It is easy to be thankful when things are easy, but is it possible to be thankful in difficult days?

The Old Testament prophet Daniel lived in a dark time in Israel's history, far away from home in Wicked Babylon.

And yet, this faithful man exemplifies a life of gratitude from beginning to end.

Scott Pauli takes us to Daniel today to learn more about being thankful and difficult days. You might imagine that if you lived through what Daniel lived through, you would battle bitterness.

He would deal with so much discouragement and be in the slough of despond that John Bunyan wrote about.

And yet, when you read the life of Daniel in the book that bears his name, the Old Testament,

you find a man who seems to be living in victory, in joy, in power, in blessing, in abundance.

How is that possible?

Well, I believe one of the great secrets to this, one of the keys that unlocks God's best in a person's life at any season is this

matter of gratitude. Learning to develop, to cultivate, and then to keep, isn't that the difficult

thing, to keep a thankful spirit? We're looking at his thanksgiving in Daniel chapter

number two. We've seen him blessing God in Babylon. We've examined his thanksgiving list.

And now we've come to this beautiful, powerful expression in Daniel chapter 2, verse 23,

I thank thee. Can you hear him? I wish I could read this like he wrote it. I wish I could put the

the heart in it that Daniel must have had at the moment he first offered these words to his great God.

I thank thee and praise thee. Oh, thou God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might

and has made known unto me now what we desire to thee, for thou hast now made known unto us

the king's matter. Would you mark this expression in your Bible, Daniel chapter 2, verse 23,

I thank thee.

That's such a simple phrase, isn't it?

May I ask you, have you thanked the Lord recently?

There are only two people.

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