p. 10 | The Blessing of Trials by G. B. THOMPSON

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 6, 1907

The Blessing of Trials

By G. B. THOMPSON

G. B. THOMPSON

PEARLS are much sought after; and the rich, in their luxurious mansions, at great expense adorn themselves with pearls.

The best pearls are found in a certain kind of oyster shell which is found in the waters of a tropic sea. They are secured by divers from the bottom of the sea. In one day the diver may find one worth a fortune, or he may work many days, and open tons of shells, without finding a single pearl.

How are these pearls formed in the shell? They do not grow there naturally. It is thought that some foreign substance, such as a grain of sand or something similar, gets into the shell. This wounds and bruises the delicate body of the mollusk, and this offending substance becomes covered with the same secretion with which the interior of the shell is covered. So this beautiful and much-sought-after gem is really produced by this little creature on the inside of the shell, struggling against the hardship which besets its very existence.

The lesson: There is in this a beautiful and helpful lesson for each of us. Trials and temptations beset the pathway of each. Sometimes they seem hard to bear, and we are tempted to murmur and complain, and to wonder why we have to endure so much. But these are necessary that the pearl of patience may be perfected in us, and in order that the “pearl of great price” may be bestowed upon us at last. Though they may wound and hurt, if endured, they will perfect in us the graces of the Holy Spirit, and when the Master comes to gather home his “jewels,” we may be numbered among them.

Even jewels of rare merit and worth must pass under the polishing process of the lapidary before they can shine

with the greatest brilliancy. So we, too, have to be polished. After being washed, we need to pass beneath the hot iron of trial and affliction that the wrinkles of sin may be smoothed out. But “our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

Cairo, Egypt.