Devotional #26               

“Touch Not Mine Anointed!”

     When my wife and I were about to get married, we prayerfully selected our first apartment. We’d have the first floor and the landlords lived on the second floor. Since we came highly recommended, they agreed to rent it to us for $850 per month, with a promise of not raising us for a very long time. This was considered a reasonable rent for a four room apartment in Brooklyn, NY in 1998.

Overall, it started well, but it wasn’t without difficulty. The apartment was poorly insulated. Once we had our first child, we were concerned about the cold on winter nights. Moreover, the landlady complained when our baby would cry and later when he started to walk she complained his falling down would shake her whole apartment. However, when her grandchildren made noise, she didn’t consider how this would affect us beneath her on the first floor. When we’d call about other concerns, they often wouldn’t address them at all. Other than these issues, overall I was mostly happy in my new family's first dwelling.

Our landlord was retired. He was generally kind to us and took pleasure in stopping to play with our baby. We had become close enough to know that he did not lack for money. He even boasted that he retired with an excellent pension. He claimed that the reason that his wife worked in the neighborhood was to afford her gambling habit.

They called us into the hallway one day to tell us that they would be raising us $50 in the following month, and then raise us $50 again in six months. We pleaded with them saying that on my new teacher’s salary we often had to put groceries on a credit card. They didn’t even want to entertain our concerns, claiming that I would continue to get raises, but they were on a 'fixed income.' They insisted they needed this raise. So, we paid it and would trust God to make up the difference.

They had a fish pond in the front of the home. A week after we paid the rent, with the increase, our landlady (who I’ll call ‘Ellen)’ boasted that she bought three more coy fish at $50 each. We walked into our apartment speechless. My wife sat and cried. What an injustice? They knew that we were struggling to feed our baby, and she spent our first three rent increases in a moment- on fish?

We immediately sought the Lord for wisdom about how to handle it and when to start looking for a new home? As my wife was praying, The Lord gave me a vision. I saw Ellen running in panic, pleading with us about something. I was certain that this vision of God’s judgment on her selfishness would come to pass. But, with the vision, I was reminded that God desired that we love our enemies and pray for those that persecute us. I sensed that God was cautioning us that He wanted us to wait to see HIs vengeance and that we should not rejoice in that. Instead, we should pray for mercy and our response to her should be compassionate love. I recalled 1 Chronicles 16:22 where God warns those who treat His people poorly, “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.”  

Sure enough the exact vision I saw came to pass only shortly later. My wife and I had come home one day to find Ellen running frantically up and down the front steps looking heavenward. I leaned in and whispered to my wife, watch, this is my vision. Ellen cried out, “Oh, did you see it?” She pointed up and moaned, “The bird, the big bird?”  She went on to tell us that her friend who lived nearby had called to say that a large bird was eating coy fish out of her pond. She warned Ellen to try to cover her pond. Ellen said, “I was still on the phone with my friend when I went to the window and saw this big white bird swoop down and eat my fish.” She said that the funny thing was that it wasn’t eating the neighbor’s fish who lives across the street, and the next door neighbor had a pond in his backyard and his fish weren’t touched either. God allowed us to watch as the bird flew back, grabbed her last fish and carried it to finish his meal on the roof. Incidentally, the bird appeared to be a heron which we have never seen in our neighborhood in Brooklyn before or since. 

See It for Yourself: 1 Chronicles 16:20-22, Romans 12:17-21        

Prayer Focus:

Dear Lord,

Help me to be like Jesus, who repaid good for evil done to Him, to live in peace with others (as much as is possible), and to leave judgment to You. You are judge! I beseech you therefore, have mercy on me, those I love and also on my enemies.

In Jesus’ name I pray. 

Amen.

Working It Out: 

Your job is to love, God’s job is to judge. 

Since God is love, that will work out to your benefit! 

But, the best victory against an enemy is turning him into a friend!

When that is possible, that's a wonderful occurrence!