Recover

One morning I went out the front door of our home and something was missing; it was my bike. Someone had came and taken it; NO, they had stolen my bike right out of our front yard. What right did someone have to come and take something that wasn't theirs? My heart was crushed and at that point it really didn't matter about the rule my Mom and Dad had told us to do; put your bike up at night; it was gone. It may have been a week or so that I saw a bike that looked somewhat like mine, it caught my attention and I walked over and looked at it. Wait a minute; this was my bike, there had been some changes made to it, but without a doubt it was my bike. I can't tell you how glad I was to have recovered my bike! I had received back what the enemy or thief had taken. I realize that does not happen very many times but it did for me and as I read my Bible it happened for David also.

1Samuel 30:3
So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Oh, this is much more serious than a bike; we are talking about families here. Now David did something I didn't do, he prayed.

1Samuel 30:8
And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And (the Lord) He answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
The Lord said to David you're not only going to overtake them but you are without fail going recover it all and bring them back home. What has the thief stolen from you that he has no right to? Maybe he's stolen a child of yours or the love that was once in your marriage. Maybe he's stolen the joy you once had in serving the Lord, or the love and the unity your church once knew, or the sense of calling you once had. Satan also steals reputations, even years of your life, by keeping you from Jesus. David came to the conclusion that he was going after what had been taken away but he didn't go without first asking the Lord; which tells me of his relationship with the Lord. I spent about 5 hours on yesterday with a man whom the thief had stolen a lot of his life. At forty-seven he still lives at home with his mother and dad. I said something to him that the Lord put in my mind and it was hours before I realized what had transpired. As we were talking I began to tell him of an experience I had. There was once a man about 38 years old whose boss had called me and asked if I would meet with him and his employee. We had met and as I told the story to this man I told him what he said. He said "Tom you are 38 years old and you still live with your mother and all you have for transportation is your bike." He then said these words, "Tom what is wrong with this picture? Don't you want more out of your life than that? The reason you don't have it is you drink it up." I had forgotten that this man was living almost the same life style. God uses us in strange ways sometimes or it maybe it's like my wife tells me you need to think sometimes before you speak. Excuse me, but I wasn't running this man down and I wasn't drawing a comparison between the two, because this man didn't even have a bike. But God allowed me the time to talk to him about what the thief had stolen and what did he really want and what were his plans to get it back. I am glad one night a man spent some time talking with me; I've had a lot of people talk at me; you do know the difference don't you? Talking at you is telling you all that you are doing wrong and have done wrong and if you would quit doing this or that and start doing this then this is what will happen. Talking with you is spending time getting to know you and dropping the outer wall and let them see you really care and becoming a friend. What has the thief taken from you that was not his to take? What are your plans on getting it back? Let me make a suggestion do what David did, pray and see what the Lord will do. I think you will be amazed at what the Lord will do for you. This Monday is Memorial Day and I will write some about being our brother's keeper but until then why not talk to someone this weekend and be thankful for our freedom and remember it's not free!