March 23

Read Judges 13-16

Today is accountability day. Samson was never accountable to anyone and look where he ended up.

Combining yesterday and today’s readings gives us the ability to see the contrast between love and lust. In Ruth you have a love story and in Samson you have a lust tragedy. One experienced a love for a lifetime and the other experienced lust for a night. Ruth has the story of Thanksgiving celebrations with family and friends, memories of the wonder of Christmas mornings with young children, the excitement of summer vacation at Camp Spofford, daily cups of coffee with her lover on the back porch and long walks on the beach during marriage renewal weekends.
Samson has the one night flings with sexual partners whose last names he doesn’t know, conflicts, betrayal, heartbreaks, loneliness, prison and the eventual loss of his eyesight.
What do you want in your life, one night or a lifetime of love? We must show people and tell people about the true love that is found in following God’s way.

4 wrong choices Samson made on the pathway of lust:

1. He focused on the wrong goal. Judges 14:1-2 "I have seen" He focused on pleasing himself rather than pleasing God. We can’t trust our senses in the sexual wilderness of the culture. “If it feels good” doesn’t make it “right.”

2. He didn’t take God seriously 13:4,5 14:3 God had given him a mission statement for his life. He was to be a Nazirite. But he didn’t take this mission seriously. Samson was an average, garden variety Jew, whose strength was not in his muscles but in a vow he had made before God. Perhaps that contradicts images of him which we've held in the past but it is clear he wasn’t the big, burly, Arnold type. This is underscored by the constant desire of those about him to learn the secret source of his strength.

3. He hung around with the wrong crowd 14:8-14 Samson didn't have a chance morally because of the crowd he hung around with. It never mentions in the text that Samson spent 10 minutes with his own people. It never mentions accountability Monday with his Bible reading group. He spends a week telling jokes with a group of “friends” who would love to see him fail. Samson was truly the lone ranger. He didn’t have a small group. Never had a mentor or a close friend. The friends he picked were working against him, not for him. Wrong choice of friends and relationships will pull you down.

4. He fooled around with temptation 16 Samson’s IQ must have been on the level of a clam. Why is he fooling around with Delilah and her drama queen performance? Notice each answer he gives gets closer and closer to the truth. Eventually he tells her everything. He wasn’t tricked; he was self-deceived. He really believes he is above the consequences of his sin. He has gotten away with fooling around so much he really believes even he can play with fire without being burned. That is what sin does to us.

A few action steps for us in our lives:
1. Admit our weaknesses. We live in a sexually saturated culture and anyone can fall. Sexual sin is never defeated; it is simply dormant. Until we live with the reality of our own vulnerability we are simply an accident waiting to happen.

2. Avoid temptation by purchasing a good pair of running sneakers. Don’t put yourself in situations where you know you’re vulnerable. Have a plan for early detection and early exit from the temptation.

3. Ask for help. It’s not enough to just admit and avoid temptation. We also need to ask for help. When we think we can fight this battle alone that is when we are in danger. Ask God for strength and team up with other believers.

4. Assimilate God’s truth into your life. Read God’s Word and put it into practice. Psalm 119:11 “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” It’s absolutely imperative that we stay connected with God and with others. Left to ourselves, it’s just a short walk to becoming a Samson. Cultivate your relationship with Christ and commit yourself to a small group.

5. Acknowledge forgiveness for the fallen. There is a way of forgiveness. Thank God for his grace and mercy. Corrie Ten Boom said, “There is no pit so deep that the love of God is not deeper still.” No matter how far you run away from God, no matter how deep the pit you fall into, you can never go so far that God can’t find you.