(Comments by Joan Boney)
The king of Sodom tried to bless Abraham but Abraham said:
Genesis 14:22-23 I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
***
We set our hearts that we will only seek our wealth or prosperity from God.
In the 1970's I owned a small business in Dallas. A man filed a law suit against me and I hired a law firm to represent me. Their charges were eating up all the profit from my business and I knew I would end up back in debt if I continued with this firm.
I was a new Christian at that time and I came across the following promise from God in the Bible.
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
I reasoned: I am now a Christian. So this scripture says no weapon formed against me will prosper. Therefore this lawsuit cannot prosper.
Therefore I will dismiss my attorneys and go to court without any human legal counsel.
When I told this to my lawyer, he was horrified. He said, "Joan. You don't know how evil these courts are. You can't do this. It will only take about $10,000 more for us to represent you and we are willing to work with you." (Meaning allow you to owe us a debt and pay it off as you can.)
I was very shocked and said, "Gordon. Stop. Don't do anything more."
God had shown me to get out of debt and to stay out of debt after I became a Christian. I was not going back into debt over legal bills.
I dismissed my lawyer and planned to represent myself in court.
The following week, the lawyer returned to me and said they had decided to represent me without any further legal cost to me.
Free legal service when the previous week it was going to cost $10,000 MORE?
I prayed asking God what I should do and I was reminded of what Abraham said to the king of Sodom in Genesis 14.
I knew by this God was showing me to turn down the "free" legal service.
(FREE things often cost us more than we are willing to pay. Often these free things from man cost us our soul.)
By turning this help of man down, I set my way for the remainder of my life, that my help was to be from God.
Are you trusting in governments of men? If so, you have set your course in the wrong direction as a Christian. Change from this. Put your trust in God.
Another Bible example:
Naaman, the captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a leper. He heard about the healing of leprosy by way of the children of Israel. So he went to the king of Israel asking to be healed of leprosy.
II Kings 5:7-8
And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter (asking him to heal Naaman), that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
So Naaman came to Elisha and Elisha sent his servant out to tell Naaman what to do for Naaman to be healed.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
Servants of Naaman said to Naaman:
13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
But Elisha refused to take any reward from Naaman.
So Naaman left to go back to Syria but the servant to Elisha followed Naaman and asked him for a reward. Naaman gave the reward to Gehazi.
Elijah, a prophet, knew from God what Gehazi had done and Elisha confronted Gehazi but Gehazi denied doing this.
Then Elijah said to Gehazi:
II Kings 5:26-27 And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?
27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.
If you reach out to this world for blessings from this world, you turn down the blessings from God. You bring curses upon your own self and your family for not trusting God in the sight of all.
Are you really going to trust in governments of men of this world and turn from God?
To do such, will cause you to go down with them when trouble strikes.
They can't even save themselves from that which God is bringing upon this world and they certainly can't save you.
Put your trust in God rather than in men and show that trust to all, to your family and your neighbors.
Jesus says:
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
By turning this help of man down, I set my way for the remainder of my life, that my help was to be from God.
Are you trusting in governments of men? If so, you have set your course in the wrong direction as a Christian. Change from this. Put your trust in God.
***
Another Bible example:
Naaman, the captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a leper. He heard about the healing of leprosy by way of the children of Israel. So he went to the king of Israel asking to be healed of leprosy.
II Kings 5:7-8
And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter (asking him to heal Naaman), that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me.
8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
So Naaman came to Elisha and Elisha sent his servant out to tell Naaman what to do for Naaman to be healed.
10 And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.
Servants of Naaman said to Naaman:
13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
14 Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
15 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant.
But Elisha refused to take any reward from Naaman.
So Naaman left to go back to Syria but the servant to Elisha followed Naaman and asked him for a reward. Naaman gave the reward to Gehazi.
Elijah, a prophet, knew from God what Gehazi had done and Elisha confronted Gehazi but Gehazi denied doing this.
Then Elijah said to Gehazi:
II Kings 5:26-27 And he said unto him, Went not mine heart with thee, when the man turned again from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards, and vineyards, and sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and maidservants?
27 The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.
If you reach out to this world for blessings from this world, you turn down the blessings from God. You bring curses upon your own self and your family for not trusting God in the sight of all.
Are you really going to trust in governments of men of this world and turn from God?
To do such, will cause you to go down with them when trouble strikes.
They can't even save themselves from that which God is bringing upon this world and they certainly can't save you.
Put your trust in God rather than in men and show that trust to all, to your family and your neighbors.
Jesus says:
Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
*****