IN the town of N.— there was a man who went by the name of “Patient Joe.” He was called that name because if trial came to him, he would say, “It’s all for the best. Those who love God shall find that all things work tether for good.”
If things went well with him, Joe would thank and praise God; if things went ill with him, he would praise God still, and say, “God knows best what is for my good. We must not judge of things by this life alone. There’s a life to come after this, and things that may riot seem good for us here, may be good for us there.”
In the coal pit where Joe worked, some of the men would jeer and laugh at him when he said, “It’s all for the best.” There was a man by the name of Tim, who would miss no chance to laugh at Joe.
One day, as Tim and Joe were getting ready to go down in the deep pit, Joe, who had brought his dinner with him, laid it on the ground for a moment. Before he could take it up a hungry dog seized it and ran off with it.
“Ha! ha!” cried Tim, “that’s all for the best, is it, man? Now, stick to your creed, and say, yes.”
“Well, I do say, yes,” said Joe; “but as I must eat, it is my duty to try and get back my dinner. If I get it back it will be all for the best; and if I don’t get it back it will be all for the best just the same. God is so great that He can overrule the smallest things as well as the largest.”
So Joe ran after the dog, and Tim, with a loud laugh and an oath, went down into the coal pit. Joe ran a long way, but could not catch the dog. At last Joe gave up the chase and came back to the mine, thinking to himself that the men would all have a good laugh at him. But he found them all pale with alarm and awe.
“What a narrow escape you have had, Joe,” said one of them. “The pit has caved in, and poor Tim is killed. If that dog had not run off with your dinner, you would have gone down with Tim into the pit and been killed too.”
Joe took off his hat, while his breast heaved and his cheeks grew pale, and the tears came into his eyes, he looked up to heaven, but said not a word. The God whom he loved and trusted, had given another proof of His Fatherly care and love for him.
ML-04/28/1935