Let me start by saying that I had well intended plans to post something completely different than what I am about to lay out but God always seems to get what He wants, so here IT BE.I continued my journey through the book of Judges this morning and found myself saddled up in the midst of Samson’s systematic destruction of the Philistines. Side Bar: To be perfectly honest the whole story of Samson is perplexing to me. Yes it is another great story of God’s deliverance of His people from bondage through the life of a man but the whole sex, murder, and scandal aspect, although intriguing, simply mystifies me. I mean the men God had used up and till Samson were the likes of Gideon and Jephthah. Mighty warriors yes, but also obedient and from what I can gather righteous men of God. And then we have Samson. I mean dude was a mess. Kinda like that friend who seems to have the cunning ability to always make stupid decisions, like always falling for the wrong person. How exactly does that work? Uh, maybe it’s that God will even use our sinful human weakness to accomplish His will and bring glory to His name. And aren’t I thankful for that.
So where was I? Oh ya: saddled up in the midst of Samson’s systematic destruction of the Philistines. And again “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power.”
O.K. STOP!! Can you honestly imagine what that must be like? How would you know? Is it possible that in our own lives, “the Spirit of the Lord has come upon us in power” and we missed it? Is it even possible to miss it? Or perhaps we must just simply claim it? (Matt. 16:19) At any rate, “it came upon” Sampson and he made a blood bath of 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey and followed it up with some heavy SMACK TALKIN: "With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men." (Judges 15:16) But in the midst of Sampson’s victory we very quickly see his humanity appear when he “cried out to the LORD, You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" (Judges 15:18) And God, as He did for His people in the desert provided Sampson with water from the ground.
My point is this; as Andy Stanley put it in his book Visioneering “Success has a way of weaning us off our dependence on God. In the throes of success it is easy to take responsibility for maintaining our success.” I think in that moment of thirst God was saying, “uh, excuse me my servant Samson, it was my Spirit which fell upon you, it was my power that led to the destruction of the 1000 Philistines, you are merely man and your dependence upon me is required in even the little things like this drink of water.”
Man did I ever need that punch in the face this morning.
"If your vision is for a year, plant wheat. If your vision is for ten years, plant trees. If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people." 
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9 comments:
i know this has nothing to do w/you post, but in answering your question, i heard about them on oprah. you knew about them right? beth said she was getting some for the kids. i'm getting luke all the "cars" stars
Gottcha. They are cool.
Great post, I'm getting ready to post as well, I've signed up to be notified when you post something new. Cool, huh?
www.nsideconnections.blogspot.com
Using the blog tools. I love it. By the way great post on Nehemiah. I love reading people who are so much smarter than me. You always draw so much out of your studies.
i think that the power of God is waiting to rest upon those who are willing. but most of us have detached ourselves so far from the spirit realm that we cannot be used. Would God rest his power on some ignorant fellow...well he did right? but now we have been given the holy spirit always, so maybe it is up to us to open ourselves to it's power...then wooosh...it will come. it will sweep us up on the wings of eagles and show us things so great from a view only possible through God. I don't know about you, but i long for that.
More great stuff, thanks! It seems the Lord likes to “mix-it-up” a bit. Sometimes great men and women of character like Esther and Daniel...sometimes total knuckleheads. I guess there is hope for me yet :-)
i love your ability to be honest. i really enjoyed the strong points you made with this post. We have access to great power---if we continually believe in who God is and what He can do. Sampson is a stumper for me too. He was beautiful, had physical power, and was seemingly enprisoned by his own emotional strongholds. just another example that we can't try to get more holy before God can use us. then maybe we might fall trap to taking credit. not that we should live unholy lives---most certainly not. we need to have faith and live faithful lives. God has a timeline, we choose to be a part or He chooses to use us, or he moves us out of the way. the why's and the how's are part of the unkown--you know where our faith comes into play.
G'day - just came across your site and read through your recent articles and found them encouraging. Keep it up!
AG
Alby, I am honored by your visit. We will keep up the fight.
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