So God’s message continued to spread and the number of believers rapidly increased in Jerusalem … But opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen … and they had Stephen arrested and brought before the high council.” (Acts 6:7-12)
Food For Thought: It’s interesting that as the first church in Acts was riding the crest of a phenomenal church growth wave, God allowed another wave, a wave of persecution, to crash down upon them. Though there had been previous signs of hostility toward the Apostles, the arrest of this Godly, Spirit-filled layperson, Stephen, and his subsequent execution, marked the beginning of some extremely difficult times for the church.
Why would God allow those good times to be interrupted with such harsh times? Perhaps one of the reasons is found in the phrase “in Jerusalem.” The good times were rolling — “in Jerusalem.” The church was growing—some scholars say there were as many as 50,000 believers, up to half of the city’s population — “in Jerusalem.” Many of the Jewish priests had become Christians — “in Jerusalem.” But not too long before this, Jesus had given his followers a compelling commission: Go into all the world with the Good News. He promised that the Holy Spirit would empower them and enable them to be his witnesses starting in Jerusalem, and then radiating outward to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. God’s plan was to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the witness of the church, but, understandably, this first church was fairly content to enjoy the good times they were having in Jerusalem.
It is said that an eagle will remove the feathers from the nest, leaving only thorns exposed, so that her eaglet will be motivated to get out of the nest and learn do what eagles do best—fly. So also, God will sometime remove the cushions from a believer’s life in order to motivate that believer to do what believers do best—get out of their comfort zones and take the Gospel to the rest of the world.
Perhaps God is exposing your soft, comfortable nest to a painful thorn today. Rather than resisting it, leverage it. Allow that discomfort to cause you to take a fresh look at the new opportunities that God may be opening up for you to share his messages with others. Let your disappointment be his appointment for you to serve his purpose. Your thorn may be the best thing to ever happen to you, so offer thanksgiving to God for it. Who knows, today’s thorn may be tomorrow’s rose.
Let me suggest that you pray the prayer below that was penned by George Matheson, the Scottish theologian who went totally blind by age 20.
Prayer: “My God, I have never thanked Thee for my thorns. I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorns. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross: but I have never thought of 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.” Lord, today I will gratefully embrace my thorn as your appointment for something good in my life. Take it and make it into a fragrant rose, for your Kingdom’s sake I pray, amen.
This week in Christian History… Dorothy Sayers, English mystery writer and apologist, is born in 1893 in Oxford, England. She once said, “Man is never truly himself except when he is actively creating something.” Sayers was a good friend of C. S. Lewis and on occasion, would join Lewis along with J. R. R. Tolkien at meetings of the Socratic Club.
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