Sometimes the best fruits grow in the harshest soil.

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Title: Sometimes the best fruits grow in the harshest soil.

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Psalm 119:71 “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”

I love fruit, and my kitchen almost always has a large variety to choose from when I’m looking for a snack. Berries are one of my favorites, so it was with interest that I read about bilberries, a fruit related to but much different from blueberries. Bilberries are not native to North America, but they grow wild in Europe.

Bilberries only grow in specific areas and in harsh, acidic soil that is nutrient poor. They are notoriously difficult to cultivate and have small fruits that grow singly or in pairs rather than in clusters like blueberries. The pulp of blueberries is light green; bilberry pulp, however, is purple or red and transfers its color to everything it touches.

The fruit can be bitter if picked when not quite ripe, and gathering bilberries is a challenge. Difficult to grow, challenging to harvest, and bitter in the beginning…but at the end, they are extremely valuable. In Europe, it’s not uncommon for them to cost as much as 5 or 6 Euros a pound.

Paul was speaking from that very perspective when he wrote about tribulation in Romans 5. He begins by assuring us that we are justified by faith and have peace with God through Christ. We’re not alienated from God; rather, we have a loving, intimate relationship “wherein we stand.” Then Paul says, because of that relationship, we can glory in our tribulations.

Glory in our tribulations? You obviously don’t know the “tribulations” I’m facing! If you’re thinking that, you’re probably right. I don’t know what you’re facing. But I do know what I’m facing and what I have faced in the past. And, while the “tribulations” may be terrible, the fruit that can come from that terrible bush is wonderful.

While traveling to Atlanta this weekend, I heard Laura Story singing “Blessings” on the radio. What an amazing song! If you haven’t heard it, you can listen to it by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQan9L3yXjc. The song starts by listing the things we all pray for like peace, protection, healing and for God to ease our suffering.

After assuring us that God hears every single prayer, the song continues by telling us that God “loves us way too much to give us lesser things.” And these are the words to the chorus:

“Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops?

What if Your healing comes through tears?

And what if a thousand sleepless nights

Are what it takes to know You're near?” 

Like the bilberry, character only grows in the harsh, acidic soil of suffering. And some truths are only learned through that suffering. The fragile but infinitely valuable fruits of patience, endurance, experience and hope only thrive when watered by our tears. I know the path some of you have been called to walk, and I know my own.

They’re hard paths…wilderness paths…the kind none of us would choose for ourselves. But those harsh paths are the only place bilberries grow. And if we choose to walk them with joy and patience (Rom 12:12), we might even one day say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted. (Psalm 119:71)

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, chose to cling to hope and to be patient in tribulation?