5/2/14

5/2/14
Then she cried out, "Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!" When he woke up, he thought, "I will do as before and shake myself free." But he didn't realize the Lord had left him. So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison. But before long, his hair began to grow back.

Then Samson prayed to the lord, "Sovereign lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes." Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, he prayed, "Let me die with the Philistines." And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime. (Judges 16:20-22, 28-30 NLT)

When we were kids, those of us who went to Sunday school, learned about the "hero's" of the Bible. And included in these hero's was Samson. This guy was a powerful man of God who got his strength from his log hair. But the thing that the stories didn't portray, the thing that they left out, was that, yes, Samson was a man dedicated to God by his parents, and he had great strength, but, Samson was a man who could not resist women, and even further, women who did not follow after his God. Samson had a problem. He had a problem with his eyes. He had a lust issue, and it tricked him into making some bad decisions. He lusted so hard that he forgot about what God proposed for him. And so God allowed his capture, and God allowed his captors to take away from him his problem. They took his eyes. We might think that Samson's story is about his hair, or even about a sly woman, but it is about a man that could not control the lust of his eyes. What he saw controlled him, because he did not rely on God to be his guide. There is a big difference between being dedicated to God, and being devoted to God. Did God use Samson? Yes. But just think of the potential that was wasted because he did not lean on God. Even Samson believed that his strength came from his hair, but the truth was, when his hair was cut, the vow his parents made to God was broken, and God left him. It says in vs. 21 that "The Lord left him." So I'll ask this question: what sin are you dealing with, are you holding on to, that reduces your potential for God? Only by clinging onto God, and through his strength can we overcome the sins that rule over our lives. God is, has been, and always will be the answer. Turn those sins over to the God who sees all the potential that you have. He created it, and he doesn't want to see you bogged down by the "sin that so easily entangles." (Hebrews 12)

Sent from my iPad