Out of Thorns

The hungry eat his harvest, and he takes it even out of thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.  
Job 5:5
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Out of Thorns
The fool who rejects God faces destruction.  Our text speaks of how thoroughly abandoned and destitute the fool will be, that even the grain which falls amongst the thorns would be snatched from him.  Yet when we survey the world, we see the heathen prosper, the one who mocks God accumulating great wealth and prestige.  So what gives? Do the wicked proser or do they suffer because of their sin? Those of faith understand it is not always in this life where the wicked suffer, but ultimately the one who dies outside of the faith is rejected by God and thrown into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  This is not a place anyone would want to be, yet so many choose it.  As Jesus explained in the parable of the sower, those seeds of faith which fall amongst the thorns sprout but are quickly choked out.  The thorns overtake them, and they ultimately reject God and His gift of faith. Yet by the blood of Christ’s thorn pierced head, we have rescue.  The faith given by the Holy Spirit to know Christ as our Savior pulls us out of the thorns and plants us into the good soil.  And we are daily watered by our Baptism and fed the Bread of Life, where our faith is strengthened by His Word.  The thorns of this world certainly scratch and pierce us but fear not for the blood of Christ is the balm which heals all.