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Giving Thanks for Our Trouble

For the 6 April 2014 bulletin Giving Thanks for Our Trouble During the week I came across this story that I hope will challenge you as much as it challenged me. Ours is a God who does not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted and does not hide his face from them.” There is always a sense in which great living is found the midst of suffering and tears. An old Yiddish folk story tells of a well-to-do gentleman of leisured much interested in the Hebrew Scriptures. He visited a wise rabbi to ask a question. He said: “I think I grasp the sense and meaning of these writings except for one thing. I cannot understand how we can be expected to give God thanks for our troubles.” The rabbi knew instantly that he could not explain this with mere words. He said to the gentleman: “If you want to understand this, you will have to visit Isaac the water-carrier.” The gentleman was mystified by this, but knowing the rabbi to be wise, crossed to a poor section of the settlemen