Then we can adjust our scales to cheat and sell our goods at unfair prices.
This is exactly what the people of Israel were doing about 2,500 years ago, and God was angry with them. He declared that He would not change His mind but would punish them (Amos 8:1-2).
I have conducted auditing at both professional and academic levels, and I have seen firsthand how people circumvent laid-down control systems to cheat. By God’s grace, I served on the Public Accounts Committee of Ghana’s Parliament for four years, where I came face-to-face with how billions of Cedis are manipulated.
In recent years, audit reports have revealed that more than GHC 12 billion were misappropriated, leaving our hospitals without beds and essential drugs, our roads as death traps, and our schools lacking textbooks.
Even at the market, when you stop buying tomatoes, you find that the tins are stuffed with leaves or rags. Alonka measures have been tampered with. At some filling stations, pumps are adjusted to cheat customers. Cocoa and cashew scales are manipulated as well. In all these, it is the poor who suffer the most. This mirrors what the Israelites were doing, which provoked God’s anger.
Why are we repeating the same mistakes today? Can we withstand God’s wrath? Psalm 113:7 reminds us that only God can give true financial blessing — not stealing. We must introspect, admit where we have gone wrong, and ask God for forgiveness.
Let us remember that when we cheat or steal, we are taking food, medicine, and resources meant for others. The sad reality is that when we die, we leave everything behind on earth, but we will give an account of our actions and inactions.
It is my prayer that we change our ways so we may receive God’s blessings rather than His anger, in Jesus’ name… Amen.
Source: Dr. Alex Kyeremeh
