Hearing loud cries for help that signaled pain, I rushed to the side of our 5-year-old daughter. She had been playing hide-and-seek with her neighborhood friend and was CAUGHT IN THE THORNS of some rose bushes. As her mother, I carefully removed each thorn from her legs freeing her from the entanglement and the pain.
Athletes can easily get CAUGHT IN THE THORNS of competition. Feelings of uselessness, bogged down by their mistakes, anxiousness about a certain competitor can overcome them and effectively paralyze their performance. Overcoming these thorns make athletes stronger and more confident than before as coaches, fellow players, friends and family reassure them of their purpose and value.
Thorns have purpose. The story of Abraham’s willingness to offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice to the Lord, was curtailed by a ram that was CAUGHT IN THE THORNS providing the needed sacrifice in place of Isaac.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” Abraham answered, “Here I am.” The angel said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham looked up and saw a ram, caught in a thicket of thorns. Abraham took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. Genesis 22:11-13
Thorns also were the crown that Jesus wore at his death becoming the headpiece of our salvation…
And the soldiers wove a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and they dressed him in a purple robe. John 19:2 NRSV
Just as thorns were part of God's salvation plan, we can take the thorns of life and use them to move forward by trusting this promise from our Heavenly Father…
“My grace is all you need. My power is strongest when you are weak.” 2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV
PRAYER: Thanks for sweet roses along the way… and for their thorns too that bring pain in my day. Thanks for my home… and the clatter within. But most of all, thank you for removing my thorns of sin! In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
LET JESUS REMOVE YOUR THORNS!
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