Scripture

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.

Quote

There are three phases in the work of God: impossible, difficult and done!

~Hudson Taylor

Jeffrey Enoch Feinberg is a messianic Jew who lives in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. He is one of twenty two writers in the Messianic Jewish Daily Devotional. He tells a fascinating story about a Jewish rabbi who is on the road traveling from village to village. The rabbi has nothing but a donkey, a rooster, a candle and of course, a copy of the Torah. He arrived at a certain village just before dark and ask for a room in the village inn. But the inn keeper will not give him a room, although rooms are available. The rabbi then seeks shelter with the local citizens but one by one they shun the rabbi; refusing to give him shelter for the night. So the Rabbi takes his donkey, rooster, candle and Torah a mile or so outside the village. He finds a place of shelter just off the road and so there he beds down for the night. As was his custom, he lights his candle to read the Torah before retiring. But a strong wind comes up and blows the candle out. He realizes that he cannot keep the candle lit so he retires for the evening and goes sound of sleep. During the night, a mountain lion attacks his donkey and carries it off. Then a weasel gets his rooster. When he awakes, his donkey and his rooster are gone. Can it possibly get worse for the Rabbi? But the Rabbi’s faith is not shaken. He doesn’t know what is going on but he knows God has a plan and he is not discouraged. He decides to go into the village to see if he can get something to eat. During the night a group of thieves had attack the village. They either killed or took for slaves everyone is the village. Not one soul is left, the village is totally empty.

The Rabbi mused: had I stayed in the village, I would have been killed or captured. Had my candle not blown out, the thieves would have spotted my camp site. Had the lion not taken my donkey, he was have brayed, giving my position away. Had the weasel not taken my rooster, he would have crowed. Although he understood none of the loses at the time, he now understood that God was at work making bad things work for the Rabbi’s good and His glory.

Extra

It looks like another day of beautiful sunshine, PTL. I hope you have a great day and thanks for reading the blog. The story came from one of my devotionals, THE VOICE OF THE LORD, edited by David J. Rudolph.