Daily Bible Reading: Judges 16, Acts 20, Jeremiah 39, Mark 15
In Judges 16, Delilah had pestered Samson to divulge where his strength came from. After trying to lie to her a few times, he finally grew weary and gave in, telling her that if his head was shaved his strength would be gone since it was a part of his consecration to the Lord as a Nazarite.
Then Delilah said (vs. 20) “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.”
God had put a special grace on Sampson’s life, anointing him with incredible strength. Sampson had become so accustom to having this grace on his life that he took it for granted. Even after his hair was cut he assumed that he would be able to shake himself free, not even realizing that the Lord was no longer with him. If you continue to read the story, Sampson was captured by the Philistines and they gouged his eyes out. At the end, he realizes his dependence on God and ends up defeating them.
I will never forget a time in college when I was asked to speak to another college ministry. There was an amazing message by a conference speaker that I thought was eloquent, funny and impressive. Instead of truly seeking the Lord for a revelation straight from him, I basically reproduced this message (looking back, it’s quite embarrassing!) God has placed a grace on my life to communicate, but that night--it was absent! I felt what it was like to do something in my own strength, and without his grace and revelation there was no power to my words! My roommates at the time gave me a hug and a sympathetic pat on the back but said nothing about the message. I knew it was the Lord giving me a glimpse of what it was like to operate outside of his grace. That day serves as a remembrance to me to never loose the desperation for his presence and his grace when I speak. I am learning dependence on Him not just when I speak but in every area of my life! Isn't life so much better when we refuse to do it on our own strength?
What about you? Has God ever given you a reminder to be dependant on Him? Has He ever lifted his grace in your life for a moment to show you how desperately you need Him?
I would love to hear your stories!
Mel Miller
|
Monday, August 02, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
great blog mel! Yeah all the time in fact. I am sure you know that it is probably one of my greatest struggles sometimes. It's so easy to want to try to do something in my own strength in an effort to almost try to prove something to who knows who, and I can say that almost 100% of the time I fall flat on my face and am reminded that the best way to succeed is just to completely depend on God and let him do the heavy lifting :)
Post a Comment