We all want to be more thankful, but unfortunately, most people are usually unaware when they are participating in things which actually sow discontentment and ungratefulness in their lives.

The Bible tells an interesting story about how we as people inadvertently breed discontentment and ungratefulness in our lives by developing a hardness of heart toward God.

Check out this passage in Hebrews 3;

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did.”

The writer of Hebrews was using this story from the Israelite’s past to illustrate that when anyone hears the voice of God calling them into a relationship with Jesus, he should listen, trust God, and follow him.

Unfortunately, the story of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt was an example of what NOT to do in our relationship with God, and reveals to us the #1 killer of thankfulness in our lives – hardness of heart.

God’s objective was to get the people to the Promised Land as quickly as possible so that they could enter the rest, and then joyfully live in fellowship with one another and with God.

Prior to their departure from Egypt (and multiple times throughout their journey) God told them he would faithfully lead them and deliver them in to the land he swore on oath to give them (Exodus 6:8).

But at each turn along the way, the people “tested and tried” God, by disbelieving his original promise, even though for forty years “they saw what [he] did!” Meaning that each time the Hebrews got into a difficult spot along their journey, God would reassure them that he would still be faithful to bring them into the Promised Land, and then validated his promise by performing miraculous signs and wonders.

He gave them supernatural victories in battle. He healed them from being bitten by poisonous snakes. He caused water to flow forth from a rock so they wouldn’t be thirsty. And he sent food for them to eat day after day.

But each day, (and year after year for forty years!), they rebelled against God by failing to believe what he had originally promised, even though God faithfully demonstrated his goodness whenever they came up against trouble. Their hardness of heart eventually limited what God wanted to do in their lives and delayed their entry into the Promised Land (Psalm 78:40-42).

As believers we are in jeopardy of making the same mistakes today. The bible teaches that God’s promises are to be considered done and fulfilled because of what Jesus has accomplished on the cross (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Yet, whenever we reach tough spots along our journey with God, and refuse to be thankful that his promises are true (and will come to pass in spite of our circumstances), we develop a hardness of heart that stubbornly and rebelliously refuses to believe God.

The absolute key to maintaining a soft heart toward God, and that consequently remains thankful at all times, is to believe God’s promises to be true in spite of difficulties we may face.

Whenever we’re struggling to be thankful, it’s an indication that we’ve hardened our heart towards God because of challenges that have arisen in our lives, and we have failed to believe that he will deliver us and be faithful to bring us through.

God never promised that difficulties would not come, but he did promise that he would save us from them, by creating a Promised Land of abundance in our spirits that would spill over into our daily lives. For this we can (and should) be eternally thankful.