Have you ever had something lost or stolen? Maybe something that really meant a lot to you, or something that you had worked really hard for and had spent much time and investment in… only to have it come up missing? What can make it worse is when it comes up missing during what should be a really happy time.
Not long ago my son Zach was at a track competition and was entered in a couple of events – the shot put and the discus. His shot put went well but his discus throw was out of this world! Well, maybe not out of the whole world but it was out of his world and more important, out of the competition’s world! There were twenty schools at the competition and he came in first in the discus. Zach didn’t just outperform the competition; his nearest competitor was still ten feet short. He threw that metal frisbee thing over one hundred feet. That’s a long way for a thirteen year old. He was so excited. His coaches were excited to have a future Olympian on their hands and I was glad that he had received his superior athletic ability from his father. But in the glory of the moment something came up missing. Zach had his track bag stolen. Inside his track bag were his track clothes and his coveted iPOD. You know… every teenager’s prized possession besides their cell phone. His was an iPOD Touch, the one with the ability to download numerous applications and log on to the internet and check your facebook and e-mails and so on. Well, someone had stolen it. He came home with mixed emotions. On the one hand he was excited about the meet, and on the other he was obviously upset about his loss. One of the reasons he was so upset was because he had worked very hard to earn the money for his iPOD. On top of that he had a whole lot of worship music that he had paid to download on it.
After coming home we just thought that since he had a birthday coming up that he would get some birthday money and work some odd jobs to get another one. But to our amazement we received a phone call from a student at the college where the meet took place. He had found the iPOD! Just the iPOD though. No sign of the track bag. But that was fine considering the IPOD was over $200. We made arrangements with the young man to pick it up and it was good to know that there are still honest young men out there. We really took it to heart that he had his iPOD back and felt that the Lord had watched over Zach. We really felt that whoever had come in contact with that device couldn’t keep it, because it was anointed property. It contained all those worship songs and the Holy Spirit had convicted them so much that they couldn’t keep it. Kind of like when the Philistines stole the Ark of the Lord in 1 Samuel 6. After they had stolen the ark, they took it and set it up with their god. They came back and their god had fallen on his face, so they put him back up and when they returned the next day they found Dagon’s head and hands broken off. Now, in our situation I didn’t hear of any kid on the news who had fallen down and broken his head and hands off. Who knows how the Lord dealt with the young thief. However he did it, it doesn’t matter. All I know is that the Lord made it too hot for him or her to handle and they had to ditch the stolen merchandise. Maybe they saw all the praise music or the Bible programs. I don’t know what they saw or felt. All I do know is that it’s pretty amazing that some old clothes were kept but the iPOD returned. Do you realize that God can have such an anointing on your stuff that even those who have meant you harm will be turned away from you or your stuff. The enemy will have to let your stuff go because it has so much of the presence of God on it. Then, if that’s not enough, God will send someone who will listen to His voice and see that you get back what He’s given you.
I want to encourage you in your life. God has His hand on His people. That iPOD contained His presence. It contained His worship and His Word. When your life contains His worship and His Word, the enemy can’t keep a hold on you. He has to let go and return what’s rightfully yours. If you’re missing something or if you’ve had something stolen, be assured that the enemy is feeling really uncomfortable about his new acquisition. Just keep praying over it and believing for it to come back.
