[263 words]
I once read a story about an affluent man who lost his job. This led to him losing his life savings. Then, he lost his house and car. Last of all, the wife, who promised to love him “for richer, for poorer … until death parted them,” divorced him and took up with another man. In less than one year, this fellow lost his career, his fortune, his home, and the love of his life. It appeared that God was punishing him, but he couldn’t understand why. He prayed and prayed but the Lord seemed to turn His back on the now homeless guy.
Understandingly, he sank into a deep depression. As he walked the streets, in search of a new job, he came upon some people building a new, three-story, rock house. The mansion was a gorgeous home for a very rich person. A stone mason was busy chiseling a stone. The depressed man watched for a few minutes and then asked why he was cutting the stone. The mason replied, “You see that small space up at the top of this structure? I am shaping this stone down here so it will fit up there.”
The homeless man thought that over as he walked away from the scene and then, with tears in his eyes, realized that God was doing that to him down here so that he would fit “up there.”
Once, he prayed to God to give him strength to accept the Lord’s discipline, then peace came to his life … along with new blessings (see Proverbs 3:11-12).
Larry Fitzgerald
Woodlawn church of Christ
Abilene, TX