Little Johnny is quite the handful, always on the move and always up to something. His mom, especially during the quarantine, has her work cut out for her. Keeping track of where and what he’s up to around the house is a chore to say the least. She’s learned that instead of silence being golden, it means that Johnny is up to something. His silence being the snow that covers his tracks. One day she sensed the snow was heavy, the silence deadening in her ears. She called out to Johnny, “Johnny, what are you doing?” As Johnny heard his mothers voice he happened to be in the pantry, on a step stool, holding the big jar of Oreos, lid off. Johnny thought long and hard about giving up his actions and what to say. After a few tense seconds of thought, he finally blurted out, “I’m fighting temptation!”
A great little story that drives home two incredibly important spiritual points. Number one, the time to fight temptation is not when your arm is elbow deep in the cookie jar. And number two, be careful where your feet take you. Many times, they take you exactly where you don’t need to be. It reminds me of the catchy kids song, “Oh, be careful little feet where you go.” The song actually starts with “be careful little eyes what you see”, then moves on to what your ears hear, your hands do, your tongue says, your heart trusts, and finally what your mind thinks. A great juvenile reminder that we are responsible to God for what we say, think, do, hear, see, believe and yes, even where we walk on our own two little feet.
Today we start delving into the saga of Samson. We saw yesterday that an angel of the Lord arranged for his miraculous birth and sanctified him as a Nazarite by having him uphold the Nazarite vow for life. The vow being, partaking nothing from the grapevine, no contact with dead bodies and no hair cutting. Three things to live by. Samson would have been fiercely acute of these things since birth, as his parents made a vow to an angel of the Lord for him to be raised within the vow. In fact, I’m sure that Samson was probably not just aware but hyper-aware of these three things. I can just see his mom nagging him relentlessly. “Samson! Don’t go near those grapes, you took a vow!" "Samson! There’s a dead goat on the neighbor’s field, don’t you go over there!" "Samson, don’t you even think about cutting your hair young man, I promised the Lord you wouldn’t!” Yes, Samson knew.
One of the most perplexing things about our human spirit is our innate ability and desire to rebel. The big joke around our house is every time Margie tells me to do something, I come back with the standard reply, “Don’t tell me what to do.” Of course, it’s become a joke for us, but realistically that is the standard response of the human heart. As our elders, our parents, our bosses and yes, even our spouses make requests of us, we naturally experience rebellion. And yes, God’s requests are no different. Just look around at our world today and you will see billions of hearts in rebellion to God, refusing to do anything He asks of them. They look God in the eye and say, don’t tell me what to do.
And in this rebellion war, you see one very common battle tactic. Instead of doing what I’m asked, I’ll do just the opposite. I mean rebellion is basically doing the opposite right? If I’m asked to take out the trash, I won’t do it at all. If I’m asked to not date that girl, I’ll do it anyway. If I’m asked to not take dad’s car, I’ll sneak it out. If I’m told to not steal, I’ll take something when nobody is looking. If I’m told to not cheat on my wife, I’ll set up some elaborate plan to do it anyway and not get caught. Oh, the intricacies of the rebellious human heart.
But our rebellion is rarely a surprise. We work on our rebellion; we build it up until it pours out like lava from an angry volcano. Eventually if not dealt with properly, our rebellion surfaces with great force. And this is where our song comes in. The vehicle for our rebellion finds its outlet in this body. Our heart and mind first takes us to dark places where it should not be. As a result, our hands do things they shouldn’t. Our eyes look at things they should not see. Our tongues say things about people that should not be uttered. And our feet conveniently take us to places where we can do all of the above. A heart in rebellion to God will result in a body that rebels as well, allowing the temptation of sin to stroll right into our lives.
“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." James 1:13-15
Even though Samson is in the Bible, it doesn’t mean that he was not susceptible to rebellion and temptation. We often forget that Bible people didn’t know they were living in Bible times. They struggled through life just like we do today. And in chapter 14 of judges, we see Samson struggle from the very beginning of his story. He takes a gentile wife which was a real no-no for God. And in choosing this wife, he covets with his eyes, making his lusty decision based on her physical appearance.
“Get her for me, for she looks good to me.” Judges 14:3b NAS
But as Samson is walking to her town to see her and make the wedding arrangements, we find an interesting encounter. A young lion comes at Samson, roaring and angry. The Spirit of the Lord rushes upon Samson and he tears the lion apart with his bare hands. (Man, talk about a great story for parties) But guess where this all happened? In a vineyard. The vineyards of Timnah. Now could you possibly explain why Samson, that had taken a Nazarite vow to eat or drink nothing from the grapevine would be in a grape vineyard?
“Oh, be careful little feet where you go. Oh, be careful little feet where you go. For the Lord up above is looking down in love, oh, be careful little feet where you go.”
Today, be careful where you allow your feet to take you. Little Johnny let his feet take him right to the pantry. He then let his feet climb that step stool. His feet took him right to the door of temptation. I’m sure there were many ways to travel to Timnah, but Samson’s feet took him right through a vineyard, the very place he was not supposed to be. And in that vineyard, Samson encountered a prowling, roaring lion, roaming about looking for someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8) You see, your rebellious feet, moving in the direction of your own selfish desires, can take you right to the mouth of the lion.
You know what’s right and you know what’s wrong. You know where you should be going, and you know where you should not be going. The Lord makes it as clear to us as He did to Samson. The question is, how does your heart receive instructions from the Lord. Do His commands fall on an obedient, loving heart or do they fall on a hard, rebellious heart? If it’s the latter, pray to God to do a mighty work in your heart today. God made the world, he made you, and He continues to hold the world in his hands, I think He can manage to change your heart. But you have to ask, and you have to be sincere. And it is in this exchange that you will experience the "miracle moment." Ask Jesus to come into your heart and change it completely. Admit that you have sinned against God in you rebellion and that the temptation of sin takes you to places you don’t want to go. And it happens more often than you care to admit. Ask Jesus to change your course, to move your feet closer to Him. Ask Jesus to save you from your sin and He will. God is faithful to save.
“If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10
May you experience the true goodness of Jesus Christ deep within your heart today. For it is only here that you will find true peace, freedom and joy in this life.
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