“You’ll make good money working in the apple harvest, Bruce,” said a friend. “They pay you by the basket and you can make as much as 50 dollars a day.” That sounded good to Bruce! He was driving to British Columbia on the west coast of Canada during his vacation. He needed to work along the way to pay for his trip.
The apple harvest had just begun when Bruce reached British Columbia. He had no trouble getting a job picking apples.
“We’re not allowed to sell the apples that have fallen off the trees,” the foreman told Bruce. “You’ll have to climb a ladder and pick the apples from the tops of the trees.”
Bruce worked for three days picking apples, thinking that the three days would earn him 150 dollars ... plenty of money to continue his vacation.
Before Bruce left to go to the owner for his pay, the foreman told him, “You may take some of the apples that fell from the trees to give to your friends. We are not allowed to sell them anyway.” Bruce loaded up the back seat of his little car with apples from the ground. His friends would be glad to get them.
Bruce drove up to the owner’s house ready for his pay. The owner looked inside the car and asked Bruce, “Are we even?”
“Even?” asked Bruce. He was shocked. Was the owner saying that those bruised apples in the back seat were his pay for three days’ work?
“How much is my pay?” Bruce asked.
“You’ve earned five dollars a day and you’ve got 15 dollars’ worth of apples in your car.”
Bruce could hardly believe his ears. He had expected to get so much, and now the owner wanted to give him so little.
When Bruce recovered from his surprise, he said to the owner, “The foreman told me these apples were worthless because they couldn’t be sold.”
“You can have this,” the owner said. He handed Bruce five dollars. Bruce drove off with five dollars, the bruised apples and a big disappointment in his heart.
Have you ever been disappointed, expecting a lot and ending up with only a little? God’s love is so great that He never gives just “a little.”
When the Lord Jesus lived on earth, a big crowd of people came to listen to Him, and afterwards they were hungry. One of the followers of the Lord Jesus said, “Two hundred pennies’ worth of bread is not enough for them, that every one of them may take a little.” Two hundred pennies was a lot of money in that time, but it wouldn’t buy enough bread to give each person even a little bit. But the Lord Jesus did a miracle and everyone had enough bread to have all they could eat, and there were enough leftovers for each of the 12 disciples to have a whole basket of bread fragments for himself! (See John 6.)
Do you know this loving God who blesses until you have more than enough? No one will ever be disappointed with His great gifts.
Messages of God’s Love 4/14/2024