A few years ago, my husband, Steve, took one of the chairs from the church hall to see whether there was a way he could fix the welding that was coming loose on the chair.
The chair went from his vehicle to outside the kitchen door at his work premises…and there it stayed. It was handy to put things on or to sit on whilst one was having lunch.
Quite a few years passed and every time Steve walked past this chair his conscience would niggle. By now the chair was well used and worn and the niggling was starting to get worse.
Psalm 33:4 states “For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does”.
Steve’s conscious really began to bother him as he realized he had not been faithful in seeing whether the chair could be fixed and then returning it to church.
Last week whilst driving to a customer he passed a little antique shop displaying various items of furniture outside it’s door and one of the items was the exact same chair. Steve parked and went inside. He did a double take when the owner told him what the chair was selling for.
R300 – we live in South Africa and that is a lot of money.
The conversation that followed went something like this:
Steve: “That’s a lot of money for a little chair!”
Owner: “I know, but just look at the workmanship, look at how old it is”
Steve: “I don’t care how old it is, that’s still a lot of money. I better take it though”.
Owner: “If you don’t mind me asking, why do you want this particular chair and why are you prepared to pay so much money for it”.
Steve explained the story about having taken the chair from church and never returning it and the fact that it was now too shoddy looking to return so he needed to replace it.
Steve: “God says in His word that in all our ways we need to be honest and to fulfill the commitments we make and my conscience is really getting the better of me now so I need to sort this matter out”.
Owner: “Are you a church goer?”
Steve: “Yes and a follower of Jesus Christ”.
Owner: “Well, I am also a Christian and your story has been an amazing witness to me. I tell you what, you can have it for R200”.
Maybe the owner’s conscience was also beginning to niggle about the prices he was charging being a bit high.
Steve loves the Lord, he wants God to be honoured through the way he lives his life. He is finding that the more he acknowledges God in his daily dealings with people the more God is revealing to him the truth in the following verse:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” Proverbs 3:5,6
UNDER A JUNIPER TREE 