I’m reading a book on the history of the Allagash wilderness. A funny account of a logger traveling some distance to go to confession is related. On the man’s return, another woodsman asked him what his penance was. His reply was that he would have to continue working for contractor Cunliffe for another year.
It’s a humorous reply; however, we do find a true account of something similar in the Old Testament. The life of Jacob is an eye-opening study. Jacob means schemer, and that he was. God sent him to the woodshed to work for Uncle Laban for twenty-one years. This is what he had to say about the experience:
Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night.”
The application is that God oversees the actions and events of our lives. He brings in individuals who can help shape us into what we ought to be. They are not all appreciated, but very necessary.
Give it some thought.
Gary