Skipping the Thorns By Paul Chappell share on Facebook share on Twitter forward to a friend Monday, Jul 22, 2013 "Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them." Proverbs 22:5 If you have ever picked blackberries, especially wild blackberries, you know two things. First, when they are plump and ripe and juicy, blackberries are delicious. Second, picking them can be painful. Blackberry bushes are scientifically known as brambles—they are thick and thorny, and the berries are difficult to get to without getting cut up. This is why in the 1920s scientists began work on creating a truly wonderful invention—the thornless blackberry bush. These varieties now offer the sweet and succulent blackberries without the thorns that made picking blackberries so painful. The obvious question is: Why would anyone deal with the thorns if there was an alternative? The obvious answer is: They wouldn’t unless they either didn’t know there was an alternative or unless they were foolish. The same is true in life. The Bible tells us that the way of the forward—those who are stubbornly determined to go their own way rather than God’s way—is filled with thorns. Yet it is possible to avoid those thorns by walking in God’s way instead. Of course we realize that as the old saying goes, “Bad things happen to good people.” That is a result of living in a world that has been cursed by sin. But there are specific painful consequences that naturally occur when we decide that we know better than God how we should live. People sometimes say that they are being judged by God for doing wrong, but in most cases they are simply experiencing the pain that God’s Word warned would come when they go their own way. Though these thorns and snares are real and present, they can be avoided if we turn far away from the wisdom and pleasures of the world and follow Christ. Today’s Proverbs Precept: Rather than foolishly insisting on going our way and suffering the consequences, we should gratefully yield to God’s plan.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 16:31:56 +0000
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