The story is told of a king who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is good!" To which the king replied, "No, this is not good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail. About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. "And so I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this."

"No," his friend replied, "This is good!" "What do you mean, 'This is good'? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?"

"If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you."

We Have A Promise..

We have a promise.. You find it in Romans 8:38, "But we know that all things work together for Good to those that love God and are called according to his purpose."

We find ourselves in the tough places of life. It seems like circumstances, the world, the enemy of our soul and sometimes even our own will have brought us to place of utter defeat and despair. There doesn't seem to be anyway out and we can't see how any good can come from the situation.

What we don't understand or see is that God is working in the situation. He has a plan and He knows exactly what he is doing. His hand is at work in the mistake, the error, the tragedy or the hard circumstances. He has a master design for our life and he begins to change the results from what appears to be a horror to a blessing. He is that kind of God. A God who can bring good from the worst of all circumstances.

So trust God to do His special work of repair and correction and don't get discouraged or downcast. Let God continue to bring out the best in your life and rejoice in His goodness and mercy because He loves you and wants you to have the best possible life you can have in this world. And even when it doesn't look like it.. remember.. it can be good!

Lord, our prayer today, help us to remember that life even when it is not what what we want.. is good!