How God Makes A Silk Purse Out Of A Sows Ear

(Galatians 4:12-15)

You’ve heard all the old sayings like this one, I’m sure. You can’t make a silk purse out of a sows ear. And it’s quite true! YOU can’t.

But God can! He does it all the time.

The underlying principle here is that something wonderful and good cannot come from something common, bad or evil. But in this section of scripture we see that God did indeed take a bad situation in Paul’s life, and turn it into something truly marvellous in many ways.

So let’s look at this scripture and some others and see how God makes a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Paul’s “Sows Ear”

It is evident from this scripture and some others in the letters of Paul, that he suffered with eye problems. Look at what he says in these verses.

12 Brethren, I beseech you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong; 13 you know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first; 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What has become of the satisfaction you felt? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. (Galatians 4:12-15)

It seems quite likely that Paul, in his travels, came to Galatians region and had to cease his travels at that point because whatever the condition was with his eyes was causing him great difficulty. He notes that his eye conditions were so bad that they were a “trial” not just for himself, but also to those around him, including the Galatians. Paul does not tell us what the condition was, but you can imagine other people having to read to him, write letters for him and perhaps even lead him around if he could not see. He may have had difficulty sleeping if there was pain, and who knows how else this condition affected him.

But in spite of that, Paul preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to these people and so the Galatians church was born.

This is a marvellous example of how God took something that was evil, Paul’s condition, and turned it into something great. Through this illness or condition, many people heard the words of the gospel and so were saved.

And this great blessing of the Lord extended even further, right down to the present time. We have these words of Paul in the written form to teach us and guide us so we do not fall by the same problems the Galatians were facing after Paul had moved on. Had Paul not suffered and been forced to stop in Galatia, the church would not have been born and we would not have had this letter to the Galatians that speaks so heavily and in such detail about the freedoms afforded to ALL who follow Jesus Christ. Likewise we would not have had the warnings about accepting false teachings designed to lead us into bondage that was the main subject of this letter.

And all of these blessings came about because of an evil circumstance. God allowed these things to happen so that we too could benefit from these experiences and teachings of Paul. Truly, God made a silk purse out of a sows ear.

Other examples of how God makes a silk purse out of a sows ear

There are many other old sayings that make similar claims, for example, every cloud has a silver lining, is one that comes to mind. Think also of the story of the ugly duckling who became the beautiful swan, or the caterpillar that becomes a butterfly, or the story of Pygmalion.

There is a theme in these things, but none so evident as the truth of the gospel where we see these things happen all the time.

If you go to a church I am sure you have heard testimonies of how the Lord provided for someone in need, or how the Lord healed someone who was ill, or how the Lord took someone through a dire situation and they came through better and stronger than before.

Likewise there are testimonies all over the Internet of how the Lord has intervened in some situation or crisis and victory was received by the person in need who sought the Lord. His intervention can be seen in our lives all of the time, for He never leaves the lives of His people to chance.

If you are going through difficult times, know for certainty that when you look to Jesus Christ you will come through better and stronger as He provides the answers, provisions, healing and other interventions. Allow me to mention some of the testimonies I have received from the Lord in my own life, which remind me regularly of how the Lord God makes a silk purse out of a sows ear.

When I was working I was asked to temporarily step into a senior role to “fix” a mess that had been made. I did so and within three months had the department in question ticking like a fine swiss watch. At the time they had three similar roles open in three different states, including the one I was doing. They were extremely happy with my work and offered me one of the roles, but…not the one where I had been working the past three months. I was the best qualified person for the role, the people and management had confidence in me, but they would only offer me a role in another state. In the end, I said no as I didn’t want to move across the country, and went back to my previous job.

I could not understand why, and prayed about it. Several weeks later I was approached and offered a more senior role, which I took, but was still puzzled about it all. As it turned out, about six months later the organisation decided to centralise the function I had wanted and all of the people in those jobs, including the interstate roles I had been offered, were made redundant. I was not in a position at the time where I could be out of work, and so I see the Lord’s hand in guiding my work life. Not only was I still employed, it was a better paying job and within two years I was promoted again (not by my doing but through the request of the Managing Director), in that area to sit on the executive management board of the organisation. Oh, and as an aside, the guy they ended up hiring turned out to be crooked and he fraudulently stole money from the company causing them all kinds of grief…but that’s another story!

This is just one example in my life where the Lord made a silk purse out of a sows ear. And there are plenty of others I could relate to you. I have a few testimonies on my website you could check out if you want to know more. Things like the fact that I was born with a blood disease no-one (in the world) had ever survived past puberty. And even though my wife thinks I’m still a big kid (64 years old at the time of writing this) I am a bit past puberty and I have no ongoing effects from the disease. I was the first person ever to be cured. If you want to know more about this and some other spectacular testimonies the Lord has done for me in my life, head across to my testimonies page.

The point of all this

So what is the point of all this? Why should we think about these things? Wouldn’t it be better if the Lord just fixed all this stuff rather than allowing His people to go through tough/bad/evil times and situations?

Good questions.

The point of all of this is to rely not on our own strength, wisdom, insight or understanding, but to draw close to God. He wants us to rely on Him and to use the power of the Lord to overcome, and in many cases the issues we are faced with are not within our power to fix.

When we come to the Lord seeking His help, we receive it. And more than that we can remember how He has helped us in the past and KNOW that He can and will do it again.

Furthermore, when we tell other people of the ways in which the Lord has helped us, they too are encouraged by our testimonies and they too will praise and worship the Lord knowing that if He did it for us, He can do it for them too.

And so HOPE is born.

This is the great blessing that comes from the Lord God making a silk purse from a sows ear…Hope. When we know that He can and will do anything and everything to help His people, we have Hope and we know that we can call on Him for anything. And when we combine our hope with this faith in the power of the Lord to help us, ALL things are possible.

We are not alone because He stands with us throughout our trials and He uses our trials to bring about good things. We may not know what the good things will be when we are going through our situations, but that is why we must rely on Him in the knowledge and Hope that it will happen. Just as I did not know about my job future, I held fast to the Lord and later on I could look back and see His hand and wisdom guiding my life and the events of my situation so that good came from what I thought was a bad situation.

Likewise, I am sure Paul did not realise the good that would come from having poor eyesight or whatever his condition was affecting his eyes, but look at the impact his condition had and the power of this letter that we received as a result.

In all of the evil that may come to pass in your life remember this, God can and will turn it around so that a good result will come from it. He is the master of how to make a silk purse out of a sows ear.

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