Accusations

"I have prayed for thee."—Luke 22:32.

OW encouraging is the thought of the Redeemer's never-ceasing intercession for us. When we pray, He pleads for us; and when we are not praying, He is advocating our cause, and by His supplications shielding us from unseen dangers. Notice the word of comfort addressed to Peter—"Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat; but"—what? "But go and pray for yourself." That would be good advice, but it is not so written. Neither does he say, "But I will keep you watchful, and so you shall be preserved." That were a great blessing. No, it is, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not." We little know what we owe to our Saviour's prayers. When we reach the hill-tops of heaven, and look back upon all the way whereby the Lord our God hath led us, how we shall praise Him who, before the eternal throne, undid the mischief which Satan was doing upon earth. How shall we thank Him because He never held His peace, but day and night pointed to the wounds upon His hands, and carried our names upon His breastplate! Even before Satan had begun to tempt, Jesus had forestalled him and entered a plea in heaven. Mercy outruns malice. Mark, He does not say, "Satan hath desired to have you." He checks Satan even in his very desire, and nips it in the bud. He does not say, "But I have desired to pray for you." No, but "I have prayed for you: I have done it already; I have gone to court and entered a counterplea even before an accusation is made." O Jesus, what a comfort it is that thou hast pleaded our cause against our unseen enemies; countermined their mines, and unmasked their ambushes. Here is a matter for joy, gratitude, hope, and confidence. (Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions)

It is a pretty awesome thought knowing and remembering that our Redeemer

is praying without ceasing for us.

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Today I faced a little something that each of us either have or probably will face in our life.  I was accused of something by someone who was being very belligerent and aggressive.   She dropped the ball with something and tried to place the blame on me.  The attack came swiftly, harshly, and negatively.  There was no form of constructive criticism - only destructive accusations.  She came to me a few weeks back regarding an issue with a vendor and our customer.  The problem was resolvable, but the decision on how it would be handled would require a decision by upper management.  I provided information from the original order along with the required vendor details showing the information on our end was all correct.  It was then up to the managers to decide how they would handle it.  This was the last thing I knew about the situation.  This was approximately two weeks ago.  Apparently a decision was made, but nothing was noted and proper paperwork and filing did not take place.  A letter was received from the client along with their returned garments - with it was a partial write up by this person who felt the need to extend her claws. Our shipping department received the incorrect tops and called me out to review and discuss the details of the return.  Telling him what I knew regarding the original order - he and I determined that managment agreed to the return.  I read the customers letter and saw the return authorization written up by my co-worker who would later attack.  The shipping representative and I looked for a new order, a purchase order, anything that would let us know if this return was to be replaced.  We found nothing that would indicate the tops were to be remade.  It wasn't long before she arrived at work.  Our shipper explained the situation and asked for clarification.  She claimed responsibility at first and then very quickly changed her story.  The blame game was now in full swing as she left the warehouse and headed up front.  She flew into my office ready to pounce.  Forget good morning, how are you today!  It was WHERE is the customer's ORDER for these replacement tops?  WHERE IS THE PURCHASE ORDER to get them the correct items?  I started to respond respectfully regarding my discussion with our warehouse representative, when I was rudely cut off.  She said, "remember I came in here and talked with you about this situation - you pulled their previous order and purchase orders?"  My reply - was "yes ma'am, that is correct - I did make you copies of their original order which confirmed we wrote both the customer order and purchase order correctly." She then went on to tell me that she gave me a copy of the letter to write up the new order.  I politely let her know that the first time I viewed this letter was about 10 minutes ago in the warehouse.  She talked over my response without acknowledging it,  repeating the comment that she brought everything to me to write the order or purchase order up for the client and discussed it in detail with me.  As respectfully as I could, I let her know that this was not fact - the first knowledge I had that we were going to replace the order was a few minutes earlier, I just learned that the decision had been made.  I looked for a customer order and purchase order and didn't find anything.  She stormed out of my office without another word.  A few hours later, in a less than sweet tone, I was told that I was to write up both orders and get it taken care of immediately.  I kindly let her know that it would be handled at once and did complete the task. 

Nothing major came from this ordeal - and I am thankful to the Lord for that.  I am thankful for His mercy, grace and favor.  When I have read this verse before - I have always looked at it as personal - me being vain or lying and keeping it far from me.  Today it made me think about others who lie about me.  I pray that all lies be far from me and you. 

"Remove far from me vanity and lies."—Proverbs 30:8.

  Aren't you so glad we have a God that cannot lie...
"Tell me I pray thee wherein thy great strength lieth."—Judges 16:6.
HERE lies the secret strength of faith? It lies in the food it feeds on; for faith studies what the promise is—an emanation of divine grace, an overflowing of the great heart of God; and faith says, "My God could not have given this promise, except from love and grace; therefore it is quite certain His Word will be fulfilled." Then faith thinketh, "Who gave this promise?" It considereth not so much its greatness, as, "Who is the author of it?" She remembers that it is God who cannot lie—God omnipotent, God immutable; and therefore concludeth that the promise must be fulfilled; and forward she advances in this firm conviction. She remembereth, why the promise was given,—namely, for God's glory, and she feels perfectly sure that God's glory is safe, that He will never stain His own escutcheon, nor mar the lustre of His own crown; and therefore the promise must and will stand. Then faith also considereth the amazing work of Christ as being a clear proof of the Father's intention to fulfil His word. "He that spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Moreover faith looks back upon the past, for her battles have strengthened her, and her victories have given her courage. She remembers that God never has failed her; nay, that He never did once fail any of His children. She recollecteth times of great peril, when deliverance came; hours of awful need, when as her day her strength was found, and she cries, "No, I never will be led to think that He can change and leave His servant now. Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and He will help me still." Thus faith views each promise in its connection with the promise-giver, and, because she does so, can with assurance say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!" (Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions)

I have a little more to say about this situation but will save it for tomorrow.