Feeling pain is difficult…Feeling nothing is dangerous!

Judges 15:6-20 Then the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire. Samson said to them, “Since you act like this, I will surely take revenge on you, but after that I will quit.” He struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam. Then the Philistines went up and camped in Judah, and spread out in Lehi.  The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they said, “We have come up to bind Samson in order to do to him as he did to us.” Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.” They said to him, “We have come down to bind you so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me.” So they said to him, “No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not kill you.” Then they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock. When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily so that the ropes that were on his arms were as flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds dropped from his hands. 

He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, so he reached out and took it and killed a thousand men with it. Then Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have killed a thousand men.” When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi. Then he became very thirsty, and he called to the Lord and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”  But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi so that water came out of it. When he drank, his strength returned and he revived. Therefore he named it En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. So he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

I remember the first night I began to play guitar, the tips of my fingers hurt so bad from pressing the steel wires (strings) down onto the wooden fret board. That first night I played until my fingers bled. For the first month the tenderest place on my body was the tips of my fingers on my left hand. Soon, though I could play and I felt nothing and for years after I could hit the tips of my fingers on my left hand hard on a table and feel nothing. One time I picked up a piece of wood in a campfire and did not realize that a burning ember was touching the tip of my finger! The tips of my fingers had become so callous; they did not feel any more.

In this section of Samson’s life we continue to see him deal with the Philistines. The Philistines punish his wife and father-in-law for what Samson did, he in turn kills many of them. Then he is taken by his brethren and turned over to the Philistines where the Lord enables him to overcome his enemies and kill 1000 of them with the jawbone of a donkey. This section ends with the fact that Samson judged Israel for 20 years while struggling with the grip of the Philistines.

There is a striking truth in this section that I want to discuss. It comes from verse 11:

Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?”

Consider this, these are the people of God, His chosen nation, and they have become so callous in their spiritual walk that they can just accept that they are serving a nation of idolaters! These are the people that God delivered from the powerful Egyptians and then through Joshua conquered numerous nations to take the Promised Land! What has happened? How could they become so complacent about slavery that they would betray their deliverer, instead of joining him to fight for their freedom? 

It took me a bit of time to make my fingers so callous that playing a steel string guitar did not affect them at all; because I could not feel anything due to the callousness I had built up. It takes our heart far less time to become callous to our sinful conditions and insensitive to the Spirit’s voice. Israel had “settled” for slavery and losing her standing as the beacon of light for the world sharing Who the true God is. How does this happen? There are signs that warn us, and we would do well to consider them in our own life.

In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, where a Demon named Screwtape is writing to his young disciple in evil, Wormwood, he makes a very powerful comment concerning complacency: Screwtape writes, "A moderated religion is as good for us as no religion at all - and more amusing."  

When our heart becomes callous toward God, we become complacent in our life, just as Israel did. We allow several things in our life that leads to this.

First, we have no objective standards, everyone is right in their own eyes! There is no Truth; instead there is your truth and my truth and their truth. 

Someone said: "Failure Formula:  People fail in direct proportion to their willingness to accept socially acceptable excuses for failure."

Second, Contentment is based on convenience! We give in to whatever is easiest, this would include “popular.” To stand for something might bring criticism or even persecution. So as long as we can remain in our comfort zone we will be content, even if that means being silent. The world learned this the hard way with the rise of the Nazi movement.

Richard Woike wrote a prayer that we should make sure we do not reflect:

O thou pleasant, comfortable, kindly, good-natured God:  How glad I am that I can look forward to another ordinary day. Keep me today from anything that taxes my faith, from discomfort, from unnecessary strain, from unusual problems, especially those involving sickness or death, or the necessity of extending financial aid to relatives and friends. Dear Lord, grant that nothing may occur which will disturb my satisfaction with the way I am, and the things I say, and the thoughts I think, the acts I do, or the many deeds I leave undone. 

Give me this day, in addition to my daily bread, the butter, meats, and sweets that are my necessary diet, and let me not be troubled by qualms of conscience concerning the amount of time and money I spend on food and clothing, pastimes, good and bad, and those pursuits which, while not of spiritual value, are the accepted hallmark of the normal citizen of this enlightened community in this enlightened age. About the future and the darkening trend of things, keep me from thoughtfulness. Events rush on, the world travails. Can screaming headlines prove thy hand's at work this very moment, bringing nearer that fateful cry, 'Behold! He comes!' O Lord, such disconcerting thoughts! Keep me from worrying about such things, and guide me safely to and from my office and my home. Amen

Third, as we have already seen, this leads to rationalization. We desire to justify all that we do. Look at Israel with Samson:

So they said to him, “No, but we will bind you fast and give you into their hands; yet surely we will not kill you.”  

Surely they knew that the Philistines would kill Samson, but to comfort their heart they would not do the dirty deed, they would only tie him up and take him to the Philistines! Christians that rationalize their behavior cause Christianity to die 1000 deaths!

Here is a sad thought: A father explained to his son what a Christian was. The little boy asked, "Daddy, have I ever seen one?"

This is from a comic strip:

Sluggo:  "That new kid in school is a big fat-head!"

Nancy (piously): "You shouldn't call people names like that. I never call people names."

Sluggo:  "Well, I just got mad when he said you were silly looking."

Nancy (hands on hips):  "Oh, yeah!  What else did that big fat-head say?"

Who we are will sooner or later show itself!

Fourth, this will lead to no self-determination. Due to the condition of our heart, where it has no objective standards, contentment is based on convenience and we rationalize what we do, we lose the ability to really determine our future for ourselves. We may claim to be in control, but we really are not. The sinful state we are living in truly controls us. The other Judges freed Israel from their enemies when God appointed them judges. Samson did judge Israel, but the entire time the Philistines continued to control things.

Meditation: Where do you get your standards? Do you accept the Scriptures as totally true, or only partly true? When you evaluate what your actions should be, do you base it on what is easiest or what is right? What part do you want to play in determining the direction of your life? What are you doing to impact that?

When you chase the wrong thing…Be careful! It might turn around and catch you!

Probing Proverbs 11:27 If you search for good, you will find favor; but if you search for evil, it will find you!

There is a true story concerning a thief in London that broke into world renown confectionary. 

The "goodies " we're very expensive and delicious. In a very short time the thief had been apprehended. Wondering how they captured him so quickly the police explained they followed the candy wrappers right to his front door.

Many people seem to believe that evil is just "coincidental" - but the Word of God does not present evil in that way. There are many things we do not understand concerning the spiritual realm. 

Sadly, many think of the spiritual realm as some fantasy or sci-fi movie. Nothing but a superstitious reaction to the physical realm. God's Word warns of evil as almost a living entity. This is not mystifying it; it is helping us understand that the spiritual realm is very different from the physical realm. What we do in the physical realm - our actions - May be judged good or evil, but that does not explain how we got there. The Scriptures make it clear that there is another reality that we do not see with our eyes.

Ephesians 6:12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

2 Corinthians 10:3–5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

We see what the scenes are, but only if we are sensitive to the Spirit of God will we see behind the scenes! That is the spiritual realm where powers for good and evil operate. We are even exhorted in Scripture to be very discerning when it comes to this realm. 

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

This Proverb exposes a very frightening truth concerning how evil works in this realm. It points out that those that proactively seek good will be blessed, however, those that seek evil will not have to worry about finding it, because it will come after them! In the spiritual realm, evil appears to have a will of it’s own. When it knows it is wanted, it is aggressive in its approach to its prey! Whatever makes evil, “evil”, its behavior is patterned after its author: 

1 Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

This is not some movie made to scare you; it is a fervent warning from the God that loves you. If you willingly move toward evil, it will turn and pursue you! For the most part God has extended His love to all humans to allow them the freedom of choice. In most cases He will allow you to go in the direction you choose, even though that is not His desire. This is a supreme show of love, respecting our choice. However, even though we are free to choose, we are not free to escape the consequences of that choice. Some think God does not care, clearly, they show their ignorance of Scripture. The Word is packed with verses that show God’s desire for us to make the right choice. Jesus expressed it so well as He looked at Jerusalem right before His death:

Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!

It amazes me how God gets blamed for the consequences we humans experience because of the evil we pursue. We act as though our evil will only impact the guilty, so we blame God for all the suffering of those that are innocent. We hoard food, money and wealth and then blame God for starving nations. What is so ironic is some of the loudest voices are the “elite” stars of this world that have 10 to 1000 times the money they need to live, yet they do not see how their greed for what they can have, if shared could feed thousands of children. God does not resent those that make a lot of money, but is it fair that they run around labeling everyone else as selfish and greedy and they themselves keep most of what they have for themselves, while also labeling God as being unfair?

Of all of us, God understands how evil works and He always encourages those that are in danger to be aware of it and change their direction. Consider what God said when He saw that Cain was pursuing evil:

Genesis 4:6–7 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

As difficult as it is to deal with the spiritual realm for those of us that live in the physical realm, we must not lose heart. God can open our spiritual eyes and we will see that even though evil may be active, God is even more active! We need to pray as Elisha did and then we will see God’s response to evil! 

2 Kings 6:15–17 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

Meditation: How about you? Are you alert to what your flesh desires, or do you just let it happen? When you desire what you know is wrong, what do you do with that desire? Do you have someone in your life that can help you evaluate what you are chasing after? If not, why? If you are a child of God and believe you have a personal Savior, do you also  understand you have a personal enemy.