Our Daily Bread: Picking Up the Pieces After Job LossНамуна

THANKS FOR THORNS: To give thanks in every situation is sometimes difficult. When your body is wracked with pain,
or you have just learned that you have a physical problem for which there is no cure, or you have lost your job, or a cherished relationship has been broken, it's hard to feel grateful.

But we can learn to thank God because He gives us strength when we feel weak.That's why Paul could say, "I take pleasure in infirmities, . . .in distresses, for Christ's sake" (2 CORINTHIANS 12:10). Those who have faith in Christ can be grateful that through such experiences God is accomplishing what is best for them. Even through suffering, He is working for good (ROMANS 8:28).

Scottish author and preacher George Matheson (1842-1906), who was blind, expressed this prayer: "I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my thorn . . . 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."

As we surrender ourselves to the Lord and remember that He is working in everything to accomplish our ultimate good, we can thank Him even when we are pierced by thorns. -Richard De Haan

It?s easier to bear the burden of suffering