GOD WHY DID YOU MAKE FLEAS, WASPS, MOSQUITOES?????

Creatures that have no apparent role on this earth besides causing us lots of frustration and, quite often, rather severe pain. Why would God make such useless things?

One thing I never thought of doing was thanking Him for any of these. Why would I thank God for something I surely wasn't thankful for? When I heard the following story, I reconsidered.

Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Christian sent to a Nazi concentration camp during World War II for helping the Jews of Western Europe. Along with her sister Betsie, Corrie arrived at Ravensbruck. The two were eventually assigned to permanent living quarters, and they found themselves living with 1400 other women in a room built for 400. Those 1400, however, were not the only ones living in the barracks.

After crawling over the numerous bunks to get to her own, Corrie cried, "fleas!!!...Betsie, this place is swarming with them!...how can we live in such a place?" Betsie, her health failing, but her faith growing, simply asked God to show them how. Betsie suddenly remembered a passage that the two of them had read earlier, a passage from Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians where he wrote:

And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus (Thessalonians 5:14-18;NIV).

Corrie suddenly realized that being assigned together with Betsie was a blessing. The fact that the guards had not confiscated her Bible was a miracle. And the fleas...somehow they were useful, and she was to be thankful. The Bible says to be thankful in ALL circumstances, not just the comfortable ones.

Corrie and Betsie began a tremendous ministry to the women of their barracks, continually opening the Scriptures and sharing the Words of Life in the "big room", their sleeping quarters. As the war raged on, the battle for souls continued in the barracks, and Corrie and Betsie saw numerous women come to faith in Christ, many on their death beds. All of this...with the fleas.

Betsie's health continued to deteriorate, and she was eventually assigned to the knitting brigade, able to stay in the barracks, knitting and ministering to the women. One day when Corrie returned to the barracks, Betsie had an unusually big smile on her face.

"You're looking extraordinarily pleased with yourself," Corrie told her. "You know we've never understood why we had so much freedom in the big room," Betsie said. (The guards never entered their quarters which allowed them to have the Bible and to read from it.) "Well...I've found out."

That afternoon, as they were knitting, there was some confusion about sock sizes, so they had asked their supervisor to come into the big room and settle the dispute. "But she wouldn't. She wouldn't step through the door and neither would the guards. "And you know why?" Betsie could hardly keep the triumph from her voice: "Because of the fleas! That's what she said. That place is crawling with fleas!"

Corrie bowed her head in humble realization knowing that God was, for His Kingdom's sake, using creatures that she could find absolutely no use for.

When was the last time you thanked God for the fleas in your life?

Taken from The Winnsboro Tribune
By: David Rose, Youth Pastor at First Baptist Church, Winnsboro, Texas