A devotion recently told the story of a king who always went hunting with his best friend. It was his friend’s duty to prepare the gun the king used. They never hunted just for pleasure, but to replenish the pantry of the kings house as well as his friends.
His best friend was always looking at the positive side of things, and even when there seemed to be some doubt, he would proclaim to the king “This is good!”
One time as they hunted, the king shot at a large elk, but the gun misfired, blew up, and the king lost his thumb!
The friend exclaimed “This is good!”
Besides being in pain, the king was furious. “How can you say this is good?? You’ve become an idiot!!” And he had his best friend thrown into prison.
A year passed. The king had hunted several times, but this time wandered into an area where cannibals captured him. They started to hang him up to prepare for their “feast” when they noticed the king was missing a thumb. Believing it was bad luck to eat someone that was not whole, they released the king since he was missing a thumb.
As he returned home, the king realized his friend had been right: It was a good thing he had lost his thumb, because if he had not, today he would have died. He tearfully went straight to the prison and had his friend released. He recounted the incident to his friend, and begged him to forgive him for sending him to prison.
His friend having endured imprisonment for a year, bad food, dank surroundings, alone, smiled at the king and forgave him, then replied:
“This is good.”
12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. –Romans 12
THE RIGHT RENDITION 