No Painfree Thorns

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"It is hard for you to kick against the prick." Jesus to Paul in Acts 26:14 [耶稣对保罗说] 你用脚踢刺是难的。使徒行传 26:14

"Others influence, but don't control, your advance or failure to advance." Mencius [孟子曰：“行或使之，止或尼之。行止，非人所能也。]

Head-on with Thorns. In English we say a "thorn in the side," but never a "thorn in the front," because most people with brains don't walk head-on into thorns. We get stuck in the side when we try to ease our way around thorns, and then we may pray, "Lord, deliver me from these thorns!" But maybe we aren't supposed to be in the thorn patch in the first place.

Once the Israelites had entered the land God had promised to them, they immediately broke their own promises to serve God, and to not worship idols or ally with the locals. So God said in Judges 2:2,3, "You want them, you can have them--but they will be thorns in your sides."

"Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this? Now therefore I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides..." Judges 2:2,3 “。。。你们竟没有听从我的话。为何这样行呢。因此我又说，我必不将他们从你们面前赶出。他们必作你们肋下的荆棘。。。” 士师记2:3,4

The Israelites repeatedly disobeyed God and waltzed straight into the thorn patch--and repeatedly begged God to save them. And He did help them, over and over, only to have them walk right back into the thorn patch.

If we have more punctures than a pin cushion, we may be in the wrong place. Our Father will help us out if we ask him, but if we refuse to leave the briar patch, He's not going to bless us with painless thorns because the thorns have a purpose--to goad us back into the right direction. As Jesus said to Paul, when he was persecuting Christians, "It is hard to kick against the goad" (a sharp thorn=like stick used to prod oxen; they hurt enough already without kicking them!).

We can keep kicking the thorns, or we can get out of the thorn patch. If we choose the thorn patch, we have only ourselves to blame, as Mencius noted of the sidetracked Chinese prince.

Sidetracked Prince When Mencius heard that a prince coming to see him had been sidetracked by a court favorite, he commented, "others may influence where you go, but ultimately no one has the power to control you. You make the decision."

Of course, not all adversity comes from disobedience. Jesus said, "In this world you will have troubles." John. 16:33 But we don't need to multiply our troubles through disobedience.

Today, I might get scratched up a bit, but before I kick against the goad, I'm going to find out who's holding the other end!
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