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Activate Devotion by James Okumu

This is bad, very bad: 12 September 2011
Long ago in a little village in ancient China lived a very old man and his one son. The man was very poor. He lived in a small shack on his tiny plot of land. His son was his pride and joy, as well as his only hope of care in his old age. An old work horse was his most valued possession, since it pulled the plough and also the wagon to take crops to market.One day the horse ran away. When the villagers heard about it, they came to lament the man’s poor fortune. “Oh! This is bad-VERY BAD!”, they mourned.

The old man looked up from his bench outside his door and responded, “How do you know it’s bad?”
Time passed. Now the son had to pull the plough himself and the wagon as well. Work was harder and they struggled more than ever to survive. Then one day their horse returned home bringing with him a whole herd of wild horses! The son was able to corral many of them. Now the neighbours came to rejoice in the man’s good fortune, for horses were a measure of wealth.

The son spent many days breaking in the horses, training them and preparing them for sale. One day a horse threw him off its back and the son broke his leg. Soon the townsfolk heard of it and came to grieve with the old man,“Oh, this is bad, VERY BAD! This is so very bad!” And the old father just looked up and asked them, “How do you know it’s bad?”

A few weeks later, while the son’s leg was still healing in a splint, a detail of Chinese War lords rode thundering into town. They took with them ALL of the young men of the village-except, of course, the son with the broken leg. None of those young men ever returned.

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work togetherfor the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
What is it that you are facing today? What mountain is before you? Have you come to the conclusion that this is bad, Very Bad?

The bible tells us that all things work together for good and the reason that God is able to say this, is because he sees things from an eternal perspective. We are limited in the sense that we can only see the here and now and many times we make judgements bases on that. God can see the end from the beginning and He knows best what is good for you and I.

The beginning of Josephs story may seem bad, very bad, but when you get to the ending, was it really good or bad? The same applies to your story today. Loosing your job may seem like it is very bad or whatever other thing that you may be facing today but the reality is, you have no idea what tomorrow or next month will look like in relation to what is before you today.

God has a way of turning the bad hurtful situation turn out to your advantage,
Practical Application.
Lets wait and see what God has in store for you.

Comments

Dan said…
Amen. Thanx for the devotion pastor Jamo.
Dan, thanks for your note. Pastor Jamo is normally on Hope FM (93.3) or you can catch him live on their website in the mornings between 5a.m and 9a.m.)

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