And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.                                                       Luke 17:11-19
Have you ever cried out to God for help in a time of distress? Looking back, when God did deliver you from your trouble, have you ever forgotten to thank Him? Is this acceptable? Let us examine the above passage of Scripture.
We see that all ten lepers lifted up their voices when they saw Jesus approaching. All ten. Not one of them was too proud to call Jesus their Master and to beg Him to have mercy and heal them. When our children become sick, we readily pray for God to heal them. When a tornado is near, we naturally pray to God for safety. If we have any belief in God at all, praying in times of trouble comes very easily. We all would have done just what these ten lepers did.
Then, Jesus gives them a command. Go, He tells them, and they readily obey. They were willing to obey Him and trust Him because they were so desperate to be healed. We have the tendency to do this, as well. We will obey Him when we need Him. We will attend church, as He has instructed us to, when we need Him. We will read His Word when we need Him. When we need Him, we readily obey Him.
As they obeyed, they were all healed. Every one of them. Jesus Christ, God Himself, had cleansed them of their leprosy. Just as God has answered our prayers time and again, He had answered their prayers.
Finally, only one of them turned back, glorified God, fell down on his face at his feet, and gave him thanks. All ten cried out. All ten obeyed. All ten were healed. But, only one gave thanks for the answered prayer. How many times have we forgotten to glorify God and thank Him for answering our prayers?
We might think that God does not care if we thank Him, or not. That, however, is not what we read in Scripture. Jesus specifically asks were not there ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? God expects us to give Him the glory for answered prayer. We are commanded elsewhere in Scripture to “in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God…†(I Thess 5:18). We are exhorted to “abound with thanksgiving†(Col 2:7). A Christian should be full of thanksgiving to God for not only answered prayer, but for the mercy He extends to each one of us each day.
Let us, as Believers, be a praying people. Let us take every thing to our Father in Heaven.  Our God cares about the sparrows. “Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.†(Mt 10:31)  Our God cares about you and your needs.
When God does answer our prayers, let us not be like the nine that simply went on with their lives. May we be like the one man who came back and glorified God, giving thanks to Him.
Pastor Lee Smith
