A king had a wise, pious and faithful minister. The king trusted him but disliked his frequent statement, “God gives everything for our own good.”
Once they went together for hunting. While making a way through the forest by cutting the bushes with his sword, the king cut off the tip of his middle finger. They treated the wound using medicinal herbs and bandaged the wound to stop bleeding. As they finished the treatment, the minister made his usual remark, “God gives everything for our own good.” The king was furious. “You are really cruel”, he said, “I am in great pain and you say it is for good. You will say the same thing when I lose my head!” Filled with rage, he flung the minister into a dirty pit and raced off alone.
In the dense forest, the king was caught by a group of savages. They tied him up and carried him to their chieftain. They were celebrating a religious festival. They wanted to offer the king as a human sacrifice before their deity. As the rituals were progressing, the chief priest examined the ‘offering’ in detail and found out that the tip of his middle finger was missing. He declared that only perfect bodies without any defect would be acceptable as sacrifice before the deity. Hence the king was released. The king realized that the minister’s statement was correct. So he returned to the pit and rescued the minister. The king narrated the events and apologized for his action. The minister repeated, “God gives everything for our own good.”
The king asked for an explanation for this statement. The minister said, “If you had not put me in the pit, I would have been with you when the savages attacked and they would have sacrificed me instead of you!” The king now confessed with conviction, “You are correct. God gives everything for our own good.”
God has a definite plan for every man, a plan to bring prosperity and not disaster.
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© By Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India and Leo. S. John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath,Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally, Kottayam-686507,
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