A Flower From a Thorn

“These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” I Peter i:7

Here it is - in the gorse blossoming from thorns, in the harvest of wheat from the solitary grain - the gospel, the Good News of life out of death, a gospel for every individual, every need, every hopeless and helpless situation.

“It’ll never work for mine,” someone is tempted to say. Are you sure that your problems baffle the one who since the world began has been bringing flower from thorns? Your thorns are a different story, ar they? You have been brought to a place of self-despair, nothingness. It is hard even to think of any good reason for going on. You live in most unfavorable conditions, with intractable people, you are up against impossible odds. Is this something new? The people of Israel were up against impossible odds when they found themselves between the chariots of Egypt and the Read Sea. Their God is our God. The God of Israel . . . looks down on us with love and says, “Nothing has happened to you which is not common to all. I can manage it. Trust me.”

He wants to transform every form of human suffering into something glorious. He can redeem it. He can bring life out of death. Every event of our lives provides opportunity to learn the deepest lesson anyone can learn on earth: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galations 2:20). When our souls lie barren in a winter which seems hopeless and endless, God has not abandoned us. His work goes on. He asks our acceptance of the painful process and our trust that he will indeed give resurrection life.

By Elisabeth Elliot taken from "Woman’s Devotional Bible 2"