THE END OF EVIL

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In those days Israel had no king.

Now a Levite who lived in a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah. But she was unfaithful to him. She left him and went back to her father's house in Bethlehem, Judah. After she had been there four months, her husband went to her to persuade her to return. He had with him his servant and two donkeys. She took him into her father's house, and when her father saw him, he gladly welcomed him. His father-in-law, the girl's father, prevailed upon him to stay; so he remained with him three days, eating and drinking, and sleeping there.

On the fourth day, they got up early and he prepared to leave, but the girl's father said to his son-in-law, "Refresh yourself with something to eat; then you can go." So the two of them sat down to eat and drink together. Afterward the girl's father said, "Please stay tonight and enjoy yourself." And when the man got up to go, his father-in-law persuaded him, so he stayed there that night. On the morning of the fifth day, when he rose to go, the girl's father said, "Refresh yourself. Wait till afternoon!" So the two of them ate together.

Then when the man, with his concubine and his servant, got up to leave, his father-in-law, the girl's father, said, "Now look, it's almost evening. Spend the night here; the day is nearly over. Stay and enjoy yourself. Early tomorrow morning, you can get up and be on your way home." But, unwilling to stay another night, the man left and went toward Jebus (that is, Jerusalem), with his two saddled donkeys and his concubine.

When they were near Jebus and the day was almost gone, the servant said to his master, "Come, let's stop at this city of the Jebusites and spend the night."

His master replied, "No. We won't go into an alien city, whose people are not Israelites. We will go on to Gibeah." He added, "Come, let's try to reach Gibeah or Ramah and spend the night in one of those places." So they went on, and the sun set as they neared Gibeah in Benjamin. There they stopped to spend the night. They went and sat in the city square, but no one took them into his home for the night.

That evening, an old man from the hill country of Ephraim, who was living in Gibeah (the men of the place were Benjamites), came in from his work in the fields. When he looked and saw the traveler in the city square, the old man asked, "Where are you going? Where did you come from?"

He answered, "We are on our way from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote area in the hill country of Ephraim where I live. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going to the house of the Lord. No one has taken me into his house. We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves your servants—me, your maidservant, and the young man with us. We don't need anything."

"You are welcome at my house," the old man said. "Let me supply whatever you need. Only don't spend the night in the square." So he took him into his house and fed his donkeys. After they had washed their feet, they had something to eat and drink.

While they were enjoying themselves, some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him."

The owner of the house went outside and said to them, "No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing. Look, here is my virgin daughter, and his concubine. I will bring them out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing."

But the men would not listen to him. So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight.

When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, "Get up; let's go." But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

When he reached home, he took a knife and cut up his concubine, limb by limb, into twelve parts and sent them into all the areas of Israel. Everyone who saw it said, "Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!"

Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came out as one man and assembled before the Lord in Mizpah. The leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords. (The Benjamites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah.) Then the Israelites said, "Tell us how this awful thing happened."

So the Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, said, "I and my concubine came to Gibeah in Benjamin to spend the night. During the night, the men of Gibeah came after me and surrounded the house, intending to kill me. They raped my concubine, and she died. I took my concubine, cut her into pieces and sent one piece to each region of Israel's inheritance, because they committed this lewd and disgraceful act in Israel. Now, all you Israelites, speak up and give your verdict."

All the people rose as one man, saying, "None of us will go home. No, not one of us will return to his house. But now this is what we'll do to Gibeah: We'll go up against it as the lot directs. We'll take ten men out of every hundred from all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred from a thousand, and a thousand from ten thousand, to get provisions for the army. Then, when the army arrives at Gibeah in Benjamin, it can give them what they deserve for all this vileness done in Israel."

So all the men of Israel got together and united as one man against the city.

Judges 19, 20:1-11

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There’s a lot of good going on in the world today.

I know it seems that it isn’t true from what we see in the news every day but ask yourself whether or not the news stations give us an accurate assessment of the way things really are…or do they just show us what they want to show us?

I think the answers are no and yes…and one answer leads to the other.

For truly, any news program is inherently subjective and too often, not objective. On one hand, it’s impossible to show everything but there is a choice as to what gets shown and if or if not an agenda is set that dictates content shared. So what we see is stations choosing programming they feel will be newsworthy but also allowing the worldviews, which includes political leanings, to shape what gets shown and how it is framed to the viewers. Too often this ends up with a story that may be interesting to one person that is rejected by another.

Of course, there are some happenings that seem to appeal to all and unfortunately these events are the tragic, unfortunate things that happen to people like people being shot, sometimes dead. Or other acts of violence that are committed. Or serious car accidents. Indeed, it seems like we rarely hear about good news but we shouldn’t be so naïve to believe that there isn’t any to report on for there is…a multitude of stories that would speak to the wonderful things people are doing for others…but those stories just don’t make it into the broader public eye.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if we could change that? Wouldn’t you tune into a channel where there was nothing but positive uplifting news, 24/7?

I know I would and it’s not something that is impossible in any way. As a people, we just need to demand that we’re done hearing about shooting and killing and bad wrecks and will stand for nothing less than hearing of all the good that is happening in our communities and world.

It’s this point, exchanging glorification of evil for the promotion of good, that I think is central to the scripture in this message today. For as we see Judges, chapter 19 open, we are immersed in an immoral situation, one that would probably be interesting in a world that seems to thrive on sinful news. This immorality involves a Levite (priest) from Ephraim who took a concubine (mistress) from Judah who was then unfaithful to him before leaving altogether and moving back in with her father.

So to summarize, a priest had a mistress who had an affair and then left him. That’s how this story starts.

And then it gets worse.

For the scriptures tell us the Levite went to the concubine’s father, wanting to get her back. Her father encourages him to first stay there three days which turns into a fourth day and then a fifth before proposing a sixth that had the Levite fed up. We read where he decides to take the concubine, a male servant, and donkeys, heading toward Jebus (which was another name for Jerusalem).

Well, as they neared Jebus, we see where the male servant suggests that they should stay in the city, a suggestion that was quickly shot by the Levite because the Jebusite people were alien people (non-Israelite). And so the Levite traveled beyond Jebus to Gibeah, located in Benjamin, where they were “surprisingly…not shown hospitality by any fellow Israelites” and so they spent “the night in the city square” instead.

The next day, we read where they were approached by an older man who was from Ephraim but resided in Gibeah. Having just returned from the fields, he saw the Levite, his concubine, and donkeys and asked them:

"Where are you going? Where did you come from?"

And after the Levite answered the man’s question, he details all he has before finishing up by saying:

“We don't need anything."

In other words, the Levite was basically saying that all they needed was just a place to stay in town.

Well, in an instant act of hospitality common to the Jewish cultural norms, the man tells the Levite:

“You are welcome at my house…Let me supply whatever you need.”

And with that, the old man took the Levite, his concubine, his servant, and his donkeys in…feeding the donkeys, providing water so the guests could wash their feet, and then giving them food and drink. All seemed well but that was soon to change.

For the scriptures tell us that while the old man and his company were “enjoying themselves”, some “wicked men of the city surrounded the house” and pounded “on the door”. They shouted out to the old man, asking him to send out the Levite guest so they could have sex with him…which in the moment, made Gibeah look like another Sodom.

In response to this, we read where the older man…the owner of the house…tried to reason with the men saying:

“No, my friends, don't be so vile. Since this man is my guest, don't do this disgraceful thing”.

We even see the older man and Levite do something unconscionable as they were willing to give a virgin daughter and concubine respectively in place of the Levite saying:

“I will bring them (the women) out to you now, and you can use them and do to them whatever you wish. But to this man, don't do such a disgraceful thing."

Note how the virgin daughter and concubine didn’t have a vote in this matter as the plot thickens. The old man and Levite were willing to sacrifice them to prevent the Levite from being sexually assaulted…and this would have been bad enough but we see where they also granted the Gibeathite men permission to do whatever they wanted to the women. It was nothing short of horrific.

Well, we read where the homosexual Gibeathites refused to listen to the older man and so the Levite did something incredibly awful for the scriptures tell us that he sent his concubine outside to the men who “raped…and abused her throughout the night” until dawn. After the evil onslaught, we read where she tried to get back into the house but fell and died at the doorway.

If there was a news station in biblical times, they may have led with the following headline…”Mistress from Judah dies after being raped and abused by a group of homosexual men in Gibeah”.

When we get right down to it, the Levite was essentially an accessory to the concubine’s murder and inexcusably, he didn’t even check on her until he woke up in the morning. When he found her dead, we read where he “put her on his donkey and set out for home” and when he arrived there, he did something else that was outrageously amoral . For the scriptures tell us that he “took a knife and cut up” the dead concubine “limb by limb” and “into twelve parts” which he then sent “into all the areas of Israel”.

Can you imagine what this much have been like for each of the twelve Israelite tribes who received a portion of this woman’s body from the Levite?

It’s little wonder that “everyone who saw it said” the following:

“Such a thing has never been seen or done, not since the day the Israelites came up out of Egypt. Think about it! Consider it! Tell us what to do!”

Again, a news channel back then might have this as the main story:

“Breaking news! Levite man cuts his dead mistress into twelve pieces and mails one part of her to each tribe.”

Well, the reaction of the Israelites was understandable for we read where they were up in arms, all coming “out as one man” to assemble “before the Lord in Mizpah”. There, the “leaders of all the people of the tribes of Israel took their places in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand soldiers armed with swords” and asked:

“Tell us how this awful thing happened."

“News flash! Israel gathers at Mizpah! Demands explanation from a Levite priest!”

In response to the request, we find the Levite telling the gathered Israelites about what happened in Gibeah and why he felt impelled to send them a piece of the concubine to bring their attention to the “lewd and disgraceful act” that had taken place. He asked for the people of Israel to “speak up and give your verdict” and we see where the Israelites pledge their unity in standing up against the “vileness done”.

“This just in! The people of Israel unite against the heinous evil done in Gibeah!

Friends, isn’t this something we should be doing as well? Shouldn’t we show ourselves as a people who are lock-stepped in our rejection of evil, no matter what form it takes.

For how much change would we see our world if every single person would decide that they were fed up with evil once and for all?

The world’s population is around 8 billion people and there is no question it can be a force if they would only be able to come together for a common cause. If this force, under the guidance and direction of God, spoke out against any and all forms of wickedness, it would be the same as speaking out against Satan himself and if everyone were opposed to him then there would be no place for him to do his malevolent work. Everyone would be committed to things that are good and just and right because they would be dedicated to the things of the Lord.

Maybe I’m a dreamer but I refuse to lose hope in a day when evil might end. In fact, none of us should because Jesus promised us that this day will one day come…on the day when He returns. When that happens, we know through the scriptures that perfect justice will be carried out as the reset button is hit on all creation, returning things to where they were before sin entered in…to a place where there was no evil.

My brothers and sisters, this is incredible good news for us, today and every day, news that will always keep things bright and joyful, no matter what else we might hear or read in the worldly news.

The truth is that evil will NEVER have the full victory and WILL NOT stand the test of time for good WILL reign supreme one day.

These are divine headlines given to us by God’s Word and we should always hold to…and tell others about them, making sure that the perfect promise of this good news is grounded in Jesus, the Author of our lives and Savior of our souls…the One who will vanquish Satan and evil from life forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

WHO DO YOU BELONG TO?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

In those days, Israel had no king. And in those days, the tribe of the Danites was seeking a place of their own where they might settle, because they had not yet come into an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. So the Danites sent five warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it. These men represented all their clans. They told them, “Go, explore the land.”

The men entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night. When they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite so they turned in there and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”

He told them what Micah had done for him and said, “He has hired me and I am his priest.”

Then they said to him, “Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.”

The priest answered them, “Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord’s approval.”

So the five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety, like the Sidonians, unsuspecting and secure. And since their land lacked nothing, they were prosperous. Also, they lived a long way from the Sidonians and had no relationship with anyone else.

When they returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked them, “How did you find things?”

They answered, “Come on, let’s attack them! We have seen that the land is very good. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t hesitate to go there and take it over. When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.

Then six hundred men from the clan of the Danites, armed for battle, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol. On their way, they set up camp near Kiriath Jearim in Judah. This is why the place west of Kiriath Jearim is called Mahaneh Dan to this day. From there, they went on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

Then the five men who had spied out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that one of these houses has an ephod, other household gods, a carved image, and a cast idol? Now you know what to do.” So they turned in there and went to the house of the young Levite at Micah’s place and greeted him. The six hundred Danites, armed for battle, stood at the entrance to the gate. The five men who had spied out the land went inside and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods, and the cast idol while the priest and the six hundred armed men stood at the entrance to the gate.

When these men went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the other household gods, and the cast idol, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?”

They answered him, “Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?” Then the priest was glad. He took the ephod, the other household gods, and the carved image and went along with the people. Putting their little children, their livestock, and their possessions in front of them, they turned away and left.

When they had gone some distance from Micah’s house, the men who lived near Micah were called together and overtook the Danites. As they shouted after them, the Danites turned and said to Micah, “What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”

He replied, “You took the gods I made and my priest and went away. What else do I have? How can you ask, ‘What’s the matter with you?’ “

The Danites answered, “Don’t argue with us or some hot tempered men will attack you, and you and your family will lose your lives.” So the Danites went their way and Micah, seeing that they were too strong for him, turned around and went back home.

Then they took what Micah had made and his priest and went on to Laish, against a peaceful and unsuspecting people. They attacked them with the sword and burned down their city. There was no one to rescue them because they lived a long way from Sidon and had no relationship with anyone else. The city was in a valley near Beth Rehob.

The Danites rebuilt the city and settled there. They named it Dan after their forefather Dan, who was born to Israel – though the city used to be called Laish. There the Danites set up for themselves the idols and Jonathan, son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the time of the captivity of the land. They continued to use the idols Micah had made, all the time the house of God was in Shiloh.

Judges 18

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Judges, chapter 17, we were introduced to a man named Micah. You’ll recall that he had stolen silver shekels from his mother, then confessed to her and returned the stolen money hearing her call out a curse on whoever took it. In response to this, you’ll remember that the mother gave a portion of the silver back to Micah who used it to make an idol and a carved image, items he placed in a shrine within his home for worship. One of his sons was appointed to be his priest.

We also read where Micah later met a young Levite who he enlisted to work for him and be his priest. The Levite agreed to the offer and stayed with Micah and his family, serving as his personal priest and all seemed well in the household…or at least it did to Micah who was doing what he saw fit. Never for a moment did he stop to consider that what he was doing directly violated God’s commands regarding worship, worship that was to be centered on Him and Him alone.

The same was true for the young Levite who should have flat out rejected Micah’s proposal in the first place, warning him that his plan for worship was nothing short of wicked and false…worship that would be abhorred by God.

Obviously, the Lord wasn’t going to allow this to continue and so in today’s scripture passage, we see the Danites enter the scene, disrupting Micah’s peaceful solitude and breaking up his illicit worship arrangements.

The scriptures show us that the Danites primarily were searching for a place to live. And although they had been allotted land when Canaan was divided among the tribes, they had not been able to occupy their allotted region because of the Amorites and Philistines. So they sent out “five warriors from Zorah and Eshtaol to spy out the land and explore it”.

After setting out, we read where the men “entered the hill country of Ephraim and came to the house of Micah, where they spent the night” and while staying there, they “recognized the voice of the young Levite” and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?”

So the Levite, Micah’s self appointed priest, “told them what (he) had done for him”. And after learning that the young Levite was a priest, the five warriors made the following request:

“Please inquire of God to learn whether our journey will be successful.”

In response, the Levite, who we will learn in named Jonathan, the ”son of Gershom, the son of Moses”, tells the men to “go in peace” for their journey was approved by God. With this, we see that the “five men left and came to Laish, where they saw that the people were living in safety” and prosperity because the “land lacked nothing”. Additionally, they noticed that the people were “unsuspecting and secure”, living “a long way from the Sidonians and having no relationship with anyone else”. Armed with this information, they returned and made a report to their tribe.

The scriptures tell us that after they had returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, their brothers asked:

“How did you find things?”

To which they replied:

“Come on, let’s attack them! We have seen that the land is very good. Aren’t you going to do something? Don’t hesitate to go there and take it over. When you get there, you will find an unsuspecting people and a spacious land that God has put into your hands, a land that lacks nothing whatever.”

This had to be very welcome news to a people who had been nomadic and desperately in need of a place to call home but unfortunately, it spelled trouble for the unsuspecting people of Laish. For we read where the Danites set out to conquer Laish for themselves, six hundred men in number who were armed and ready for battle. And as they traveled toward Laish, the scriptures tell us that they came to Micah’s home and while the six hundred men waited, the five warriors who had visited prior entered the house and stole the stole the ephod, cast idol, carved image, and other household gods.

This met the objection of Jonathan, Micah’s young Levite priest but he was quickly silenced by the Danite thieves who said:

“Be quiet! Don’t say a word. Come with us, and be our father and priest. Isn’t it better that you serve a tribe and clan in Israel as priest rather than just one man’s household?”

And so we see where Jonathan, like so many of his fellow Israelites at the time, did what he saw was fit. Presented with the option of leaving Micah and joining the tribe of Dan, he gladly decides to do so, going with the marauding forces and leaving Micah behind. So much for loyalty, right?

With this, the tribe of Dan set back out for Laish, taking Jonathan and “the ephod, the other household gods, and the carved image” with them, unbeknownst that Micah, who didn’t take kindly to being robbed, was advancing on them along with a group of men who lived near him. We read where they “shouted after” the Danites who turned and said this to Micah:

“What’s the matter with you that you called out your men to fight?”

It was a question with an obvious answer as Micah explains that he had come after them for robbing his household and taking away his priest as well. Essentially, this left Micah asking the Danites this question:

“What else do I have?”

Here we find the problem that comes when we place our life value on things and not the Lord. It was an issue in biblical times and it still is today.

You see, we have a real tendency to latch onto worldly things, thinking we possess them…worldly things that have an expiration date on them. And when we place our faith and trust in things that are fleeting, we find ourselves like Micah, lost when we lose them. Indeed, as the old wise saying goes, “If we’re not careful, our possessions will possess us.”

Jesus addressed this in His famous Sermon on the Mount. Here’s what He had to say in Matthew, chapter 6:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Vv. 19-21

Micah’s treasure was his false idols, household gods, and self-appointed priest. They were where his heart was and so when they were taken, he was left feeling like he had nothing else left. This is what happens when we choose to live a life apart from God...the God we will never lose…the only One in life who will never leave us nor forsake us.

Given all this, the question is:

Who do you belong to?

Are you holding onto the Lord more than anything else in your life, and when I say anything, I mean anything. This includes human beings you might be close to such as an earthly father, mother, husband, wife, child, brother, sister, or anyone else. No one should be closer to your heart, mind and soul than the Lord Almighty (Matthew 22:37). Ditto for any material things.

This matter is very personal for me and so I would like to close with the following personal testimony, one that underscores this message and reinforces the expectations of God’s Word.

This true story begins in the year 2002. I was serving in the United States Navy at the time onboard the USS BATAAN in Norfolk VA and we were scheduled to go to sea for a brief overnighter. The weekend before we pulled out, my wife Grace had not been feeling well felt well and ended up spending the entire day Sunday in bed, something that was completely uncharacteristic for her. And so before I left the house to go to the ship on Monday morning, I made her promise me that she would go to her doctor if she still wasn’t feeling well, a plan she agreed to. And with that, I went to the ship and we pulled away from the pier, heading out to sea.

Later that afternoon, I tried to call Grace to see how she was doing and there was no answer at home and so feeling like something might be wrong, I called the closest hospital emergency room and was told she was there. Not wanting to give away too much information over the phone due to privacy reasons, the hospital would only tell me that she was being looked at and had a “blood disorder”. They added that they were admitting her, encouraging me to call back later so I could talk to her directly about her condition. They said she would be on the third floor but as I would find out later, she never made it there.

This is because the hospital sent her to the critical care wing of another hospital in downtown Norfolk, who placed her in intensive care. The ship’s doctor was able to call the doctors attending to Grace and they provided him the information about what was happening. Essentially, her platelet count was over four million and normal is 100,000 to 400,000. Her body had been turning into a big blood clot.

I remember praying harder than I had ever prayed before as I anxiously waited for the ship to get back into port so I could get to the hospital. Hours seemed like days but finally we got tied up and I was off to see her.

As I arrived at the critical care wing, I went into the room and saw Grace hooked to more monitors than I care to remember. She was extremely weak and sedated, and I learned that there was worry that she had a blood clot in her aorta. The nurses said it was very iffy as to whether she was going to make it.

And so I went outside her room, sat on the waiting bench, and prayed again…and the Lord spoke to my heart through the Spirit, giving me what I needed the most at the time…the truth. He basically told me that Grace belonged to Him, not me. He had blessed me with the opportunity to be her husband but she wasn’t mine and I didn’t have the right to dictate to Him the time and place when He would bring her back to Himself. If that was to happen, my only proper response was to rejoice and give thanks that He blessed me with the time Grace and I did spend together. He finished by letting me know the same applied to my two daughters.

Friends, I can’t tell you how liberating and comforting those words were to me in that moment for as always, the Lord was right. I had no legitimate claim to Grace for she didn’t belong to me. Ditto for my kids or my parents or anyone else who was dear to me for in the end translation, they all belonged to Him and Him alone. This would frame my view on relationships from that place forward for I viewed them through a new and holy perspective, a perspective provide by God.

Well, as it happened, Grace pulled through because it wasn’t yet her time to return to her Heavenly Father. And although we would learn she had an incurable bone marrow disease, the Lord blessed us with an awesome hematologist and medication that would keep her platelet producing mechanism in check with no side effects. Today, nearly 26 years later, she continues to do well, reminding us every day that the Lord was, is, and will always be so good.

As you read this today, I pray that you will see that God is the only One you need to belong to and see others as belonging to Him as well. May you ever see Him at work in life, ever showing His amazing goodness, grace, mercy and, most of all, love.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

ARE YOU LIVING AS YOU SEE FIT?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse — I have that silver with me; I took it."

Then his mother said, "The Lord bless you, my son!"

When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, "I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you."

So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into the image and the idol. And they were put in Micah's house.

Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some idols and installed one of his sons as his priest. In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within the clan of Judah, left that town in search of some other place to stay. On his way, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.

Micah asked him, "Where are you from?"

"I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah," he said, "and I'm looking for a place to stay."

Then Micah said to him, "Live with me and be my father and priest, and I'll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes, and your food." So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man was to him like one of his sons. Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. And Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest."

Judges 17

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

While living this thing called life, sometimes people will go a long time before they find God and often, this is because they tend to want to do what they want to do, unwilling to surrender themselves so to live only for Him and His ways. It’s true today and as we see in today’s message, it was in biblical times as well.

Point and case is a man named Micah who we meet in the seventeenth chapter of the Book of Judges, a man who isn’t any different than any other person in that he is overcome by a sinful action. In his case, it was the matter of stolen money, “eleven hundred shekels of silver” to be exact which he had taken from his mother.

As we read the story, we get a sense that Micah had been convicted by God for his actions, especially after he heard his mother call down a curse on whoever took the silver for he does go to her and confesses that he was the guilty party. Surprisingly, his mother doesn’t chastise him but rather commends him, saying:

"The Lord bless you, my son!"

And with that, Micah “returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother” after which she gives him some unusual instructions, instructions that will unfortunately plunge him back into sin:

“I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you."

Wait a minute! Did we read that right?

So Micah’s mother was vowing to “consecrate” the silver to the Lord, which meant she would seek to set it apart for God, but then turned around and told her son to fashion the silver into “a carved image and cast idol”, all this despite the Lord having given this command to the Israelites long before:

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:4-6

Here, we clearly see that Micah’s mother, the one who should have been bringing up her son to honor God, had no clue about Him or His Word. Tragically, her actions serve to set a series of events in motion that would lead her son to not worship properly. For he certainly wasn’t going to find the Lord in the idol he had made after taking the “two hundred shekels of silver” she gave him to the “silversmith who made them into the image and the idol”...articles he then placed in a shrine that had been fashioned in his home. And if that wasn’t enough, he also “made an ephod and some idols” before installing “one of his sons as his priest”.

Basically, Micah was spiritually messed up. For he took Canaanite worship principles which used idol worshipping as its main foundation and mixed them with Israelite worship principles which involved a priest who would oversee and conduct religious worship ceremonies. And despite God’s demand that all priests had to come from the Levite family tree, Micah disregarded this requirement and appointed his own son into the position.

What in the world do we see happening here? Is this just an isolated incident or had all of Israel lost it?

Well, we find the answer in our passage for at that time, the scriptures tell us that within Israel…and at that time…everyone was doing whatever they saw fit. In other words, everyone was on their own program, doing their own thing and satisfying their own desires and wants, regardless of what God commanded them to do. This explains why Micah and his mother had no problem fashioning an image and idol from silver…why they saw no issue with having their own private shrine to worship their idols…and why they didn’t see any problem with ordaining one of their own family members as a priest.

You don’t get much more “doing everything as you see fit” from a spiritual standpoint than that.

In thinking about this, I often wonder if our world isn’t getting to the same place today. For it sure seems to me that a majority of people are doing everything as THEY see fit, either ignoring God or being completely ignorant of Him altogether. And while living void of His guidance and direction, it becomes a pervasive atmosphere of anything goes with nothing being truly off limits. It’s a climate that I have to think both angers and saddens the Lord.

Indeed, Micah, his mother, and his priest-appointed son were all unwilling to completely give their lives and their worship practices over to God and Him alone.  

Well, the remainder of this scripture passage centers on a man who Micah encountered…”a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been living within the clan of Judah” and decided to leave “that town in search of some other place to stay”. After inquiring where the man had come from, Micah learned that he was a Levite and automatically gave the man a proposal saying:

“Live with me and be my father and priest, and I'll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food".

We see where the young Levite agreed to Micah’s terms and became “his priest”, living in “his house”. This led Micah to proclaim:

“Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest."

In other words, Micah believed he would now find favor with God through his newly appointed Levite priest, a Levite who would never had accepted the offer if he had truly knew and understood who God was and his true responsibilities to Him as a Levite. He, like the others in Israel, was doing as he saw fit, trading in his loyalty to the Lord for a paid salary and shelter.

In the end translation, neither Micah nor his new Levite priest were interested in fully submitting and surrendering themselves to God and His ways. Instead, they wanted to live life according to their terms and this included the way they chose to worship.   

Friends, it’s time to wake up and see that a true and edifying relationship with the God who is the Maker and Master of all creation doesn’t come through anything this world can give. We don’t need any human being or object to gain access to Him…no magical spiritual conduit we can travel through by adopting some form of mysticism.

Thankfully, the Lord is closer than we think and always ready to enter into a direct, intimate, personal relationship with anyone who simply seeks him, willing to do His will and not just what they see as fit. This special, loving one-on-one communion with Him will always end up pointing us toward His Son Jesus, the only One through which we can be saved (John 3:16, Romans 10:13)…the only One through which we can come to God the Father (John 14:6) and gain eternal life.

So where do you stand today?

Are you doing what you see fit in your life or have you turned your life over to the Lord, allowing Him to dictate everything you think, say, and do?

If you’ve yet to gain your salvation by coming to Jesus the Son through God the Father, please make today the day of your salvation.

It’s a decision you will never regret.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

STAYING POWERED UP

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."

So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."

Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man."

Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied."

He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man."

So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied."

He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric and tightened it with the pin.

Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." With such nagging, she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.

So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."

When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"

He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, "Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands."

When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying:

"Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain."

While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.

When they stood him among the pillars, Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the Lord, "O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."

Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

Then his brothers and his father's whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years.

Judges 16:4-31

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

His name was Samson.

He was the God-chosen judge of Israel who was purposed from birth having been raised by two faithful, God-loving parents.

And although he was supremely strong and shrewdly intelligent, he lived part of his life immersed in self centeredness, vengeance, disobedience, and sexual immorality.

As we finish up our study of Judges, chapter 16, we find Samson’s story come to a close. When considered with the other heroes of the Old Testament, he wouldn’t be considered at the top of the list. Rather, believers should carefully study his life so to avoid falling into the same transgressions.

In regard to his relationships, we saw at the beginning of this chapter how Samson chose to sleep with a Philistine prostitute before escaping the clutches of a band of Philistines who wanted to take his life. As we turn to today’s passage, we find him entering into one final tryst, one that will lead to his doom.

For we see in these verses, Samson falls in “love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah”, a union that the Philistines saw they could capitalize on to get rid of him for good. And so we find the “rulers of the Philistines” going to Delilah and saying:

“See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."

The money enticed Delilah to sell Samson out and so she attempted to coax the needed information from Him, saying:

“Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."

Well, you may remember that Samson had already been deceived by another Philistine woman and so it appeared that he was wise to the possibility that Delilah might be trying to do likewise. And so he gives her an answer but it wasn’t the truth, saying:

“If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man."

Armed with what she believed was the secret to removing Samson’s power, we find Delilah going to the “rulers of the Philistines” who give her “seven fresh thongs that had not been dried”. We read where she then used the thongs to tie up Samson and, “with (Philistine) men hidden in the room” and ready to take Samson captive, she called out:

“Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"

No sooner did she utter these words that Samson broke free from his bonds, snapping the “thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame”. After seeing this, Delilah realized that she had been lied to and told Samson this:

“You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied."

Well, as we see Samson lies to Delilah twice more as she persisted in trying to find out how to take away Samson’s strength so to betray him and gain the promised silver shekels. And yet, even after the third time, we see where she was undaunted in her quest to find out the answer she sought as she said this to Samson:

"How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength."

And with that, the scriptures tell us that she nagged and “prodded (Samson) day after day until he was tired to death”, reaching a place where he decided to tell “her everything”.

So what would it really take to remove Samson’s immense power?

We find him telling her, saying:

"No razor has ever been used on my head because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."

And with that Delilah, confident that she finally had the right solution, “sent word to the rulers of the Philistines” saying:

"Come back once more; he has told me everything."

And so the rulers “returned with the silver in their hands”, the stage now set for Samson to finally fall. We see where Delilah, not far from gaining the reward being offered, skillfully puts Samson to sleep on her lap before having one of the Philistine men to “shave off the seven braids of his hair”. We read where this “began to subdue” Samson, causing his strength to leave, providing the moment the Philistines to finally have their way with him. The scriptures tell us that they “seized him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza” where they bound him “with bronze shackles” and “set him to grinding in the prison”. While incarcerated, Samson’s “hair on his head began to grow again”, which we will see allows his strength to return for one last defining moment.

You know, perhaps the saddest part of this betrayal story is that Samson didn’t even realize he was in trouble. He had always been able to overpower his adversaries in the past and was confident it would happen again. But the Lord had left him and sadly, he wasn’t aware of it.

So why didn’t Samson have the awareness he truly needed for proper discernment?

My guess is that he didn’t have a consistent relationship with his God and there’s evidence of this throughout his life story. And while it’s true that there was at least one juncture when he did turn to the Lord for help (a request to quench his thirst in Judges 15:18), he spent much more of his time living in selfish, self-centeredness, always wanting to have his own way on things.

Through his behavior, we should hopefully learn that our Lord isn’t some fast-food kind of God, someone we only express faith in when it’s convenient or when we fall into a time of sudden distress. Rather, we’re expected to turn to Him always…24/7…365 days a year. For if we do this, then we will always be connected to the Lord and He to us. If only Samson had done this, his story might have read much differently.

So how did his story end?

Well, we see where Samson does go out on a good note, used by God as an instrument of judgment on the Philistine people and their rulers. For as they gathered to “offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god”, they celebrated, proclaiming:

"Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands…Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain”.

And with that, they summoned the eye-less Samson to provide entertainment. They brought him “out of the prison, and he performed” but as he finished we find him asking one of his servants to do the following:

“Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them".

We read where the servant does as he’s asked and then Samson “prayed to the Lord” saying:

"O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."

We should notice here that Samson once again turned back toward God as the true source of his power and God delivered on his request for we read where “Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood”, braced himself against them, and shouted, “Let me die with the Philistines!", before he “pushed with all his might” and brought the temple down “on the rulers and all the people in it” as well as himself. He died a martyr for the one true God, having taken out the adversary of his fellow Israelites, His body was “buried…between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father” after leading Israel for twenty years.

So the life of Samson finished up here but perhaps in the end, he learned his greatest lesson…and, by doing so, taught us an important eternal truth. For Samson came to discover that his true strength wasn’t in his hair or his mind or in his muscles but rather in his God and in Him alone. He has been so since the dawn of mankind, the only true source of power for any man, woman, or child. The good news in this is that no believer today will ever be void of the strength they need as long as they remain plugged into THE power Source…that being the Lord. In Him, we can ensure we are powered up so to carry out the purposes He has for us day after day.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.