By God’s grace, another morning rolled around, and I went to grab my daily vitamins. I again ripped off the outer cello wrapping around the lid and then twisted the lid off. The tamper-proof seal under the lid was ripped again. I paused. Twice in a row now? This had never happened to me before, but now it’s happened twice within the past two orders and with the same product from the same supplier. I didn’t think I was that rough in turning the cap that I could have broken the seal in the process! Something didn’t feel right, I just knew it. I held the bottle in my hand for a moment and walked back through my process again in my head. I had unwrapped the clear, cello wrap around the lid, which had made me think it was a new bottle. It looked like a new bottle. The lid felt like a new bottle. Yet, the seal was broken under the lid. I felt an urge to look in the bottle.
I opened the bottle and dumped out the contents in my hand. They were all vitamins, and they all looked normal. Then, I had a thought, “I should count them,” and so I did. One, two, three, four… I kept going. I finished counting and looked at the bottle again to verify the quantity. The count in my hand did not match the count on the bottle. I was nine vitamins short. I counted again to confirm my math was accurate. It was. Clearly the bottle had been opened, used, or tampered with and was repackaged with a nice new outer cello wrap to make it appear like it was a new bottle.
An ‘Aha!’ moment hit me. This must have been the same situation with the bottle of vitamins I bought last month that had a broken tamper-proof seal and didn’t seem to go as far. I had dismissed the evidence, thinking I must have torn the tamper-proof seal myself when opening the lid, since it had a cello seal that was new and not tampered with around the lid that I had to tear open. I immediately called Amazon customer service, and they kindly credited the purchase and asked me to throw away the shipment I had left from the supplier.
This was more than a dose of vitamins; this was a healthy dose of reality. I had overlooked the tamper-proof seal that had clearly been tampered with! I overlooked the warning signs. The seal is on the bottle for a reason: to help prevent harmful situations and guarantee you are getting what is on the label and the quantity that is on the label.
My situations could have been honest mistakes. I am not casting blame on anyone other than myself for not following the warning signs in front of me.
As I have replayed these situations repeatedly in my mind, I have been reminded of verses throughout God’s Word, which warns us about tampering with scales, moving boundary lines, and general dishonesty. We are to conduct business, control ourselves, and live life in an honest and trustworthy manner! God sets the weights and measures, and He is our standard of measurement!
Proverbs 11:1 says, “A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is His delight” (ESV). Another version says it this way, “The LORD detests dishonest scales, but accurate weights find favor with him” (NIV).
Proverbs 22:28 says, “Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set” (ESV). The Lord delights in true and accurate weights and measures. He expects honesty.
Has the Lord put tamper-proof warning signs in your path that you may have overlooked? His desire is to protect you. He is your Shield, Defender, Fortress, and Refuge. Have boundary lines been moved inappropriately, or are scales out of balance? What if you paused long enough in your fast paced life to allow God to show you where something may have shifted and be off or out of balance? Ask God for a divine realignment!
How can you make Monumental Moments and live to Multiply His Movement today?
