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by Kevin Pauley
The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children, and if children, also heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ--seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. - Romans 8:16-18 HCSB
A godly woman loved to attend the lectures of a local tzaddik (righteous elder). Her husband was not a believer and had grown jealous of the love and respect the woman had for the holy man. One day, the tzaddik’s lecture went long and the woman was late getting back to the house. The husband had returned to the house from work before his wife and was angered that she did not have his supper ready. As soon as she walked in the door, he attacked her verbally, berating her for not being at home to greet him and for preferring the tzaddik.
Caught in the throes of jealousy, he ordered his wife to immediately return to the house of worship and spit in the holy man’s face. The wife was horrified and tried to refuse. The husband shouted, “Doesn’t your own religion teach you to submit to your husband? Or does it teach you to rebel to your own vow and moon over some other man? Get out of my house and do not return until you have spit in this man’s face!”
The wife was mortified by the fight and terrified by the idea of showing such disrespect to God’s man. She went to a friend’s house to spend the night. The next morning, she returned to her husband, hoping that he would relent but he wouldn’t. Meanwhile, her friend had gone and explained the situation to the tzaddik. He quickly ran to the couple’s house and found the woman on the porch crying in front of her husband.
He approached them with a quiet greeting. The husband said nothing because he was, after seeing the tzaddik’s age and apparent holiness, a little embarrassed by his jealousy. The tzaddik addressed the wife in the following manner, “Little sister, my eye is causing me a great amount of pain. I have heard it said that the spit of a righteous woman carries great healing powers. Would you do me the favor of spitting into my eye seven times?”
The woman was obviously reluctant to do it but she finally obeyed, carefully spitting into her elder’s eye seven times. The husband, seeing the gentle and humble spirit of the holy man, was so convicted that he determined from that point on to worship his wife’s God.
It is an honor to take on some of the world’s sufferings for the Messiah’s sake and thereby to show true love. Hanging on to our pride and insisting on recognition demonstrates that we do not truly grasp the Master’s ways.
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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