Scammed
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” - Romans 12:2
I almost got scammed last week. Here’s how it went. My current laptop is hanging on by a thread, and I had just learned I may want a Mac computer to run a certain software. I wasn’t worried. I decided to start saving up, and I knew God would provide for me as he always has. With the intention of hitting up Marketplace, I logged onto Facebook to see if there were any good used options.
I hadn’t even clicked into Marketplace yet, when I was dumbstruck by the very first post in my news feed. All I saw was a photo of a brand new Macbook in a box. “Hey, everyone,” it read, “My daughter was killed in a car accident last week. She had just bought this brand new Macbook for college and I can’t stand to look at it anymore. I would like it to go to someone who can benefit from it.”
I felt as if I had been struck by lightning. Had I not been talking to God about this exact kind of laptop moments before? Had I not been getting online with the purpose of looking for this exact thing? And this one was free, being given away by a grieving mother? Maybe her daughter was a writer too, maybe this was one of those crazy moments where God’s hand becomes so obvious in blessing and tragedy...are you kidding me?
Chills ran up and down my whole body as without even thinking, I tapped out a message to this lady, saying how sorry I was that her daughter had passed, explaining the crazy coincidence of this timing, and how I would love to have this computer if it was still available. She said it was, and could ship it to me soon. She just had to look up the shipping cost.
I was overcome with the craziness of it all, the “God-thing-ness” of it! I immediately called my mom to share this amazing provision from God – after all, it was something I didn’t even need, only wanted! God is SO GOOD!
When this grieving mother got back to me, she sent a list of shipping options and requested that I “send the money now” to her Paypal. Instantly, I knew I’d gotten duped and shrunk to the size of a raisin. You’d think that someone who’s used the internet as long as I have would know better, but something about the timing with that post, and the way the algorithm pushed it to the top of my feed, I had been completely confident it was from God. “God,” I said. “This is funny. And I take back nothing I said about how you good you are or how you always provide for me.”
Man’s wisdom generally comes through our head knowledge, our physical reaction to something, or our emotions. Many a time I have had my body react negatively because I was scared to try something new. If I throw up out of fear, does that mean I shouldn’t go ahead and push myself? No! I’ve had my heart convince me that I could create a God-honoring relationship with a guy who didn’t honor God. Does that make sense? Not in hindsight! Just because our bodies want something, or our hearts long for something, just because something feels good or happens at what we deem the right time, we still need to go to God for wisdom and discernment. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” I pray I can put my mind, heart, and body to the test in my daily decisions, and go to God first for His perfect wisdom. Stay safe out on those internets, everybody, and keep that Paypal info close to the chest!