Pain for His Praise

Scripture:  I Peter 4:12-13 - Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.

George Matheson, the well-known blind preacher of Scotland, now with the Lord says:  “My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorn! I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorn; I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my thorn.  Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow.”  

God allows temptation by the devil, He uses tribulations from the world, and He sends fiery trials to test, purge and cleanse us. I Peter 4:12-13 says: Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. My thorn! My cross! My pain of the heart! These things can be happening from without, but our response from within is what God is after. Will the fire purge “me?” Will the fire cleanse “me?”

God, in His sovereignty allows us to be refined, sharpened and conformed to His image, and the after effect of the testing will either produce the disposition of pride or humility. I will only begin to rejoice and accept my thorn or cross when I accept the fact that God is in absolute control of my life, and what I am going through is all for His glory and my good. I, in such a small way, begin to partake of His suffering – what are you experiencing right now that makes you cry out to Him alone?  Remember that He was touched with our infirmities, yet without sin.

The Scottish preacher, James Stewart said “It is always upon human weak¬ness and humiliation, not human strength and confidence, that God chooses to build His Kingdom; and that He can use us not merely in spite of our ordi¬nariness and helplessness and disqualifying infirmities, but precisely because of them.”

Prayer:  Father, with a broken heart I want to Thank You for my thorn! This unique thorn assigned by You in all of Your wisdom and grace. I glory in the pain that has produced “PRAISE!!”

(by Cheryl Torain)