REPROOF!

A sad story.

Police were called out a robbery the other day, at a Wal-Mart in Ohio. But the suspected thief, accused of shoplifting $1,000 worth of the good stuff, was nowhere to be found.

Then an hour later 911 got a call. Apparently our sticky-fingered man had hopped into a dumpster behind the store to hide. Unfortunately for him, the dumpster was immediately picked up, and the trash (with our friend deep in it) was unceremoniously deposited into the garbage truck.

Emergency operators heard the frantic man yelling, “I’m in the back of a trash truck that keeps compacting me! I’m dying!! My bones are being crushed!!!” The dispatchers told him to calm down.

That’s a bit hard, I suppose, to be calm, when one is literally being compacted with 10 tons of rubbish. The poor guy.

Now this was no novice at robbery: he already had a rap sheet that ran into 26 pages. In fact, he’d been convicted before, of stealing from the same Wal-Mart. Some folks never learn.

Sin is a hard thing to escape. Especially when it is in our nature. Forget theft. How about …

… a depraved mind …,
being filled with all unrighteousness,
wickedness, greed, evil;
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,
malice, gossiping, slandering, …
insolence, arrogance, boastfulness,
disobedience to parents, …
not trustworthy, not loving, not merciful.
Romans 1:28–31

Ouch! That’s me. Sinning. Over and over and over again. 26 pages? Nay, a lifetime of stuff. Will we ever learn? Learn God’s wisdom—the way to live His way, not ours?

My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your sight;
Keep them in the midst of your heart.
For they are life to those who find them
And health to all their body.
Proverbs 4:20

The trashed guy from Wal-Mart was heard declaring to dispatchers at one point that he didn’t care what happened to him afterwards with the cops; he just wanted to live.

I like to think he’s learned his lesson. The hard and very unfortunate way. I wish he’d learnt it before this mishap.

I wish we would, too. Learn to avoid sin before something grievous befalls us. For the chances are that something will. We must learn, even if it is from discipline and reproof as the Bible oft exhorts.

My son, do not reject
the discipline of the LORD
Or loathe His reproof,
For whom the LORD loves
He reproves ….
Proverbs 3:11–12

For the commandment is a lamp
and the teaching is light;
And reproofs for discipline
are the way of life
Proverbs 6:23

Whoever loves discipline
loves knowledge,
But he who hates reproof
is stupid.
Proverbs 12:1

Poverty and shame
to him who neglects discipline,
But he who regards reproof
will be honored.
Proverbs 13:18

Back to our flattened miscreant in the trash truck ….

Emergency officials triangulated the signal from his cell phone and found the truck before it emptied its contents at a recycling plant. Police had to have the trash dumped, before they could find the man. “He was in pretty bad shape when they got him out, he didn’t look too good,” a police spokesman told reporters.

I believe he survived. Hopefully, he’s learnt his lesson.

I hope we do too. So that we may learn to live the way God’s wants us to. So that we may align our lives to His will.

Listen to counsel
and accept discipline,
That you may be wise
the rest of your days.
Proverbs 19:20

Let’s be wise!