A holy man of God took with him a young man as they walked the hills of Israel. He was teaching him the workings and the ways of God. They would walk along and he would instruct him. After a long day they both tire and come to a village for the night. Outside the village is a humble home. They go and knock on the door. A widow answers. She has a young daughter, 7 years old. Their only means of income is a cow they have out in the back yard. “Oh please come in,” she said, “you can have our bedroom. We have some milk and a little bit of bread, not much, but you can have what we do have. It’s our pleasure to have you stay with us.” They spent the evening. The next morning they arose. The holy man grateful, asked to leave a blessing on the home. A blessing was left. They departed the home, thanking the widow and her young daughter. After they were up the road a bit, they heard a rukus back at this little home. They turned around to see that the cow had died. Remembering that that was their only means of making a living, the young boy asked, “Why would that happen? You left a blessing! What kind of a God would do that?” The holy man smiled with relief and said, “Never mind, lets be on our way.”
As they finished that day of travel, they came to a well-to-do home. They knocked on the door and the servant said, “you can stay in the barn, and if there are any leftovers, we’ll bring them out to you.” They did. As they brought those morsels out the holy man thanked him. He gave them a blanket and they slept in the barn with the animals. The next morning when the young man arose, this holy man was gone. He looked around and saw a figure out in the fields. He went outside to see if this was the holy man and it was. He was mending the fence. Now in Israel, there are rocks all over the fields and they pick up rocks to build fences with them in order to clear the fields. The holy man was putting the rocks up against a ledge.
The young man looked at him and said, “what are you doing?” The holy man said, “Never you mind, I am just finishing now" as he put the last couple of rocks in place. Soon after they were on their way. Up the road aways, the young boy stopped and said, I’m leaving now, I can no longer follow you. For any God that would do what I have just seen, I cannot follow."
The holy man said, “Now I perceive that you are ready to learn. You see as I arose this morning, the spirit whispered to go mend the fence. For if it continued to fall, a vein of gold would be revealed and it was not to be given to this man, because of the way he treated us. So I mended this fence so the gold would be withheld from him." The young boy said, "I can understand that. But why would a God take the only means of income from a widow, after leaving a blessing upon the home?" This great man of God, looked and said, “Now you will see the mercy and glory of God.” "You see, as I arose that morning, the spirit whispered to me that the life of this daughter would be required that day. And I plead with the Lord that he would stay the daughter’s life and let her live. But perhaps, if he would, take something else, even my life if need be. And when we went up the road and turned around and saw that the cow had died, I realized that the prayer had been answered and the daughter’s life would be spared.
-- By Bernell Christensen (After the Trial of Your Faith- audio cassette)
Are there dead cows in your life? Now maybe you can look at them through different eyes.