Corrie Ten Boom was imprisoned, with her sister Betsie, in a Nazi concentration camp. It was a filthy, flea-infested place; yet Corrie’s sister insisted that God still wanted them to “in everything give thanks,” for even this was God’s will for them. (I Thess. 5:18) Corrie had a difficult time accepting that until she learned one day why the guards never visited their barracks to insist that they stop praying, singing, and reading the Bible: They wanted to stay clear of the fleas! So, as the sisters learned, even the pesky, totally bothersome fleas were agents of God’s grace and mercies, and were His answers to their prayers.
James, in his New Testament epistle, begins his letter to the persecuted and scattered first-century saints by encouraging them to “count it all joy” when they were beset with trials, tribulations, and adversities. (James 1:1,2)
The Apostle Paul enumerated some of the physical adversities that he had encountered in ministry, and few followers of our Lord have suffered more severe hardships. Yet he wrote to believers in Rome that they should glory in tribulations because they would produce patience in their lives; patience would no doubt bring experience; and, finally, experience would usher in hope. (Romans 5:3,4)
Who has not been visited by trials, tribulations, and adversities? But, consider a lesson from our natural world. Every beautiful snowflake differs from every other snowflake; none is exactly like another. Who has not marveled at their six-point symmetry, grace, and pure white loveliness when they’re gently falling? Truth: at the very core of each of these beauties is a grain of dirt or foreign matter. This minute particle is sometimes as small as one one-hundred-thousandth of a millimeter in size, but those floating particles collect condensation as they tumble through the atmosphere to their final resting place, usually on our streets, walks, driveways, lawns. And, how beautiful they are when fresh fallen! Yet it all began with a foreign, unattractive, maybe even ugly speck out there in space.
We often go through a similar metamorphosis. An unwanted, ugly, foreign matter intrudes into our daily sphere of existence, attaches itself to our life, and hangs on for dear life so to speak. What may have been uninvited, unappealing, and unwanted at the beginning may, when it is all said and done, turn out to be a beautiful blessing in disguise. The heartbreak, illness, and confusion attaching itself to our orb in life clings on through the journey—until maybe, just maybe, it becomes an amazing, surprising source of beauty and blessing.
Former President Richard Nixon, receiving a landslide mandate in 1972 to serve a second term as president before he was forced to leave that office in disgrace in 1974, as a young man had visited the Grand Canyon. He was overcome with the majestic beauty of this giant wonder as he viewed it from the South Rim, looking down at the magnificent, breathtaking, panoramic view. But then, the young future president hiked seven miles down to the floor of the canyon and looked from its depth up to the heights, hearing and seeing the rushing waters of the Colorado River. Nixon would later muse of the experience, “Only then did I fully appreciate the majesty of one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Only when you have been to the depth can you truly appreciate the heights.” (Norman Bales)
Most of us, at one time or another, will find ourselves staring at life from the depths. We will learn how beautiful the heights are when we are at the very bottom. By God’s grace, He will not leave us at the bottom, but with cords of love will pull us to Himself, even as He did His children of Israel who had hit the bottom after 400 years in Egypt. That is why Paul said we could “glory in tribulations,” and James said we could “count it all joy.”
Yes, even the fleas may be agents of His never failing grace.
A pastor was visiting one of his shut-in members when she exclaimed, “How I enjoy the songs of the birds! But there is one that I would rather hear than all the rest—the robin!” “Does he sing more beautifully than the rest,” the pastor asked. The sick lady said, “No, not more beautiful; but the robin is the only one that sings in the storm. When the storms come and the clouds get black and the winds blow, the robin stays out there in the storm and sings its little song.” (copied)
We, too, can thank God for a song that all the storms of life cannot quench! The song of salvation; songs that will buoy us up even in the worst of life’s adversities—so that we can surely “glory” in them all, counting them all joy!
“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
YOU and GOD 