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Little Ben


Ben is a seven year old boy who lived with his grandparents in Brooklyn, New York. It was on a hot summer afternoon, and like most of the children on this block of row houses, Ben waited in the street with excitement for the arrival of the ice cream truck. 

 His excitement suddenly turned into sadness when his grandpa shouted to him through the window of their Brownstone that the ice cream man will not make his incursion into their particular neighborhood until the next day. Ben was suddenly filled with disappointment and sadness. Then as if it was by revelation, his face suddenly lights up. He ran to the window and with eyes as bright as the sun, he asked, “Grandpa, can I get two ice creams tomorrow, one for today, and one for tomorrow?” Grandpa looked at him and with eyes ever assuring he replied, “Of course, Ben of course, you can have two ice creams tomorrow”. And now with much greater excitement and restored hope, Ben uttered the words, “Thank you grandpa, thank you grandpa, you are the best.” Grandpa replied, “Don’t get too excited Ben, you don’t have the ice cream yet!” With beaming eyes, the little seven year old looked at his grandfather and responded with the utmost confidence that only a little boy could have in his grandfather, “I trust you grandpa, you said I can have two ice creams tomorrow.” And that left even grandpa speechless. What lesson could we learn from the story of a seven year old boy, his grandfather, and a one day late ice cream truck? The story of Ben is about the missing element in most of our prayers to God. And it is the element of trust. Trust is characterized by gratitude and appreciation. It is rooted in the understanding of the nature of God as “the unfailing promise keeper.” Even for a little boy from Brooklyn, faith could be “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” [Hebrews 11: 1], even if it is just for two cones of ice cream. Little Ben knows his grandfather well enough to take him simply at his word. All he had to go on was a simple promise from an old man for two cones of his favorite ice cream, yet that promise was just as good as having those same cones of ice cream in hand. Faithful expectation is always characterized by trusting in the word of the Lord for promises made but yet unfulfilled, and evident in a change of attitude. And that was the attitude of a little boy from Brooklyn, New York.When was the last time you take God at His word? Unlike little Ben, some of us are even sadder after getting up from our prayer knees than before we went down on our knees. Our attitude after our prayer could really turn out to be the window into our faith in God. We give thanks and praises to people for promises made to us and we hang our heads down in sorrow, waiting for the promises of God. Hannah’s demeanor changed immediately after her prayer [1 Samuel 1: 18]. It changed from frustration to revelation, and from fasting to feasting. Hannah went home to Ephraim to wait on God. And in Brooklyn, all a little boy was saying to his grandfather was, “My ice cream is on the way just because you said so”.

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