Staying Within The Borders

I often find a great reflection of our times as it relates to the book of Judges.

In those days, there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his eyes. (Judges 21:25)

Today we see our society wanting no part in exercising itself in obedience to God or Gods mandates.

Our own eyes will lead us to destruction, Matthew 5:29...And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Now in Judges 13 we have our first introduction to Samson. He was the most physically formidable character to be introduced to us that God desired to raise up to champion the cause of God and Israel.

Unfortunately, Samson became a man interested in championing his own appetites.

However, we see something very beneficial in Judges 13:25. It is just one verse, but we have a brief insight into the potential that Samson as a spiritual leader in Israel. Judges 13:25...And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

There was a place for Samson in which God would speak to him. An area where God would move upon him. It was not the kind of move that required Samson to need to perform a spectacular show of strength. It was not a time where God was moving on him to kill 1000 philistines. No! It was a place, an area, where God wanted to love Samson, and move him by the Spirit of God. A place to teach him faithfulness and obedience.

The bible tells us that for Samson, this was in the camp of Dan, and also interestingly, points out that it was between two places, Zorah and Eshtaol(between Zorah and Eshtaol; which were two cities in the tribe of Dan, and upon the borders of the tribe of Judah;

Why should that be important to us? What can we take from this? Perhaps you have read this before and thought it irrelevant. First of all, God does not allow for anything irrelevant in His Word.

Can I tell you borders are important to God.

To set more in motion here we need to understand a little about Dan, or more important, the tribe of Dan.

The Blessings of the Tribe of Dan

Jacob's Blessing - Gen. 49:16 - 18

"Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward. I look for your deliverance O Lord."

Moses' Blessing - Deut. 33:22

"About Dan he said: 'Dan is a lion's cub, springing out of Bashan."

Judges 20:1...Then all Israel from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together as one and assembled before the LORD in Mizpah."

The Biblical description "from Dan to Beersheba" came to denote all of the land of Israel, from north to south. Indeed, Dan's meaning in this phrase is twofold. Originally, Dan settled in the southern portion of the land of Canaan, near the Philistine coast.

Thus we see from Dan, a place which was the farthest place south in Israel, and perhaps as a result. least likely to be as connected spiritually, and as they were also on the the border near the Philistines.

God wanted to take a raw, but powerful physical man, from a tribe not known for its spirituality, and wanted to speak to him and move upon him in an area, a boundary, a border, that only God could do so.

Though Samson was a physical specimen, he was also an example of God using the weak things of the world to confound the wise. He used a man that was from a tribe such as it describes above, and makes him a leader of all Israel.

Be comforted friends in the fact that God can use you no matter what your background has been. No matter what social or culture upbringing. God can make the last the first and the first the last (Matthew 20:16...So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen).

God wants to pour His spirit into you and I. He wants us not to rely upon our own strength. We see in Samson a man who started right. He was staying within the borders of where God could speak to him and empower him spiritually. A place where God could give him the discernment he so needed.

Friends, for you and I, we too, like Samson, have the area we can stay connected to God. We have the full Word of God to set our boundary and help us know our border. We can pray and praise that precious Word of God over our lives. We can be moved by the Spirit of God as we abide in that boundary. Remember the psalmist David as he wrote of this truth in Psalm 91:1...“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” What a place to be! What a privilege you and I have! We are not just living in temporary homes, but we can have our residence truly be "in the secret place of the most High" and "abiding under the shadow of the almighty."

Hope you have been encouraged to maintain your place in the borders of Gods Word that will activate the move of God and the blessings of God upon your life!

God Bless!