Encouragement

THE RIGHTEOUS ONE

by olive Ngoe
11/17/11
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THE RIGHTEOUS ONES
I often wondered who the righteous ones were; these ones who were able to boldly run into the house of God and receive salvation. I thought to myself how privileged they were; that they were able to run into the house of God and into His presence and trouble him with their cares and that he would even listen. And I looked upon my troubles and considered them vain and trivial and slight. And those that I thought that were real thorns in my flesh I was embarrassed about, how could I go to the great I am, time and again with the same tale and trial? Would he not think of me as insolent and slow of understanding? So I kept them to myself and whenever I reached the house of God I stayed outside on the porch, holding back; and I waited for the righteous ones to come by. I waited for those who were able to go in and hold audience with the Father; those whose robs were not soiled with the stain of repeated sin and garments of frailty. I imagined that they would walk in with their heads held high and their shoulders not slanted by the burden of guilt. And equally they would walk out in the same way.
Lo and behold, there was a man approaching the house of God. ‘No doubt, a righteous one come to seek God’ I said to myself. And as he drew nigh I retreated behind the rose bushes lest he saw me and sneered at my obvious state of despair. I was surprised at what I saw-he was tired and worn out, he looked defeated and kept peering back after every few minutes as if there were people after him, ready to pounce on him. He did not notice my presence as he hurried into the temple of God, his eyes now firmly fixed on some point in the inner sanctum. As he passed by I observed his face and was shocked by the recognition! Of all the people I had imagined, he was the last one I thought would come into the temple in such discomposure. Usually he came dancing; and so gladly that on one occasion his clothes fell off. I could not help it, I decided to follow and hear his missive to the Lord God.
He was so enthralled in his sorrow he did not see me. For a long moment he stood there silently with tears running down his face. Then when it seemed that the weight was too heavy for his legs to bear, he crumbled to the floor. Then I heard him speak to the Lord. A long sorrowful tale- of how he had let his eyes lead him to sin with a woman who was someone else’s wife, of how he had added to this great sin when he killed her husband and how the child that had been conceived had died. I was distraught; he was sad and very sorry. He asked the Lord for forgiveness. And God lifted the veil of sorrow from his countenance. I was terrified, I was in disbelief, I wanted to run out but I could not! I was rooted to the same spot when he spied on me as he was leaving. I waited for an eternity for his wrath to descend on my frame- for having listened in on his conversation with God. He just passed by, then as if he had forgotten something, he came back to where I was standing and quietly he said to me, ‘Go to Him’.
I looked up into his face; it shone with the radiance of the morning sun. He was forgiven, he was free and he was beloved of the Lord; this righteous one was. He left, and I made my way to the front of the temple.