22 Jun Faith Foundations

One fine morning the king called all the “Mantris” to his palace as he wanted to speak with them. He was worried that his kingdom was lacking people who are trust worthy. He thought to make the people understand, what it is to be a trustworthy person, but he did not have any idea how to show that. He gave a quest to each of his Mantris. Everyone must do something or show something that demonstrates trustworthiness to the king. He marked a day and ordered the Mantris to come prepared to demonstrate this request of the king on that day, so that he will see to it and teach the kingdom a lesson about what it is to be a trust worthy person.

The day marked by the king arrived. Every one of his Mantris came to the palace. Some of the Mantris brought what is precious to them like diamond and gold, their harvest of the fields and many other things to satisfy the King. But one of the Mantris came with a dog to the palace. At his turn to present his gift to prove his trustworthiness, he gave the dog to the king. The king got very angry and called the guards to arrest him for his foolish action. The Mantri told the king that, “My King you asked for faithfulness, but I didn’t find it anywhere in this kingdom, so please let me demonstrate it to you with what I have”. He asked the King for his sword and then he took the King’s swords from its sheath. He looked at his dog with sadness in his heart for a moment, and then he sheared his ear with the King’s sword. The dog started howling with pain and ran around the citadel bleeding. Then he came back to the Mantri. He again took the sword and sheared the other part of its ear. With great pain and agony, he ran to and fro around the citadel. Wallowing in its own blood it came back to its master’s feet. The Mantri took his sword again, this time the king held the Mantri’s hand with tears from his eyes as deep silence astounded the Citadel.

Job says, “Shall we accept good things from God, and not troubles” (Job 2:10). Most of the times, we are ready to accept all things that come through faith, but faith and faithfulness can’t be separated. We must know in our hearts that God does all things for the good of those who love him. As a result, Job received a double portion of God blessing. Our God is not an unjust God; He knows and understands us more than we could know. When we completely surrender and empty ourselves at God’s feet, we will be lifted up. Let our faith and faithfulness reach heaven as our knees touch ground in surrender.

Ms. Sasi Gujai, Teacher lives in Rasipuram, Namakkal district. Involving as a Senior advisor of Rasipuram ICEU.