Thorns
Joanne Greenberg (born 1932) is an internationally renowned, award-winning Jewish-American author. She wrote a best-selling novel, a semi-autobiographical account of a teenage girl’s 3-year battle with schizophrenia, entitled “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden”. After her own battle with mental illness, the author went on to earn a B.A. in anthropology and English from the American University of Colorado.
Joe South wrote the well-known song recorded in 1971 by country singer, Lynn Anderson, with the lyrics that go “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden. Along with the sunshine, There’s gotta be a little rain sometimes…”
No one promised us a rose garden. We were all born into an imperfect world, one where people are flawed and things go wrong, where circumstances can go against us, and where heavy burdens can be placed upon us. I grew up with a deaf father and a blind mother. That was hard for each of them. They grew elderly, became ill and dependent, suffering many losses before they eventually died. My own burdens have been very heavy at times. Life can be tough for many of us, almost too tough to go on. Or it can seem meaningless, pointless, senseless. It can be like treading through treacle, getting further and further dragged into it, or like pushing through dense scrub full of thorns that stick in one’s side, that dig in deep and cause pain. And for what end?
What can I say that will help? What antidote is there for despair?
I do know what it is that helps me with those “thorns in the side” - really helps - and it has to do with a particular worldview. I am utterly convinced by the Biblical belief that God is Sovereign and, in the words of the Westminster Confession, that “God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass;” and that while our finite minds are incapable of understanding everything He wills, His intentions and purposes are always good and righteous. Always! This is a reflection of His character… His intentions and purposes simply cannot be otherwise. What the world may inflict on us and be seen by us as evil, that God allows it to happen is no condemnation of Him. As the little oyster turns the invading grain of sand into a beautiful pearl, God intends all these things ultimately for our good if we love Him, and our experience of His incredible glory.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Submitting to that belief means I am able to draw upon His grace to continue coping when things would otherwise be intolerable. I also believe that this life here on earth is not the final story, and that faithful Christians are in a process of sanctification that culminates in the conditions of our eternal life after death. I trust in Him implicitly, that there is an over-arching good and righteous purpose in all that happens, and that He is Sovereign, there being no stray molecules in this universe.
This is a Biblical worldview. I find that it makes sense of what would otherwise be totally senseless. I don’t know how much you, my reader, are prepared to believe any of that. I guess it helps only if you are committed to such a belief. But I can tell you that being committed to that belief, to recognizing and accepting the absolute truth of it, does make a world of difference in dealing with the thorns in this life. It is this knowledge which brings hope, real hope based on reality… and then joy.
