SCRIPTURE: Judges 16
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Then she called, ‘Samson, the Philistines are upon you!’ He awoke from his sleep and thought, ‘I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the LORD had left him. [Judges 16:20] As I read this chapter, I sense in example of how not to follow the Lord. He knows that he has been set apart to serve the Lord, and he has done amazing things with God’s help, yet here he is with prostitutes, and foolishly telling his secret to a woman who obviously wants to ruin him. Does he think, because he is set apart to the Lord as a Nazirite, that he is undefeatable?
Many will say to me on that day, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ [Matthew 7:22-23] Jesus describes people here who did amazing things for God, and who were confident that they belonged to God, and yet He says of them, ‘I never knew you’. They thought they were close to God, yet were unaware that He was not with them. They are like Samson – they did not know that the LORD had left them.
Are there people who assume they are safe with God, that they are going to ‘heaven’, yet are actually far from God? People who live recklessly, foolishly, immorally, yet assume that God is still there for them? Sure, God can do great things through them, but that does not mean He forgets their sinful behaviours, which they practice recklessly without repentance. The day will come when they look to the Lord, only to discover that He is not there for them.
These passages remind me not to assume that I can live and act as I please, simply because I am forgiven, or because I have done great things for God. I can’t willingly follow the ways of the world, and assume that I am still a Jesus-follower. Following Jesus WILL change my practices. I will not be sinless, but I will hate the vestiges of sin in my life, and do all within my power, with His help, to change them.
May I not discover one day that all this time while I was doing ‘great things’ for God, that my heart was far from Him, and He says of me, `I never knew you.’
PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for reminding me through Samson that knowing You needs to change my life, my attitudes, my behaviour – and that failure to change will drive me away from You.