Pam Padgett - teacher
Psalm 30:1 I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
A foe (enemy) would rejoice over those he has overcome. But God is
able to uphold us, not allowing us to be overcome by our enemies as we
go in HIS ways, led by the Holy Spirit.
Considering this I recalled when I was working and had been assigned to
lead a project. A small group of us had been assigned to work on the
project, but had also been given other work which we were told had
higher priority so we were not able to actually work much on this
project. Periodically my manager and his boss would present status
reports for this project to executives of the company. Although I
accurately told them how little was being done on the project, this is not
what was presented to the executives. I spoke with my manager
multiple times pointing out that what was being presented was not true, but they
continued to misrepresent the status of the project.
I was very disturbed about this, knowing deception and lies are not the
way of God, and cried out to God to help me and show me what to do.
Then one day I learned that a vice president of the company was coming
to our office to receive a status report about this project in person. A presentation was being put together for this
meeting, and I again told them how little had been done. My boss
invited me to a meeting in which he and his boss were going to
"position" the presentation (try to make the project look good), but I told him I wanted only to tell the
truth about the project and not try to make it seem farther along than it was.
I kept crying out to God, asking Him to somehow help me, and also asking whether I should even attend this meeting in which the
presentation would be given. When I believed I was led to attend the meeting, I asked God to please keep me under His control ... to speak all that
HE wanted me to speak and nothing more. (One fear I had was that I would rise up
in anger and start yelling when the misleading information was
presented.)
The day of the presentation I was calling out to God even as I walked to
the meeting. As the meeting started, someone handed the vice president
a copy of the presentation. Surprisingly, he set it aside and
said that he didn't want to hear a presentation, he wanted to hear from
the people actually doing the work. I had never before seen an
executive do anything like this. I opened my mouth and heard myself
start telling him, very calmly and clearly, exactly what was going on
with the project. The others who had been assigned to work on the
project shook their heads in agreement as I spoke. My manager could say
nothing to dispute these things and sat quietly. After hearing what
was really going on, the vice president was obviously not pleased with the way this project was being managed and gave very specific instructions
to our manager to hire the needed people to take care of the other work
so we could work on this project.
This was astounding, and I knew God had worked all of this out for
me. My manager and his boss were my enemies in this situation, for I
wanted to tell the truth while they wanted to hide the truth. But God
lifted me up, providing the opportunity and allowing me to tell the
truth to the vice president who was in a position to deal with the
matter.
In Deut. 28 God gives wonderful promises to those who diligently seek to
go in HIS ways, including that we will be the "head" and not the "tail"
as we obey God ....
Deut. 28:1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken
diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all
his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God
will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these
blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken
unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit
of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine,
and the flocks of thy sheep.
5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
7 The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up
against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against
thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
8 The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and
in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the
land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
9 The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath
sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy
God, and walk in his ways.
10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.
11 And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy
body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in
the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give
the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine
hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.
13 And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou
shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken
unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this
day, to observe and to do them: 14 And thou shalt not go aside from any
of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the
left, to go after other gods to serve them.