Ripped off
I HATE! Being
ripped off. I loathe that feeling you get when something that belongs to you is
taken, is stolen, and peace is overshadowed by an overwhelming desire for
vengeance, and a cry for justice! I should be used to it. So much of our
existence in this world revolves around a defensive position against sin and evil
– the ‘human condition’. It seems that everyone is out to get what they can,
from the other man, and to avoid being had. Living here in post Gaddafi Liby@
seems to accentuate the issue for me- there’s not a lot of trust around. Even
in the greengrocer that I’ve been working in, it’s noticeable how everyone is
watching the scales and counting the change. Getting short changed is a
cultural experience that’s impossible to miss. Recently I was ‘had’ relatively big
time (to me) when I bought a sim card (only expensively available on the black
market here) that turned out to be useless and probably stolen from some other
poor sucker. Instantly I lost my joy, my peace, and (pre)sense - my thinking
revolved around getting hold of a Kalash (readily available in this
neighbourhood) and blasting the SOB that did me into oblivion. I didn’t- J. I’ve never been much of a Rambo, Braveheart or Lethal
Weapon L. I didn’t even march out and have strong words! Instead
I crumbled at the feet of my God in abject misery and brokenness of heart
wailing ‘poor, poor me! Woe woe!) Thankfully I do have ears to hear, and He
spoke His wisdom, which was to leave it with Him, and He would sort it. OK was
a process, but the joy, peace and (pre)sense reentered my orbit and my universe
was good again. I’ve even had the opportunity to come in the opposite
spirit a couple times when I’ve received
too much, and have been honest and given it back. Tho I still have no phone, I
now hold my spiritual inheritance all the more tighter and am amazed at how
easily I let something so valuable slip from my grip for the sake of a £50 sim
card. Yet it’s something that happens all the time in one way or another and
I’m sure will happen again. And if it happens to me personally I’m positive it
happens to the corporate church. The inheritance that has been given to us as
co-heirs and sons of God in Christ is constantly being pilfered from us. Galations
1v3-9 http://niv.scripturetext.com/galatians/1.htm “You foolish Galatians! Who has
bewitched you?”We constantly need to beware of the spirit of this world that
aims to pull us back into it’s laws, principles, and ways. Human effort will
not attain our goal v3. Put down the Kalash, and OK God to whatever He says
whatever the cost. We must keep coming back to where we began,walking in The
Spirit of God and finding that Rest that He has for us. He is our Peace.Don’t
let go of Him.
15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil
one. John 17v15