Pearls of Life

Isaiah 45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.

Pearls are formed when a piece of grit, sand or shell get trapped inside an oyster. It protects itself from irritation by secreting a nacreous liquid around the particle which eventually builds into a pearl.  In other words, what begins as an annoying irritant eventually becomes a valuable treasure.  The same is true in life.  We should not sweat the small stuff, God can use irritation for our own good.
Life can have so many irritations. More often than not, it is the little things that annoy us the most.  A lost set of keys. the misplaced cell phone, the ice-maker that refuses to do its job on a hot summer day,  or the empty tea pitcher stuck back in the refrigerator.  But then there are times when people are the problem.  They show up uninvited or call when you’re running out the door, or already running late for an appointment.  Been there?

Looking back, we should be able to say that the greatest treasures in our life have been discovered during the darkest times of our lives.  When we sweat the small stuff and find we are weak this is when God gives way to strengths and failures that can led to successes. God can use all situations for His glory and our good, if we let Him.  These tiny irritations can be a tool in the hand of a loving Father who uses them as "heavenly sandpaper" to rub off some of our rough edges. 

In God's economy, a mess is the perfect setting for a miracle.  At the center of every dark moment is a sliver of hope and a seed of victory.  God has gone before you, and in every trial or difficult circumstance you will face, He has buried a treasure. When the irritations and tough times come, look for the pearls and allow Him to be in control. It doesn’t matter if it is a small problem or big problem God can handle it for us.