Sampson

The period of the judges helps the nation of Israel towards a time of national coalescence. Through a series of thirteen judges, Israel suffers and survives repeated cycles of turning away and returning to fellowship with God. One of the judges, Gideon, admittedly being from the weakest clan in Israel, allowed God to be his strength leading him to victory.  Unlike Gideon, Sampson was born with super human strength. Where Gideon admitted his weakness, Sampson exploited his strength. The text in Judges 14:6 describes Sampson ripping apart a young lion with only his bare hands. Later in chapter 15:15, he kills a thousand Philistines with the jawbone from a donkey. Then in one defining moment of strength, Sampson uproots the city gates carrying them a distance of thirty-eight miles to Hebron. Sampson was swimming in confidence, self-confidence that would lead to his ultimate downfall.

When Sampson was born, the angel of the Lord appeared to Sampson’s mother and told her that no razor should ever touch his head. The boy was to be a Nazarite set apart for God. In the book of Judges 13:1-25,  the angel of the Lord prophesied that Sampson would grow up to begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.

Sampson made several mistakes in his life; his biggest was allowing his unbridled pride and self confidence to take the place of God. As Sampson experienced repeated victories over his enemies, he began to operate more and more in his own flesh. The bible states that pride always comes before the fall; if a man will not humble himself, then God will do it for him. In the case of Sampson, after Delilah arranges to have his head shaved, his strength leaves him.

At the mercy of his enemies, Sampson’s eyes are gouged out and he is set to work grinding grain in prison. Weak, humiliated and shackled he now has plenty of time to think about God. Humiliation in life has a tendency of getting our attention off ourselves and onto our Creator. It refocuses our own life, illuminating our desperate need for Divine Guidance. 

We have all been prideful before when things are on track and going well. That’s when we usually begin to avoid fellowship, church, bible reading and prayer time contently pushing them away. Confidently sailing through life, with no hands on the tiller, we cast our fate to erratic winds. Each day we grow more and more self confident until our fellowship with God has all but evaporated into thin air. Eventually, we become shackled to the fleshly choices we make, fettered to the storm we have created.

There, in the bottom of our pit, while wading through the muck and mire of our choices, we see ourselves for what we really are and cry out for Divine intervention. At that very instant, as we cry out to our Creator, our deliverance begins. God hears our cries and sends us help through various people He places in our lives.  Though God will catch us, we still have to reap what we have sown during this time of disobedience.

 Here are Sampson’s last words from the book of Judges 16:28-31 “Then Sampson prayed to the Lord, ‘O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.’”   As the story goes the Philistines were all crowded into their temple to be entertained by Sampson. He asks the servants who were guiding him to place his hands on the pillars that supported the entire temple of Dagon.  His last request was granted by God allowing his strength to return and with one last, mighty push, the temple collapses killing about three thousand people.

There is a season of life between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one, where some more than others, reject good teaching and wisdom in favor of youthful independence. This rebellion is nothing new and not unique to this present generation. Jesus talked about it two thousand years ago recorded in the gospel of Luke 15:11-32 in the story of the prodigal son. As the story goes the younger son spent all of his inheritance on wild living. When his money ran out, his so-called friends left him to the ravages of a sever famine. After realizing that the pigs he was hired to feed were eating better than himself, he humbly returned home.

Our heavenly Father is like the father in the story where He waits for us to come back to Him and return home. Standing with open arms, He waits to put His signet ring on our finger and His best robe over our shoulders. Humility is the first step we must take in turning back towards God.

 

 

 

Faith, hope, love

While another year has sped by us, the earth has made another revolution around our star. Our world will revolve around its axis bringing a new day every twenty-four hours. Our national economy continues to improve as new industries grow, expand and prosper. As we leave winter, our days will gradually grow longer preparing for the advent of spring. Hibernating animals will slowly begin to awake, hungry they will begin foraging for food. Many people, on the other hand, will decide to put restrictions on their daily intake by limiting the amount of food they consume.

Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the New Year brings limitless possibilities and opportunities. To life there is a cycle, an endless tide of situational ups and downs, where we are blessed with many opportunities and challenges. It’s like a sine wave that can be both freighting as well as exuberating all at the same time. But careful planning for the future can limit risk and pay out dividends to all faithful investors who are not living just for today. The prudent pilgrim will carefully take one day at a time while carefully observing and planning each step he is about to take.

What we choose to build our lives on, our foundation, is the most important part of our building. Inside of every human heart there is a missing part, a God shaped hole that only can be filled by an omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent Creator; and it’s during this time of the year that many are forced to look inside at this emptiness, desperately searching for the missing piece. Many turn to illicit drugs and alcohol to avoid the reality of their situation. Substances numb them temporarily but never repair completely the hole that only God can fill. Many will disagree with me on this issue but until the One, true and living God becomes part of someone’s life, true happiness, satisfaction and contentment will never be a reality.

For all of you that are hurting, struggling with life, relationships and day to day living know that you can find comfort in Jesus. In Matthew 11:28 He calls and invites each one of us “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light.” The bible says to endure the storms of this present world we must build our lives with God as our foundation. He doesn’t promise us smooth sailing here on earth but He will help carry our burdens.

Our hope is not of this world but rather the one that is yet to come. It’s not about gaining and storing material possessions here on earth, where moths and rust will destroy them; it’s about an eternal life that God promises us. The very first step on this wonderful journey is to first lay our foundation, which is putting our faith in Jesus Christ. Once we have realized our short comings and our need of an all loving God, then we ask Jesus to be our Lord and Master, to fill the missing part in our heart, then and only then can we begin building on our foundation.

Our hope of an eternal future coupled with our faith in a living God will transform us into new creatures. As the old fleshly man dies, a new man is born and our bodies become the temple of the Holy Spirit. This new transformed vessel is now intertwined with Jesus Christ and capable of carrying us through very dark, turbulent waters of life to safe harbor.

Many of you are asking yourself “But what is life all about? Why was I created? And what do I do now?” Once restored by our Creator we are ready to let our light shine in a dark world. A true relationship with God will produce fruit in our lives. We don’t have to plan or cleverly scheme how to win souls it’s more a matter of surrender, letting go of the old man and letting God’s Spirit control us.

So as this New Year gets off the ground, and we look for resolutions to make let us choose to let our lights shine on others around us. As we build beautiful dwellings on our foundations we add flavor to life, spicing up the bland existence of others around us. Spreading God’s love is the reason we are here. Because He first loved us we can now love others causing them to see Jesus inside of us. “And now abide faith, hope, love these three; but the greatest of these is love” 1 Corinthians 3:13

Gideon

The story of Gideon is one of the most beloved stories in the Old Testament. The text is so transparent and honest that it helps support the fact of divine inspiration. The book of Judges documents a period of time where the fledgling nation of Israel is transitioning from their desert wandering experience to the time when they would begin to set up a kingdom in Jerusalem. It outlines a time when, because of their disobedience to God, they where reaping the consequences of their actions. But even during this tumultuous time of testing God was still watching over the nation, patiently waiting for them to return to fellowship with Him.

The nation of Israel began marrying foreign women from the other nations living around them. This new influence brought Baal, Ashtoreth, and idol worship to the high places. As the nation falls away from fellowship with God and embraces other gods, the Lord allows them to be oppressed by many other nations. The Midianites, Amalekites and Egyptians would encamp against them and destroy their produce of the earth. They destroyed their livestock too, making it very hard for the people of Israel to sustain life.  Day to day living was extremely agonizing and difficult for the average Israeli. They were in survival mode.

God forced them to hit rock bottom and cry out to Him for help. God heard their cry and chooses Gideon to lead the army to battle their enemy. The only problem is that in Gideon’s eyes, he is the least in his father’s house and his clan was the weakest in the entire nation of Israel. The first step in God’s plan of restoration for the Israelis was for them to repent. The Angel of the Lord commands Gideon to tear down his father’s altar to Baal and sacrifice to Him upon the burned remains. Gideon complies with the Angel’s command but, because he is afraid, he does it under the cover of darkness.

Let’s jump ahead to a New Testament verse,1 Cor. 1:27, where the apostle Paul records a great truth about God and how He accomplishes His will in the power of His might. “But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.” God always uses the weaker vessels here on earth to accomplish His will. When God wanted someone to tell the pharaoh of Egypt to let His people go, God chose Moses. Moses did not really want to talk to anyone let alone the pharaoh of Egypt. He even admits to us that he is slow of speech. Now we have another underdog, Gideon, chosen to lead the Israelites into battle, who by his own admission is the weakest in his family.

As God prepares Israel for His great victory over their enemies, he instructs Gideon to tell the 32,000 armed men that whoever is fearful and afraid should return home. As the dust from 22,000 men leaving the area begins to settle, God now asks the remaining 10,000 armed men to drink from the stream. All who drink directly from the stream are to return home leaving only those who used their hands to cup the water to remain to fight. At the end of the day, Gideon would have only 300 men to fight against their enemy who was described as numerous as locusts and, in a number, like the sands of the seashore.

So, as the story goes, the battle plan was that the 300 were to go under the cover of darkness with trumpets and torches concealed in clay pitchers. At the sound of Gideon’s trumpet they were all to blow their trumpets, saying ‘The sword of the Lord and of Gideon’ and then break their clay pitchers. The biblical text explains that, in the darkness of night, the enemy in the resulting confusion turned on each other causing them to defeat themselves. 

What’s really quite amazing is that it’s always in God’s power and might that we win the battles of life. You might win an occasional skirmish on your own but the biggest battles in life are always won by and through the power of an almighty God. Just as with Gideon, we must be willing to repent and tear down the altars we have constructed to the false idols in our own lives. Then as we begin to turn towards God He renews our fellowship and restores our relationship with Him. God is thrilled with us as we begin to make godly decisions that spill over and influence the others in our lives.