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Word of the Day: Judges 14:4

Word of the Day

"However, his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord…"

Judges 14:4

One of my favorite things about God is the magnificent reality that He creates, controls, and manages even the "it" of our lives. Sometimes that "it" is really good stuff, sometimes "it" is heartbreaking and buckles our knees. But that's exactly what I've learned and still learning to enjoy about our awesome Creator. There's nothing outside of His control, no circumstance beyond His reach, and certainly not a single broken & desperate heart beyond His repair! Most of us look back at our lives with all kinds of regrets, but the really good news for those who follow Jesus…we don't have to!!!

It's one thing to be saddened and disappointed that something we've done or said in the past displeased our gracious heavenly Father. Quite frankly, if we're not saddened and disappointed with displeasing our God who is so overly gracious to us we've got other serious issues. At the same time, when we hang onto the sin and mistakes of the past we fail to see God for who He is and ourselves for who we are. As William R. Newell put it so well, "To be disappointed with yourself is to have believed in yourself."

Take Sampson for instance. Here's a guy that is blessed with good parents who are in tune with God and trust God with the news that they're going to have a special son called of God to a Judge of Israel. There's nothing in Sampson's childhood that would point to the development of a fatal flaw…he really liked women. Nothing wrong with liking women, in fact, there's everything right with liking women in the way Sampson did if you're a man. Sampson's issue was he liked too many women. He was kind of like the old Lay's potato chips ads…'one is never enough.' So Sampson finds himself falling for a woman that is completely against God's instructions for him as a Hebrew man and he tries to convince his parents to buy into the relationship. Like good parents they try to dissuade him but he will not be moved.

Then comes the 'it' and the Lord of heaven and earth explodes off the pages of Scripture! If you read the whole passage you discover that the 'it' refers to Sampson's rebellion against the Lord and his parents. God is certainly not making Sampson sin, nor is He responsible in any way for any sin (Ps. 5:4). However, to bring about God's magnificent plan & purposes, that are admittedly often beyond human reason or understanding, He (God) does release us at times to sin; to be ourselves. Whenever we are not controlled by His Spirit we are necessarily controlled by the flesh and that's an ugly scene (Romans 7:18).

On the other hand, when we look through the lens of Scripture we see God using even our sin and stupidity for our good and His glory! In Sampson's case God used Sampson's out of control lust for women to eventually lead to the deliverance of Israel from the rule of the Philistines. Sadly, it also cost Sampson his life…sin always has consequences (Galatians 6:7). In my opinion, like us, Sampson's down fall was how he viewed God. Instead of seeing God for who He is as the perfectly holy, absolutely sovereign, infinitely powerful, and infinitely loving God, Sampson took matters into his own hands.

Don't we do the same crazy thing?!?! Consider David's perspective of God: "If I say, 'Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,' even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You." Psalms 139:11-12. We follow the God who has no limits and cares for us more than we can understand…the real craziness is why we wouldn't trust such a magnificent Savior!

His Kingdom Come,

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