IN OUR OWN EYES

 

IN OUR OWN EYES

Judges 17:6 In those days Israel had no king, so the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes. NLT

The people did what was right in their own eyes. What a sobering thought. People had wandered so far from God that He simply left them alone to do what they wanted to do. Since their hearts were sinful, they lived sinful lives. They did not care about God, let alone strive to live by His rules. They did not value the things God does. They considered discussions about God as being irrelevant to their living.

A reading of the Old Testament reveals just how bad they were. Time after time we are told that they were on the verge of destruction. If it weren’t for God’s promise to Abraham, He would surely have destroyed them. Instead, He raised up prophets to warn them and turn their hearts back to Him. Sadly, this scenario had to be repeated over and over again because the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes instead of what is right in God’s eyes.

Not much has changed. We today often do what is right in our eyes instead of what is right in God’s eyes. We don’t pay as much attention to God’s Word as we should. We often listen more to the voice of others and our own voices. We don’t take the time to examine what God says before we plow ahead. We become hearers of the Word, but not doers of it.

Let us be very careful about this. Let us resolve to make sure we know what is right in God’s eyes before we act. Let us take a serious look at ourselves to see if we might be doing what is right in our own eyes instead of what is right in God’s eyes. If we are doing anything contrary to what we know God approves of, it is sin and we need to repent of it today.

WHAT IS YOUR PRICE?

 

WHAT IS YOUR PRICE?

Judges 16:4-5 Later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek. The leaders of the Philistines went to her and said, “Find out from Samson what makes him so strong and how he can be overpowered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” NLT

What is your price? What does it take for you to compromise your convictions and turn away from the Lord? Is there a bottom line that you are willing to accept? Or, are you committed enough to the Lord that there is nothing that would keep you from staying true to the Lord?

Think about it for a moment. Can you honestly say that you are as committed to the Lord today as you were when you first believed? If you can’t, then in reality you have indeed sold out. You have failed the Lord and fallen away from Him. It sounds harsh, but isn’t it true? The Lord demands our total loyalty to Him. He is jealous of our love and will not share it with anyone or anything. We are to love Him passionately and completely.

There are many reasons why we lose our sense of devotion for the Lord. We become so entangled with the things of the world that we crowd out the Lord. We get so caught up in the busyness of life that we don’t spend the time we need with Him. We allow others to influence us to the point where we lose our sense of devotion to Him. We get comfortable with where we are at spiritually and no longer pursue a deeper walk with Him. We get the idea that we know all that we need to know and can’t be taught anything new. Regardless of how it may happen, we are prone to lose our sense of commitment to the Lord and expose ourselves to the reality of neglecting our salvation and wandering away from Him.

If you find yourself not being as devoted to the Lord as you once were, you need to recommit yourself to Him today. You need to bow before Him and confess your sin and determine in your heart to return to your first love. You need to readjust your life and practices so that you allow the time you need to stay in close communion with Him.

GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOU

 

GOD HAS A PLAN FOR YOU

Judges 13:5 “You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth. He will rescue Israel from the Philistines.” NLT

Several things jump out at me from this passage. God sent an angel to Manoah’s wife with a message about her becoming pregnant and having a son. Up until this time she was unable to have any children. We can only speculate as to why, but perhaps it was because God had a plan. Her son was to be a very special servant of God; his name was Samson. God knew the right time for Samson to be born, to whom he was to be born, and why he was going to have life.

God chose Manoah and his wife to be the guardians and caretakers of Samson. He knew they would be up to the task. He knew that they would take seriously their role in Samson’s life. He knew they would follow His instructions on how to raise Samson.

God had a very specific plan for Samson’s life. He did not tell his mother all that Samson would go through in his life, but He did tell her that he would deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Philistines. I suspect that if Samson’s mother had known all that was going to happen to her son, she might have had second thoughts about the whole process. Samson had some mighty big victories in his life, but he also made some poor decisions that ultimately cost him his sight and then his life.

Samson was set apart by God to play a prominent role in Israel’s history. I believe no life is an accident. God has a plan for each of us. Some will rise up to greatness and some will live their lives barely noticed by others. No life is without purpose. God has a job for all of us to do. Regardless of what our job may be, our main role is to be faithful in what He gives us to do.

No matter how insignificant our role may be, if we are faithful to the Lord He will give our lives great honor. Samson was the one whom we notice, but his parents are the ones that listened to the Lord, believed Him, and prepared him for the role he was to play.

Don’t ever believe the lie of Satan that your life is insignificant and will never amount to much. A life lived faithfully in Christ is highly favored by God.

LET THE LORD HANDLE IT

 

LET THE LORD HANDLE IT

Judges 7:7 The LORD told Gideon, “With these three hundred men I will rescue you and give you victory over the Midianites. Send all the others home.” NLT

Sometimes we face situations in life that really throw us for a loop. We find ourselves in over our heads. Sometimes we are responsible for the messes we get into and sometimes they are just there through no fault of our own. When we come up against those times of life we often wonder what in the world we are to do. We see the size of the task and that is all that we can see.

The Lord is not concerned by the size of the problem before us. He is not concerned with the impossibility of the task. He is not bothered by the things that often bother us. There is nothing that is beyond God’s ability to handle. The only thing that limits God’s ability is us. When we are overwhelmed or overpowered by life, we have no one to blame but ourselves. The Lord helps those who let Him help them.

We have two choices to make and which one we make will determine how we will live. We can try to handle things ourselves and hope for the best, or we can let the Lord handle things for us and know that the outcome is the best. When we handle things ourselves we will usually make a bigger mess of things. If we happen to successfully overcome our difficulties, it will usually be with great suffering. When we let the Lord handle things, He takes the burden off of our shoulders and shows us a better way to handle things.

When we deal with life resting in the Lord, life becomes far less complicated and intimidating. In Christ, all things are possible when we trust in Him. The Lord gives us all the resources we need to live on the victory side of things. There is no defeatism in those who simply live in a trusting relationship with Him.

I WILL BE WITH YOU

 

I WILL BE WITH YOU

Judges 6:16 The LORD said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.” NLT

Never underestimate what you can do when the Lord is in control of your heart. The Lord can move any mountain that may stand in your way. He can silence your loudest skeptics. He can disarm your strongest foes. When the Lord is with you, there is nothing you cannot do and there is no one who can stop you.

Our problem is that we are more prone to look at the size of the task than we are the size of our God. We forget just how great our God is. We stop focusing on Him and become victims of our world.

The next time you begin to doubt what you can do through Christ, take a walk and observe what He has created by the mere utterance of His word. Not only did He speak it into existence, but He also holds it all together and will continue to do so for as long as He desires to do so. This same Christ who created what you see lives within you.

He is the same as He always has been and always will be. He who created you and the world you live in is able to create a way for you to stand up and fight your worst and strongest enemy. He is able to remove every obstacle in your way and help you overcome whatever you are up against. Spiritual, mental, emotional, or physical, He is able to go with you and destroy all your enemies. He is able to break the power they may have over you. He is able to help you rise above them all and live in peace.

Let the words of our Lord penetrate deep into your soul today, “I will be with you.” It is enough. The victory is ours.

LOOK IN GOD'S MIRROR

 

LOOK IN GOD’S MIRROR

Judges 6:15 “But LORD,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” NLT

Gideon knew who he was—too well. He understood what the Lord wanted him to do and how little he could do. Gideon saw himself in the mirror and saw his limitations, not his possibilities. God looks in his mirror and sees our possibilities and not our limitations. We must understand the difference. What are we going to believe, what we see or what God sees? How we answer this question determines whether or not we will live in victory or defeat.

If you are not able to look through the mirror of the Lord rather than your mirror, ask the Lord to change your mirror. It is time you replace the old with the new. The old distorts who you are. It is cloudy and cannot give you a true image of who you are. We are created in the image of God. We are not our old selves in Him. We are new creations, created in Christ to do good works. The works we are given to do are things we cannot do on our own. They stretch us and help us to trust the Lord more as we learn that we can do all things through Him who gives us the strength and ability to do them.

Be careful what mirror you look into when the Lord moves you to act. You can do it. Yes, you can! You can do it because the Lord never moves us to do anything we can’t do through Him. Don’t let your fears and self-doubt keep you from being whom God wants you to be and doing what He wants you to do. Trust God, not yourself.

AT LEAST TRY

 

AT LEAST TRY

Judges 6:14 Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” NLT

The Israelites were under great oppression. The Midianites were controlling them and making life difficult for them. God called Gideon to rescue the Israelites from the Midianites. Gideon was a farmer working on the family farm. He wasn’t sure about this. He did not believe he was the right man for the job. He felt so inadequate.

I like that phrase, ‘Go with the strength you have.” The Lord does not expect us to do more than we are capable of doing. He doesn’t ask us to first become someone we’re not before we enter into His service. He simply says to, “Go with the strength you have.” The road to God’s blessings begins with just getting up and doing. We must do what we can do, and nothing more. We will never experience victory by not trying. No matter the task, it is doable if we but tackle it with the strength we have. When we strive to obey the Lord to the best of our ability, He supplies whatever we may lack. He knows what needs to be done and what it will take to get it done. He never gives us a task to do that is beyond our ability to do it.

Some things may be challenging, but challenge is good for us. It helps us to gain confidence and learn to trust in God’s willingness to help us. If the challenge seems too much for you to handle, it’s not. The Lord knows what you are capable of better than you do. He will never ask you to do what you can’t do through Him.

Don’t look at the size of the task. Instead, look at the size of your God. And, if your task seems bigger than your God, you need to dig deeper into His Word and discover just how great our God is.