Charles Spurgeon once told of a city missionary who had been warned about a man in his district who was openly hostile to Christianity. One morning during his Bible reading, the missionary came to Joel 3:3 and noticed the phrase “sold a girl for wine.” Curious, he checked his concordance and discovered that the singular word “girl” appeared only once in the Bible.
Later that same day, he passed the hostile man’s house and felt compelled to knock on the door. The man challenged him with an unexpected question: “Can you tell me how many times the word ‘girl’ appears in the Bible?”
“Once,” the missionary replied, and gave him the reference in Joel.
The man was stunned. The missionary explained that he had not known the answer until that very morning, when he had read the passage in his devotions. That remarkable providence opened the door for further conversation, and in time the man and his family were brought to Christ.
