A Lesson from "The Chicken And The Egg.

Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything (James 1:2-4, NLT).

The little boy was so excited as he and his mother waited for signs of life from the chicken egg they hoped would soon hatch.

The mother hen had left the nest, busy caring for other newborn, and they decided they had better put this egg in a box with a light in it, to keep it warm. They waited and waited, and finally they heard the first tiny tap and the chick began to peck on the eggshell to be set free.

The little chick pecked and pushed and pushed and pecked. The little boy felt so sorry for him and wanted to help. It would be so easy to just quickly crack open the shell and let him out. But the mother cautioned him, explaining that it was important for the chick to have to work hard to get out of the shell so that his body would later be strong enough to survive outside the shell. Leaving him alone and letting him work his way out was actually an act of love.

That is the way our heavenly Father feels toward us. He sees the many challenges which we face. And all He would have to do is just speak a word and all our problems and challenges would be solved. But He knows best. He knows that allowing us to work through them, and "peck our way through our challenges," so to speak, will enrich our lives in the long run.

God is in the character-developing business, and our trials help develop us into what he wants us to be.

James refers to this process when he says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything" (1:2-4, NIV).

Peter speaks of the same thing, referring to your "...inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade -- kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed (1 Peter 1:4-7, NIV).

Because of God's loving and benevolent plan and purposes for us, Paul could write, "Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV).

A Letter from Bill Bright