The Simple Life

And when their hearts were merry, they said, "Call Samson, that he may entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, "Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them." Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained. Then Samson called to the Lord and said, "O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes." And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines." Then he bowed with all his strength, and the hou...

And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, "Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us." Judges 16:24 (ESV)   Often, losers hold rallies to celebrate what they have declared as victories. The problem is that a majority vote can never determine right and wrong, good and bad, or victory and defeat. God defines right, God exemplifies good, and God grants victory. People need to learn about what is right and wrong, observe what is good, and position themselves to be a part of the victory that is certain to come to those who walk with God.   God does not have perspective, but we, the people, do have perspective. God is not influenced by modern trends, rhetoric, or emotional frenzies, but we, the people, are influenced by them.   These people were attributing an apparent victory to an idol that was a manufactured creation. They soon learned that their celebration was in vain, and, in moments, would b...

And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. Judges  16:20-21  (ESV )   All of a sudden, reality strikes. You cannot ignore God and be blessed by God. You cannot focus on yourself and remain in focus. Usually, the only one who does not see the tragedy coming is the one who is the victim of the tragedy. When we look back, we can see why a tragedy occurred and what we could have done to avoid it.   Samson was embroiled in attempts to satisfy his fleshy desires, and amid desire, he lost his destiny. Often, our desires eclipse our education, our feelings fool with the facts, and our potential is something we ponder more than we produce. Feelings should be the ...

And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, "We have sinned against you, because we have forsaken our God and have served the Baals." And the Lord said to the people of Israel, "Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress." Judges  10:10-14  (ESV)   Can you imagine God saying "I will save you no more"? There is a pattern here. God reminds them of all the times He demonstrated Himself to them, and yet they still forsook Him and ran to the dead in hopes of finding life.   We cannot blame God for our troubles. God solves problems. He does not cause problems, and if we blame Him for ...

The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the Lord and did not serve him. Judges 10:6 (ESV)   Do we not learn? Are there not enough examples of tragic lives in those who have abandoned God before us? This cycle of destruction happens over and over and over again in this book of Judges. The pattern is the same. People begin to abandon God, to forget about Him, and to live lives focused on self-interest, feelings, comfort, power, and prosperity.   There is no possible way for a person to be significant and secure in this life without an ongoing intimate and submissive relationship with God. You can find this pattern here in the book of Judges, and you can find this pattern in the lives of those around you.   The only hope for those who have abandoned God is God, and they need ...

As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god. And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side, and they did not show steadfast love to the family of Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) in return for all the good that he had done to Israel. Judges 8:33-35 (ESV)   Tragedy strikes all those who trust in anything or anyone other than God. Good leadership always points the people away from the leader and to our God. Man will live and die, do good and bad, be reliable, and then unreliable. God is consistent. When you put your hope in that which changes, your hope eventually turns into despair.   It is a pitiful thing to watch a people who have been directed by Godly leaders who are just waiting for the chance to "cut loose" and live without the restraint and stability those leaders have provided. The leader focused on remembering the L...

The Lord said to Gideon, "The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.'" Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained. Judges 7:2-3 (ESV)   Can you imagine God telling those who are going to war that they have too many soldiers, too much money, too much power, too many weapons, or, frankly, too much anything? If I am going to war, I want to have every advantage I can, yet God is the only advantage I need.   If God is for me, who can be against me? If God desires me to be involved in a victory, then all the world's armies and underworld combined cannot change the outcome.   Often, God needs to adjust things so that we learn not to trust ourselves, our money, our talent, or our abilities. Those with nothing...

When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, "Who has done this thing?" And after they had searched and inquired, they said, "Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing." Judges 6:28-29 (ESV)   The altar of Baal was nothing, and those who thought it was something were about to get schooled in reality. There are those who "get it" and those who do not. There are those who act on what they know, and those who think about acting on what they know. Thinking about acting is not acting.   Gideon positioned himself so that God would use him. He was afraid and understood that the people would rise in anger against him, so he did this deed at night. But he did obey God, and this obedience would position him to lead his people out of the spiritual darkness in which they were trapped...

And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, "The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor." And Gideon said to him, "Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, 'Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?' But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.'" And the Lord turned to him and said, "Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?" And he said to him, "Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house." And the Lord said to him, "But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man." Judges  6:12-16  (ESV)   We often feel as if God has abandoned us when times get tough. We forget that we forgot God and that our forgetfulness is why God has seem...

When the people of Israel cried out to the Lord on account of the Midianites, the Lord sent a prophet to the people of Israel. And he said to them, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery. And I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you and gave you their land. And I said to you, 'I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.' But you have not obeyed my voice." Judges 6:7-10 (ESV)   We often wait too long to cry out to God. We wait until the disasters that are certain become certain. Time after time, we see the disastrous lives of those who exclude God from their lives, yet we do the same and hope the result is different.   Excluding God from your life will never yield a good result. Banning God from your life will mean that one day, you will cry out to Him for mercy. Hopefully, ...

After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel. Judges 3:31 (ESV Strong's) "This is one of the most singular and astonishing battles in the history of the world. If Shamgar had been stationed in some Thermopylae, where the foe could only come one or two at a time it would not have been so wonderful; but he was in the open field, literally surrounded by six hundred desperadoes, bent on plunder and death. It gives us some idea of what pluck can do for a man when fired with the love of home and country." (T. Kelly) A man and a stick armed with God's purposes and power is more powerful than 600 desperadoes. God alone determines victory. God defines victory apart from comfort, ease, and power. Victory comes to those who trust in God and position themselves so that others can see God's work clearly. I imagine Shamgar was tired and sore after this battle. Being used by God does not ensure that we are pro...

And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Judges 3:12 (ESV) There is a pattern in the book of Judges. People ignore God, then do evil, and then get in trouble. After recognizing the problem, they turn to God in repentance, and God provides a leader who leads them back to His ways. They rejoice and have hope and a future.   For a while, they enjoy, once again, the blessings of walking with God until they, for some reason, forget Him again, and the pattern starts all over. Twelve times, this cycle played itself out. Twelve times, people suffered needlessly because they refused to learn from the past. Today, we are not much different. There are many lessons we can learn from our past and the past lives of others.   We will learn the lessons we are supposed to in life, and we will learn them the easy way or the hard way, bu...

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth. Judges 3:7 (ESV)   Terrible times have a beginning. They always start with the forgetting of the Lord. Often, we forget what we should remember and remember what we should forget. For some reason, we meditate on the menial, focus on the familiar, and get absorbed in the apparent, rather than spending time enjoying God. The potential God gave us is squandered. Our lives become controlled by the out-of-control, and we wonder why we are miserable.   That is when God, in His gracious love, provides a way that leads us out of our current darkness and into the light we were meant to walk if we are not eclipsed by the moments. God does not cause our problems. Our ignorance of God causes them, and they can be solved by intentionally refocusing on who He is, His purposes for us in creation, and His mercy, grace, and love.   What we focus on wil...

Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. Judges  2:18-19  (ESV)   What would it take for someone to change? When we are a child, we seem to be pliable, and the older we get, the harder it is to let go of things we have chosen to believe. Soon, what we believe, we believe to be accurate, even though the only criterion we have established is the fact that we believe it.   Believing something does not make it true and could make you stubborn. Many have a strong belief system in place yet live in complete darkness. God's Word alone can and should evaluate...

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lord to anger. Judges  2:11-12  (ESV)   Provoking God is not a good idea. We are told in the Ten Commandments and through common sense that we should not worship any other god than God. Yet, we seem to love serving gods of our own making, gods we can control, and gods that make us the center of the universe.   God's provocation is not because He feels helpless but because we choose to be helpless. We choose to yield ourselves to things that do not matter, ignore what matters, and act as if the worthless has some worth. Then, we wonder why we are so miserable.   Those who are disconnected from God are disconnected from life, and the more they try...

When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. Judges 2:6-7 (ESV)   We must enrich the next generation's lives with the history of God's faithfulness. We must help them identify what allowed those who lived victorious lives to be victorious. Joshua is a book of victory. Judges is a book of defeat. The difference is striking, simple to understand, and offers timeless lessons.   God is God; we are not. Complete obedience to Him is necessary for those who are to be included in His game plan. Pain is part of the process and should not be celebrated, but it should also not be avoided.   Those in Judges eventually forgot that man is here to show who God is, not to use God for comfort and ease. Ultimately, this neglect destroyed all God had...

1 Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, "I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you, 2 and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? 3 So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you." Judges 2:1-3 (ESV Strong's)   Much of the misery in our lives is not due to Satanic oppression. It is due to our disobedience. Satan does not need to oppress those who oppress themselves.   God and His Word are the only things Satan fears, yet we so often minimize both while maximizing our human effort, and then we wonder why we live in a defeated state. God has given us all we need. If we do not use what He gives us, we should not blame Him for our ...

Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land. When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely. And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them. Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor. Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob, so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Judges 1:27-32 (ESV)   "Manasseh and Ephraim, and the rest of these tribes, did...

And the Lord was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron. And Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said. And he drove out from it the three sons of Anak. But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. Judges  1:19-21  (ESV)   Partial obedience is disobedience. No matter how we justify our sin, it is still sin and will separate us from all we love and all good things. There is no such thing as  almost  obeying or listening.   We sin when we take the clarity of God's Word and make it foggy. In fact, when we make it more difficult than it is, we tend to make loopholes that allow us to begin to justify the very evil that God condemns.   God's ways, at times, may be difficult to understand, but His commands are simple and straightforw...

After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the Lord, "Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?" The Lord said, "Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand." And Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites." Judges 1:1-3 (ESV)   When Joshua took over as the leader of the Israelites, God told him that the old leader, God's servant, Moses, was dead. Now, at the beginning of Judges, the tribes of Israel are reminded that Joshua is dead and that they must go on.   The work of God should never focus on the leader of God because it is about God. Healthy ministries are thankful for their leadership but do not worship them. Nobody is needed to do God's work. He is capable of doing it all by Himself. Instead, God wants us to join Him and share the tremendous victories He will establish. We are in on the vi...