As I often do in my column (as was the case two weeks ago with my subject, “Necessary Evils”), I utilize and expound on well-known sayings that people commonly use.
Today, as stated in the heading, I will consider the issue of blessings in disguise.
A blessing in disguise is a bad thing that turns out to be good in the end. In my opinion, I believe that perhaps most of us (to some extent and in certain areas of our lives) have been the recipients of certain blessings in disguise. Though many were not fully aware of it, these blessings in disguise were primary reasons why they were employed with better jobs, higher standards of living, and in some cases, why they are still alive today. I personally have been the recipient of quite a few blessings in disguise that greatly benefitted and enriched me in both the spiritual and secular aspects of my life over the years (that I will not include in my column today). Instead, I want to consider a few incidents from other sources that most will be able to relate to as well as profit from.

The Defiance of a Donkey Toward Its Master
I am going to extract an incident from the Bible to highlight the topic I am considering in my column today. There was a prophet named Balaam who was spared being slain by an angel who was invisible to him that his donkey was somehow able to detect and see. The beast (after a few failed attempts to not take its master to where the angel stood with his sword drawn) laid down with Balaam upon her. Balaam was so angry with his donkey for not moving forward that he struck it with his staff. This occurred three times until the donkey was miraculously granted the ability to speak to Balaam:
“Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” Balaam answered the donkey, “You have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.” The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?” “No,” he said. Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So, he bowed low and fell facedown (Numbers 22:28-31).
Ultimately, the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam and he saw the angel who said to him, “The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it” (Numbers 22:33). The action of Balaam’s beast of burden was a blessing in disguise that saved his life.

The Unwanted Cat
Who Ended Up A Hero
Ironically, as our first illustration featured a domesticated animal that saved the life of his master, likewise this one does the same. However, unlike the previous incident, this one’s hero is a cat. A very prominent preacher who I knew very well shared the following story with me and others who were present in the assembly. When he moved into a house he had just recently purchased, a stray cat moved in with him. Perhaps this domesticated feline was a pet of the former occupants that had been left behind. Whatever the reason, the cat would not leave the home of this man who had a fondness for dogs, but not cats. His plan was to get rid of this very unwanted animal. One night while he was sound asleep, the cat woke him up with loud, disturbing meows. When he got up in anger, he was almost petrified to find his house almost completely filled with smoke. Unbeknown to him, he had left something on his stove that was about to cause a fire. The unwanted cat had become a hero that saved his life. From that moment forward, he cherished the cat and took good care of it until it died of old age.

A Fender-bender
That Lead to a Man’s Life Being Saved
Back in 2010, a man was involved in a car accident that is commonly classified as a fender-bender. A fender-bender is regarded by most as an accident so minor that most of the time people and their vehicles suffer little or no damage. However, upon the insistence of his wife, this particular man was persuaded to go to the hospital. When he was examined and given a CT scan of his brain, they discovered a huge tumor that was bleeding profusely. The neurosurgeon, who was immediately assigned to the case after thoroughly examining him, told his wife that they had only forty-eight hours to perform the surgery and procedure that would hopefully save his life. That was over ten years ago and he is still alive because of a blessing that came in the form of a fender-bender.

Seward’s Folly
When Secretary of State William H. Seward, who served under our sixteenth President Abraham Lincoln, bought Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7,200.00, he was sharply ridiculed by many in politics and other areas of influence. This purchase of what many thought was a waste land of frozen tundra, snow, and Eskimos was twice the size of Texas. Seward’s critics and mockers labeled it as Seward’s Folly and Seward’s Icebox. Amazingly, history has justified this acquisition of land by Seward as the most important one since the Louisiana Purchase that doubled the size of the United States in 1803. Alaska has more diverse natural resources (like crude oil, timber, fish, water power, etc.) than any other state in the union. Seward’s Folly was a blessing in disguise for this nation that is still yielding great dividends.
Perhaps all of us can identify with all of the incidents that were considered in this column today.
Each of us have experienced being the recipients of a blessing in disguise in some area or aspect of our lives.
Chances are, they truly will not be the last ones to come our way.