A young king, who did not believe in the divine goodness, had an old, but wise minster who, in all events and circumstances, whether positive or negative, would always say, “O king, whatever has happened is due to His grace and is good, because everything the Lord does is perfect.”

One day, when the king was checking the sharpness of his sword, his little finger got cut. The minister, as was his habit, immediately said, “O king, whatever has happened is due to His grace and is good, because everything the Lord does is perfect.”

When the king heard these words he became furious. He said, “My finger is bleeding and I am in pain and you have the audacity to say that whatever has happened is because of your Lord and is good.”

The minister replied: “O king, despite this seemingly negative event, I can only tell you that there is something good in this, and He knows why this has happened. What He does is perfect!”

Outraged by the response, the king ordered his guards to put the minister in the prison.

On hearing this the minister again said, “By His grace even this is for some good only.”

Later, the king left on hunting. He got lost in the deep forest and was captured by savages who engaged in human sacrifices. Before the sacrifice, their priest came to examine the sacrificial man, the king. The priest discovered that the victim did not have one of his fingers. According to him, only a whole person with all his / her parts intact could be offered to the gods. The priest declared that the king without a finger was deficient and not whole, therefore an abominable sacrifice for their gods.

So, they released the king.

The king realized that he escaped because of his missing finger. He thought that there is some truth in what the minister always says.

Upon his return to the palace, the king authorized the release of his minister. He received the minister affectionately.

The king said, “God was really good to me! I was almost killed by the savages, but for lack of a single finger, I was let go! So what you said was right. But I have a question: If God is so good, why did he allow me to imprison you and that time also you said it was for some good? What good did it do to you?”

The minister answered, “O king, if you had not put me in prison, I would have been with you on this hunting trip and the savages would have sacrificed me instead, because I have no missing finger. Remember, everything God does is perfect. He made you keep me in prison so I would not be with you on the hunting trip.”

Teaching:

Normally we never question or investigate the positives that happen in our lives. We either attribute it to our good luck or boast about how our hard work, skill and talent has brought about these positives in our lives. But we often complain about negative events and experiences that happen to us, forgetting that nothing is random and that everything has a reason and a purpose.

Our vision is limited and therefore, have a one-sided view of events and experiences that happen in our lives. We lack overall vision and therefore, are unable to comprehend the reason or purpose behind negative events.

Actually, negatives in our lives should be seen as a blessing in disguise. Often a minor injury or a minor setback may avert a bigger calamity as we saw in the case of the king and the minister. Moreover,  we tend to learn more from the negatives than the positives in our lives. They can, not only bring a positive change in our attitude towards life, but they can prove to be a positive turning point in our lives as we saw in the case of the king.

Therefore, we should never be afraid of any negatives happening in our lives. We should face them courageously, take the positives from it and progress towards a higher level of evolution.