Reverse
Part 3
I. Introduction
Wrestling is a sport for the strong. It separates the pretenders quickly. I learned some valuable lessons from wrestling. However, for some of you wrestling is confusing.
So once again here is your crash course in wrestling. If you manage to take your opponent down to the ground from a standing position you have scored a “Takedown” and you are awarded 2 points. If you can then turn that opponent onto his back you are awarded back points of either 3 or 5 points depending on how long you can hold them in that position. If you can put both shoulder blades on the mat you have scored a pin and the match is over. There are 2 other main scoring options that take place once a person has been taken down. If a wrestler, after being taken down, gets away from his opponent and regains his feet then he has “Escaped” and gets 1 point. If a wrestler is taken down, but then turns the tables on the opponent and switches positions into a controlling position he has scored a “Reverse” and receives 2 points.
So a reverse is worth more points. So far I have I encouraged you to quit quitting
and not to settle for an escape. Then this past week I challenged you to not allow the can’ts to keep you from the cans. There are things we all face that we can’t do anything about. However, there are things you can do to set your reverse in motion! I also taught you that a reverse is based on timing. You have to allow God to operate in His timing.
So today I want us to look at one another reverse recorded in Scripture and try to
learn some things.
II. Text
Judges 13:24
The woman gave birth to a son. They named him Samson. The boy grew and GOD blessed him.
Judges 16:4-5, 16-17, 21-30
4-5 Some time later he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek (Grapes). Her name was Delilah. The Philistine tyrants approached her and said, "Seduce him. Discover what's behind his great strength and how we can tie him up and humble him. Each man's company will give you a hundred shekels of silver."
16-17 She kept at it day after day, nagging and tormenting him. (There is certainly a message in this verse, but being a wise man I will move on!) Finally, he was fed up—he couldn't take another minute of it. He spilled it.
He told her, "A razor has never touched my head. I've been God's Nazirite from conception. If I were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would be as helpless as any other mortal."
21-22 The Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza. They shackled him in irons and put him to the work of grinding in the prison. But his hair, though cut off, began to grow again. 23-24 The Philistine tyrants got together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They celebrated, saying, Our god has given us Samson our enemy! And when the people saw him, they joined in, cheering their god, Our god has given Our enemy to us, The one who ravaged our country, Piling high the corpses among us.
25-27 Then this: Everyone was feeling high and someone said, "Get Samson! Let him show us his stuff!" (The enemy wants to make a spectacle of you!) They got Samson from the prison and he put on a show for them. They had him standing between the pillars. Samson said to the young man who was acting as his guide, "Put me where I can touch the pillars that hold up the temple so I can rest against them." The building was packed with men and women, including all the Philistine tyrants. And there were at least three thousand in the stands watching Samson's performance.
28 And Samson cried out to GOD: Master, GOD! Oh, please, look on me again, Oh, please, give strength yet once more. God! With one avenging blow let me be avenged On the Philistines for my two eyes! 29-30 Then Samson reached out to the two central pillars that held up the building and pushed against them, one with his right arm, the other with his left. Saying, "Let me die with the Philistines," Samson pushed hard with all his might. The building crashed on the tyrants and all the people in it. He killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life.
II. Samson
Talk about a turn of events. Samson was a plague. He had terrorized the Philistines at every turn. He set their fields on fire. He wiped out entire battalion of soldiers with nothing but a jawbone of a donkey. He ripped gates off their cities and left them vulnerable to attack. He was their greatest threat. He was the great equalizer for the Israelites. He was untouchable. He was a national hero. Now, he finds himself, nothing more than a circus act. Ridiculed. Harassed. Laughing stock. He goes from being Super Man to spectacle. From a punisher to a plow boy. A judge to a joke.
There are 3 lessons we can learn about a reverse by what took place in Samson’s life.
a. A reverse is often needed because we fail to guard our strength!
Samson would have never been in the place where he needed a reverse if he had simply guarded his strength! He kept trying to see how close he could get to what his lust desired without losing his strength.
How many of us need a reverse right now because we failed to guard our strength? We observe what Samson did and see that Delilah proved untrustworthy time and time again and we think “Samson was stupid!” “I would never do that!”
How many of continue to make the enemy’s job easier because we fall prey to his OLD tricks? He uses the same snare, same person, and same temptation to trip us up over and over again! The edge is closer than you think!
I was flipping channels one day when I saw one of the Doctor shows. They were discussing how to overcome the fear of heights. Since I struggle with this I stopped to watch. They said repeated trips to the edge will help you realize that there is no danger. The edge becomes acceptable and manageable. Sound familiar? Samson found out what we will find out . . . the edge is closer to falling off than we think!
I want us to understand that God can and will work a reverse for us. However, I also want us to understand that we have a responsibility to guard our strength. Let me explain. I see folks stumble all the time and then when you talk to them and ask them, “Have you been reading the Word?” they respond “No”. You failed to guard your strength! Some of you start tithing and then you begin to see a turnaround in your finances and then all of a sudden you can’t afford to pay your tithes any longer and then wonder why the blessings stop. You didn’t guard your strength. You break free from an addiction or a sin by faithfully attending church and hanging out with a different crowd and then right at the start of enjoying freedom you disappear. Listen what gets you free is also essential to keep you free! I have seen it in relationships. Fall in love, spend every waking moment together, go out of your way to treat each other with respect, romantic, tender and then about 6 months in all of that stops and problems “suddenly” start. No you failed to guard your strength.
b. Just because you shaved don’t mean you won’t be saved!
Let me say it like this! Things grow back! It may seem like a reverse is never going to happen, but God will come through! Samson’s life teaches us that it is never too late. Was his situation desirable? Did he make some poor decisions that cost him? Did he lose some time that he could have been doing something else? Did he cry some tears and endure some pain that he shouldn’t have had to? Did he make it harder on himself than he should have? Yes! But the powerful thing about his story is that things grow back! God is the God of second chances.
Some of you have made terrible choices. Some of you find yourself in undesirable situations. Some of you may even feel like you are wasting your time and your life! You even feel like you have become the circus act for your enemy, and it may feel like life will never be normal or enjoyable again you need to learn the lesson of Samson’s life which is you are not forgotten. If you need more Scriptural proof then I want to remind you of the promises we have been given!
Joel 2:13-14 - And here's why: God is kind and merciful. He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot, this most patient God, extravagant in love, always ready to cancel catastrophe. Who knows? Maybe he'll do it now; maybe he'll turn around and show pity. Maybe, when all's said and done, there'll be blessings full and robust for your God!
He goes on to say that he will revive the year’s the locust has eaten.
Just because it seems late in the game . . . God isn’t worried. He comes through. He knows our end from the beginning. Just because you find yourself bound, in pain, ridiculed, and blind right now doesn’t mean you will end up that way.
God has this way of winning in the last few moments. Hold on! Your dream can live again. Your power can return. Your blessing can come back! You may be facing a death sentence now, but God can still come through! It’s not over! The final whistle hasn’t blown. Fight till the end. Believe till the end. Stay in the match because a match won in the last few moments is still a win!
c. Your disappointments can become His appointments!
Was Samson disappointed? Can’t you hear it in his voice? Oh, please, look on me again, Oh, please, give strength yet once more. God! Disappointment has swallowed up his life. No more pride. No more parades. Disappointment has become his constant companion!
I know disappointments are no fun! No one likes to get beat up. No one would choose to be bound. No one wants to be sick. No one wants to struggle. No one would choose to go through what some of you have been going through!
But in the midst of disappointment and even when overcome by a serious case of the blues we must quote the same Scripture we quote when things are going well … the steps of a righteous man are ordered by God! Your disappointment might just be His appointment! We think a relationship with Jesus means no more problems or tough spots. We think it is a “get out of jail free” pass! However, life is still life and it is great to live anointed, but unless you are also appointed the anointing is useless and sometimes your appointment will be found in the disappointing place!
He may have you where He has you so that He can step in and work a reverse for His glory! We think that because we are in pain that God can’t be in it! We think that because we aren’t comfortable we are out of God’s plan. It is imperative for you to remember that God isn’t nearly as concerned about our comfort as He is about our character!
Pain just means you in the process! Don’t allow disappointment to keep you from expecting a reverse. A disappointment can actually be the prelude to a reverse!
Some of you are so disappointed that your head is down and your hands are down. But I came to tell you to get your head up! Your redemption . . . your reverse is drawing night! Get your hands up (hands out to the side). Even if you can only get them up like this you are in the right position to push back! Come on if you are facing disappointment do this with me . . . get your hands up. Disappointment has pushed you around for too long. It is time to push back! If I can only get my hands up a reverse is coming!
The writer of Hebrews understood that the position of your hands is important – lift hands that hang down!
