Thorns—an expression of God’s faithfulness to us. Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths (Hosea 2:6).

Jason lay in bed, weakened and restless, unaware that the thorns piercing his life were the very tools God was using to save him from himself. He lay sick in bed in the middle of the business day as the cool breeze from the window rushed over him. He wondered how it had come to this. It wasn’t the first time he had been here, and he hated every minute of it, but before it was all over, he would bless the Lord for the very thing that laid him low.

Life had been busy for Jason for months now. He worked for a Christian organization and managed to move up the ranks over the years. He had also continued to be busy with his volunteer work at church. Family life was also full and required quite a bit of his time. Even with all of this going for him, he felt empty and beaten down.

He retraced his steps over the past year and could not see any significant misstep, but he was off course. The most pointed indicator of his waywardness was his lack of interest in the things of God. This indifference toward God was new for him. His first love had grown cold. It has been growing cold for months now, but the thing about a heart that is no longer enamored with the things of God is that you don’t recognize it precisely because your heart is cold.

Jason had begun to desire a name for himself, and people were starting to give him that recognition. Self-love had begun to take over. It felt good initially, but he quickly learned it had no stability. Each advancement only led to a new horizon he needed to experience. As he attained new heights, you would think the thrill accompanying it would also increase, but it was the opposite. The law of diminishing returns made each new horizon less satisfying than the one before. His drift into selfishness had left him cold, and with each step lower spiritually, the enemy offered new temptations to slake his thirst for self-glory. Jason, usually a man of honor, began drinking from those wells.

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