Burnt Bridges

So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant. 1 Kings 19:21 NIV

Good Morning Girlfriends:

A young man had come to our house to talk to my dad one Saturday afternoon, as he unfolded that he wanted to start building a little house for himself to live in. He let my dad know that he already had some materials to start his project, but he needed a little help to buy the rest of his materials. This was a time where building materials was at such a good price, it seemed like merely nothing to put a house together. Taking a few days to think about it, my dad was willing to give this young man a chance as they discussed what the payment plan would be for the pay back.

Months had passed by and the man had not returned with the first payment which was agreed upon, so of course my dad was upset, but he said that would be the end of helping people out. About twenty some years had passed when a man had come to my dad asking to borrow money to put an addition onto his already existing business, now you can imagine that my dad was very wary of getting burned again, but with many days of thinking, he had decided to give this young man a chance. The young man had a pretty good business and it looked like he was doing well for himself, so my dad decided to give him a chance for the expansion that would make his business flourish.

Have you heard that old saying "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me." With much disappointment, came a decision that he would not give anyone the chance to do this to him again, the second time of lending money, was in a greater measure.

How many times have you heard it said that because of something someone else had done, it has ruined it for other people who come along later. Whatever it is like a dress code at work, or being able to take your breaks at work at a certain time, how about taking things that aren't yours, it causes people to not trust people when they continually cross the boundaries.

2 Timothy 3:13 tells us that, "In fact, evil men and false teachers will become worse and worse, deceiving many, they themselves having been deceived by Satan." I am not saying that these two meant deliberately deceived my dad, they probably had very good intentions on paying him back, but when that didn't happen in both cases, it made it so that if any one else came along, he had made up his mind that he was not going to lend out any more money.

Girlfriends, it sure does make it hard when you have stuck your neck out to help someone and they burn you by not following along with the plan that had been put in place, and it's even worse if one of those people is a family member, which one of these young men in my story was. It can cause hard feelings between the people involved, this is where we need discernment. It does make it hard when a person is soft and kind hearted to help any one who comes their way, but they also need to have a backbone, so to say, to say no when something doesn't feel right.

I have taught my family that if they were to burn bridges between family members or other people in general, it will make it hard for anyone to trust them again, especially if the story gets around.

There is one thing that is definitely reassuring, that no matter what we have done in our past, no matter the things we have done, there is a God that will never turn His back on you if you call out to Him because you want to make your life turn in a new and better way. That is the whole reason why Jesus died on the cross, to re-unite us back to God our heavenly father. If there is someone that we have done wrong to, it is a good thing to go back and make it right. We need to ask for their forgiveness and to pay back what ever it was that had happened.

Girlfriends, if there is anything that needs to repented of, to God, today is the day, why wait to make things right. God is always waiting for us to come to him with His arms wide open, let today be the day for repairing some bridges., Amen?

Let's Pray,

Father God, You are amazing and You are faithful to forgive. Lord, whether we are on the receiving end or the other end of burning bridges, I pray, let this be the day of rebuilding. Turning things around in order to make things right with people and with You. Lord, You see everything thing that we do, and I'm so thankful that You will never turn us away when we come to You to repent, You will always receive us with wide open arms. I thank You in advance for all of the bridges that are being restored right now in the mighty name of Jesus, Amen.

Be blessed dear ones, and pass the blessings on.