Following Jesus

FOLLOWING JESUS

There have been times in my life that I have made the mistake of doing things my way. I have always known to “wait on the Lord”, but there are times when we all want to do things on our own. No doubt this is one of the biggest mistakes any one of us could ever make.

What we should remember is that when we decide to do things on our own, we are stepping out on our own. We can easily step out of the will of the Lord, if we are not careful.

What is even more troubling is that, more often than not, we don’t realize we are out from God’s care and protection. We are doing fine with our relationship with Christ one day, and the next day we are not.

When a person falls away from the Lord, there aren’t any red flags or any sirens that go off. No warnings.

Some have said, “Something told this was wrong.”

Do you remember the old rock and roll song, “Mama told me not to come!”

Sometimes we know we are wrong in leaving the Lord out of what we are doing. But all too often, we don’t.

Let me show a couple of examples:

Text: Judges 16:19 thru 21

The obvious here is - Samson was deceived by Delilah. Delilah may have been a treacherous harlot, but Samson was a fools fool. I am not sure (in this case) which is worse. One can be just as deadly as the other…

We may have been saved from evil, but each of us must take care not to fall prey to foolishness.

What is not quite so obvious is how Samson did not realize what he had lost. Samson did loose all of his hair, and that may be something none of us would want to experience. Although that may come sooner or later for some of us…

Seriously, Samson lost something far more important than his hair.

He lost his strength from the Lord.

Samson wasn’t awake when Delilah shaved his head. Remember, Samson was considered the strongest and bravest man in the world.

And yet, he lost all of what was important to him.

In the spiritual sense, I would suggest that we must take care to never drop our guard.

Evil is all around us and can easily destroy us.

Staying strong in the Lord is not something any of us can take for granted. If what happened to Samson were to happen to us, we may not realize our loss of strength when it happens.

The passage tells us that when Samson awoke he was convinced that nothing had changed. As long as Samson’s hair was, I would think he would have known that something was wrong as soon as he woke up.

But he didn’t. Why is that? Could it be that Samson had became so complacent and foolish that he was out of touch with any kind of reality?

I believe this is an example of what happens to any man/woman of God.

For the moment, the Lord lifted His hand from Samson’s life.

Without God’s care and protection, we can allow ourselves to loose touch with the hand of God.

What that meant for Samson was the enemy had full control of his life, just because of his foolishness.

The Philistines then gouged Samson’s eyes out. They took away his sight!

What about us?

What does this mean for us?

Can our foolishness/complacency cause us to loose our spiritual sight?

Perhaps we think too highly of ourselves with our spirituality.

If so, our reliance can be focused on ourselves, and what strength we have already experienced.

Is this an isolated or odd occurrence in the Bible? No. Let me show another example (in the New Testament) of how people foolishly took things into their own hands.

Text: Luke 2:42 thru 52