Thistles and Angels

It's such a royal looking plant growing out in the field. It's purple head raised high but to my husband, the farmer, it is the enemy. This Spring my husband became the "Thistle Hunter." Why is this beautiful regal plant considered an enemy? To understand the problem I had understand the root system and how the thistle multiplies. When the thistle invades the land above it also invades the earth beneath and blankets it with a roots system  that expands and resembles concrete. Woe unto the farmer who lets the thistle flower because now not only will you be at war with the roots but with the seeds.

For a while I was just an observer watching my husband fight for dominion over the thistle but it got personal when I found one trying to invade my flower bed. "Oh no you don't," I said as I reached out and grabbed it by the stem. That was the day I gained a new respect for this weed. Not only is it beautiful with it's purple flower, well rooted and prolific it also it covered with thorns. My hand still remembers it's first encounter the thistle's poisoned thorns.

While reading "The Message" by Eugene Peterson I gained a new appreciation for the parable Jesus told about God's Kingdom. This is what I read, "God's kingdom is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. That night, while his hired men were asleep, his enemy sowed thistle all through the wheat and slipped away before dawn. When the first green shoots appeared and the grain began to form, the thistle showed up too." (Matt. 13:23) Since Jesus was telling this parable to farmers they would understand how this act could sabotage the whole field!

The farmhands wanted to know if they should try to weed the field but the farmer told them to wait till harvest and let the harvesters separate the wheat from the grain. When Jesus explained the parable to His disciples He told them that the harvest hands were the angles who were assigned to do this job at the end of the age.

Lord, thank You for this parable that helps me understand spiritual struggle by comparing it to the physical world I live in. Lord, You know how frustrated and panicked I get when I see "spiritual thistles." I want to
to get rid of them, now. Thank You for showing me Your plan so that I don't spend my life doing what You have assigned angles to do at the end of the age.