‘…the deeds of a man’s hands will return to him.’ Proverbs 12:14 NAS
A lady was driving along a back road in stifling hot weather when she passed an elderly man attempting to fix a flat tyre. A woman alone can’t be too careful; nevertheless, she hoped somebody would stop. When nobody did, she went back and found the old man weak and perspiring. ‘Thanks,’ he gasped. ‘I prayed somebody would stop.’ Using her mobile phone to call for help, the woman waited with him. He introduced himself as Bill Krumweide, talked about his family and his hobby of collecting antique farm equipment. He offered to pay her but the Good Samaritan said, ‘Just knowing I was an answer to prayer is enough.’ Ten years later the same lady was worried about her aging father, who could no longer take care of the family farm. When she called a volunteer organisation for help, four men arrived with heavy equipment and spent three days planting the crops. One of the men looked familiar, and when he introduced himself she realised why. It turned out he was the elderly man’s son, Bill Krumweide, Jr. ‘Thank you for helping my dad all those years ago,’ he said. ‘I’m the one who owes you,’ the woman replied. ‘It’s amazing how one kindness followed another and connected our families in a bond of gratitude. And it started…with an old man’s prayer.’ What goes around comes around: ‘The deeds of a man’s hands will return to him.’ God rewards us ‘…according to [our] work.’ (Proverbs 24:12 NAS) You don’t live in a vacuum. The Bible says, ‘knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord…’ (Ephesians 6:8 NKJV)
SoulFood: 1 Kings 21-22, Mark 10:1-12, Ps 82, Pr 12:18-19
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright © 2011
