Can you recall how it felt the last time someone “did you
dirty”? When was the last time you “did
someone dirty” (hopefully it has been a long time and you have rectified the
situation)? “Dirty” can take many forms,
but primarily it takes the form of someone taking advantage of another person
or someone playing an integral part in the demise of another.
Most people (both successful and unsuccessful) refuse to be
genuinely happy for a person that is achieving success, especially if that
person is attaining as much success or reaching a higher level of success than
they have achieved. Jealousy and Envy
compel that person to try “dim the shine” of others by tossing “dirt”. In some cases, “jealous ones” will try to
bury you alive because they can’t appreciate the evidence of God’s Blessings and
His Favor flowing through your life.
As I was reading some of the story of Isaac in
Genesis 26, Isaac too had to face “dirt slingers”:
Genesis 26:12-16 (MSG) Isaac planted crops in that land
and took in a huge harvest. God blessed him. The man got richer and
richer by the day until he was very wealthy. He accumulated flocks and herds
and many, many servants, so much so that the Philistines began to envy him.
They got back at him by throwing dirt and debris into all the wells that his
father’s servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham, clogging up
all the wells. Finally, Abimelech told Isaac: “Leave. You’ve become far too big
for us.”
In the face of his
success, those who were jealous of God’s favor on Isaac’s life, sought to
destroy his ability to continue being successful. They attempted to do this by literally throwing
“dirt” in his wells. They thought that if
they could cut him off from the source (water) that they believed was sustaining
him, his success would fade and he would be forced to “move on”. Their efforts were futile because, the
ultimate source of Isaac’s success was God’s Blessing on his life. Human efforts can never override God’s
Blessings in the lives of those who are “about His Business”.
The enemy too wants to fill your wells with dirt. He wants to discourage you and to cause you
to focus on “your wells” as your source and not God. He also wants to distract you by placing unnecessary
obstacles in the way of your success.
Most of all he wants to “snuff you out” so that your life can not be a
testimony to those who would dare to believe in and trust God for their
success.
If the enemy or “jealous ones” are trying to bury you alive
and toss dirt on your life, God has given you the power and authority to “brush
that dirt off your shoulder”! There isn’t a lampshade manufactured in Hell
that is thick enough or dark enough to block out your “shine”. Let them throw whatever they want into your
well. You, just like Isaac did to the
wells dug by his Father before him, can again dig up the “wells of success” and
in the end give God all the Glory!!!
Be Blessed!!!
B
