He warned me, but I went on anyway. I heard his wise words and weighed them out... but what lay beyond those thorns... drew me like no other. Ih never hesitated in my steps; buthurried on, further still. At last I reached the thicket and I found a way into my desired lust. My journey in didn't seem all that bad. A few knicks and scrapes, but nothing that I couldn't withstand for the pleasures that lay just within my grasp. Oh, the enticement! ... and the warning. The guilt became faint as I pressed on. I was blind to what was truly happening to me. As I went on further, the thorns embedded themselves; first within my clothing and later...I felt the pricks within my flesh. No real harm was done, I thought. My selfish need for self- gratification outweighed those pricks. My head, my hands, my sides, my feet... They all took minor cuttings. But, the enticement and desire for the forbidden lay just beyond...just a little deeper... The closer I got to it, the more insatiable my thirst. Until at last I embraced the object of my affection...I withdrew of the succulents of sinful fruit and believe me; I drank it to the full! All too quickly, the deed was over. I saw the truth of my estate. .. The further I had pushed toward the "thing"... the more entangled I had become... and after partaking of pleasures brief season; the object of affection had left...no...cruelly abandoned me! And I was left with the reality of my demise. I lay there entangled with thorns great and small. Thorns that had seductively covered and clung to me with a gently grasping and pulling; while piercing me from head to toe... through my garments, into my flesh...into the depths of my soul. And with the piercing came the searing heat, cause by the induced poison by which each thorn emitted. I was cut to the very heart. No! Deeper still...the soul. As I lay in the tangled web of my own weaving...As I lay covered in blood and writhing in pain. ..my tears began to flow at the fierce and swift memory of, "His Warning." I cried! I cried out to the mocking, lingering, jeering shadows. I lay spoiled by my own choices and I wept a bitter weeping. Full of despair...my mind raced with scene after scene, carried out by my own evil heart and the end thereof. Somewhere, in the midst of my distress...I heard him. I thought at first, it was only the torment, the memory of his voice... but, no.... He was calling out to me. My own dear Savior had come to my rescue! He had heard my cries and was not ashamed to enter into the mess I had created, and rescue me. He had come to set the "captive free." I never realized the cost...the pain. I struggled against his freeing me. I would twist and turn to resist. The thorns that had bound me, would be the ones to pierce his flesh and wound him. I saw him bleed! "See! From his head, his hands, his feet"...I heard him whince. I watched as tears flowed down his face... and in this moment, I realized that the consequences of my choice. .. my sin... had torn him. My own sin had far more effect than I could have ever known... The thorns that held me bound, would require the Savior's blood. He sacrificed himself willingly for someone unworthy; someone he had warned... and that someone, was me. He stood before me; covered in blood. He had become my sacrificial lamb. I had been caught in the thicket of my own sins and yet, he willingly, lovingly, bore the full penalty to free me. Suddenly, I realized the glories of that freedom! For wherever his blood was shed; wherever he had touched my flesh; those wounds were healed! Each stripe, each cut, had been covered by his blood, by his love. I was made whole at last!
He place his right hand on my shoulder and kissed my brow. Then he laid one tiny thorn in my palm and said,
"Enticements will surely come and strong though they may be, Remember this thorn, a gentle warning and submit yourself to me.
I paid full price, purchased by blood to set the captives free. This thorn is your reminder to obey and honor me."
