It excites us to look for ways that God works in our favor. But we should probably be just as interested in God’s reminder about how He will leave us to our own devices when we decide to take the reigns of life without Him. Samson was born miraculously to his parents, because God had a great purpose in life for him. But Samson took control of his life and the detrimental effects are seen in today’s Scripture. Let’s learn from this.

DATE POSTED Tuesday, 2021-09-28

WRITTEN AT: Okeechobee, FL

BY: Ed Algreen

SCRIPTURE FROM: Judges 16:19-20

TRANSLATION: New Living Translation (NLT)

BIBLE TEXT: 19 Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began to bring him down, and his strength left him.  20 Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!  When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him.

APPLICATION: It seems more and more prevalent for doctors to let us make our own choices on certain treatments available to us. They present the facts and leave the decision up to us. God has always shown us that same freedom. He has a glorious eternity in mind for us, and He presents through His Word all the reasons why it would be beneficial for us to accept His Son, Jesus, but He leaves the actual decision up to us. God also had a very special life in store for Samson, as a judge over Israel. He gave him physical strength that any earthly man would be envious of, but God also gave Samson the freedom to make his own choices. There was a certain ‘weakness’ that Samson displayed towards the opposite sex, for he loved women, and they were attracted to him because of his physique. Unfortunately, we are a lot like Samson, in that we are generally warned about certain dangers, and we agree with those dangers, but we tend to think that everything will be alright, because we know how to protect ourselves against the evil plans of others. But as the Scripture tells us, Samson was not as independently strong as he felt he was, and he was therefore lulled into a game that threatened his very life. My friends, I believe God is still warning us today of the power and strength of the Evil One. I realize that many of you are very similar to me, and would quickly say ‘we’ve got this’, but let me remind you that just as we are no match for the Almighty God, neither are we any match for God’s greatest opponent, Satan. Remember, God loves us so much that He showed us at Calvary how deep that love ran, but if we insist on doing life ‘our way’, He is gentleman enough to let us. You will be warned over and over about the dangers and extreme risks, but if we keep shoving God away and grabbing the reigns for ourself, God will do for us what He did for Samson, He will let us face the battle all alone, and that will lead to complete failure. Fortunately for us, the opposite is still very true today. If we call on God, He is faithful and just, and He will forgive us of our sin, and He will stand by us to the very end of time here on earth. Receive your free gift today precious friend. Allow God to be God of your life and in all circumstances of life. God never fails!

BLESSING(S) NOTED: Submission to God results in His love, protection and deliverance through all of earths pain, trials and temptations. Seek Him today, while He may be found, and let Him lead you in every circumstance of life.

PRAYER: Lord Jesus, You made us with great big egos, and way too often we feel like we could handle every challenge and difficulty presented to us here on earth. But Lord, You alone is the answer to all of life’s challenges, and we are reminded daily that we can’t do life without You. Please help us to learn from Samson and not become caught up in feeling like we could handle the Evil One, for only You can keep Satan at bay. Forgive us Lord when we try to assume Your position in our lives, we need You every moment of every day. Please reign us back in immediately when You see us wandering off to try and handle things on our own. We need You precious Father. Please work out Your will and way in our lives and impact others as You see the need evident in them. AMEN!