Only God knows if the situation is terrible or not

A long time ago, there was an old man who lived in a very small village. The only possession he had was a strong, beautiful horse. One night a great storm arose. The horse was frightened and bolted from side to side in the corral. As the storm continued, the gate to the corral was blown open and the horse ran off into the hills.

The next morning, upon hearing that the old man had lost his horse, the people of the village went to the man saying, "This is a sad. You lost your only possession. This is truly terrible."

The old man looked at the people and softly replied, "You don't know that this is terrible. Only God knows."

The days went by and the old man worked his land as best he could without his horse. He awoke one morning to the sound of prancing hooves and the familiar sounds of his trusted horse. He jumped out of bed and ran to the corral to find that the horse had returned and had led 20 wild stallions right into the corral.

The old man also had a son. One day, he was thrown from his horse and his leg was crushed. When the people of the village heard the news, they responded again by saying, "This is so terrible!"

The old man said to them, "You don't know that this is terrible. Only God knows."

Not long afterwards, war broke out and the warlords came to the village and took all of the able young men off to battle. Most of them were killed.

The old man's son whose leg had been so badly damaged, of course, was not able to go and as a result, lived a long, peaceful life.

Everyone has faced or will face adversity, challenges, or obstacles. The Bible says, "In this life you will have troubles."

The question for each of us is, what will you do when adversity comes? Will you have faith or fear? Will you find the opportunity that lies within the problem? Jesus also says in the Bible, "I am with you always."

He will help you. Just let Him. God bless you and have a great day.

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Watson is pastor of the Bella Vista Assembly of God.

Religion on 02/25/2015