Stand Firm and Let God Fight

I had an unpleasant encounter with a neighbor a few days ago.
After a day long meeting and an hour in traffic, I enter the gate to my street and out of the darkness, a man I've never met, says harshly, "Where's the 500 you owe for security?"
My response should have had much more patience but it didn't. The short 'conversation' ended with, "This gate is illegal, I should call city council!" He yelled as I stormed off, "If you don't pay, you don't pass through the gate. There! I've told the guards, you can't pass here now."

These gates have been the subject of neighborly disputes for almost a year now. I live on a public road, but with a little bit of money, our corrupt city council members can be bribed into signing anything; even a document to build a wall across a public street.
The problem, other than the fact that they are guarding something they shouldn't be, is that the hired security guards won't let people pass regardless of if they are a resident or not. So, rent paying residents of our neighborhood are sent to add 10 minutes of walking time to their route to go around this gate. It's the injustice of it that aggravates me, that and hearing time after time from my neighbors of encounters with rude security guards who harrass the general public right outside my front door.

This is not the neighborhood I love. The neighborhood I love lies outside of my "illegal compound" where people aren't ostracized by neighbors who only live a few feet away. And for no other reason, it seems, than pride and 'because I can-ism'.

I knew I needed to apologize though. I'm certainly not in the business of making enemies and I knew my anger got the best of me, regardless of the circumstances. James 1:19 says that we should be, "quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger." I may have inadvertently reversed those commands.

I walked back to the site of my communication failure and began talking to the lady who constructed the wall. Having just arrived home, she initially tried to avoid me, as she does so well to anyone questioning her about the structure, but I ensured her I was harmless and just wanted more information about why I was being asked to pay for it. She explained to me that all the tenants inside of the gates were chipping in 500 shillings a month to pay for the guards. I told her my reservations, without bringing up corruption, but explained that I had never received a letter or a phone call about any of these new fees. She called the chairman over, who happened to be the man that I had words with earlier.

I apologized, explained that I get asked for handouts all day long and was frustrated that I had to deal with another stranger asking me for money when I got home. He said that my bringing up city council was "bad language" and we forgave each other and shook hands. I told him that I had to get back to him about the money because payday wasn't for another week or so. He agreed that was acceptable and we went on our way.

I texted my landlord shortly after to ask her to meet briefly so I could get her side of this security business. I was sure she had a better understanding and knew the people involved much better than I did.

So here was my dilemma - as I saw it, I had two options:
1. Pay the 500 shillings a month and promote corruption, that I am fully against, to keep peace among my neighbors.
2. Stand firm, don't pay and potentially create grudges in my immediate community.

But God had another option that I wasn't seeing:
3. Let Him sort it out for me.

30 minutes later, I got a text back from my landlord, simply saying,
"Please don't pay anything for security. If they ask you again, have them contact me."

In a single moment God fought the whole thing for me. No money, no enemies, just peace.
I don't know what's going to happen with these gates in the future. Some days people get so rowdy, it seems as though they are one word away from tearing the things down with their bare hands. Other days It seems like people have just given up hope of having a neighborhood of order.

But even though people still seem to get away with bending the law, God fights on behalf of His children. We need to show a little backbone. Don't let your position sway when you come up against things that are difficult. God will fight for you. And when the time comes, you will receive your reward for standing firm.