksgiving”, Psalm 95:2, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving”, Psalm 100:4, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name”
As you celebrate thanksgiving, know who is the author of every good thing in your life and direct all the praise and thanksgiving back to Him. Let this be a reminder to us all that nothing just happens therefore we constantly need to give Him thanks whether it be for something small or big. One man out of the ten returned, please return and give thanks to Him. Blessings Ev
He Has Magnified His Word 
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