STRUGGLE

STRUGGLE!

1 Cor 10:13

13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

2 Cor 12:9-10

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

           I’m watching some dear people struggle and I think of the Monarch. The monarch butterfly begins its life cycle as a caterpillar, eating various plants of the milkweed family. Compounds in these plants make the monarch poisonous to predators. The larval stage in which the butterflies live as caterpillars lasts only two weeks. After this period, the caterpillar forms a chrysalis around itself and transforms into a butterfly after nine to 15 days. The adult monarch's distinctive orange color is a way to warn predators that the insect is poisonous.

           Nine to 15 days of struggle! Think about that for a moment and realize that many of our troubles last that long or less with less dramatic results. God is growing some of us through struggle. It is a natural process though we don’t often understand it. We find ourselves in a cramped environment and we long to be free of it. We may even cry out for relief only to hear God reassure us of His sustaining grace. We can’t imagine that the struggle is actually good for us.

           If we could only see what God intends for us to be we would, like Paul, “glory” in our struggles. The word glory actually means to boast. It means to feel glad about what is bad. Once we emerge from the struggle – and we will emerge – we will be both beautiful and deadly.

Job 23:10

10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Dear Lord, watch over me as I struggle. Let the struggle make me strong. Let the beauty you intend for me be a warning to the enemy. AMEN