Permission to Sin?

As I read through Judges 14 this morning, I expected that familiar story of Samson killing the lion with his bare hands and then going back to the carcass and scooping out a handful of honey, thereby defying his Nazarite vow. He then shared the honey with his parents, in what seems to be an attempt by Samson to spread the guilt evenly throughout his whole family.  Although their are numerous lessons about temptation and choices in this passage, one area of the passage really confused me.  We see in the beginning that Samson sees a woman and has to have her. (this is a familiar theme with Samson, so no shocker there)  What really confused me was that Samson is jonesing over this girl, his parents are dead set against it, but the Lord actually wants Samson to pursue this girl. Now, being joined with another culture is a big no no throughout the Old Testament, so much so that at times God commanded the Israelites to wipe out all the people who were not of Israel. Now we see that God is planning on Samson joining with a Philistine woman, and even mentioned that Samson's parents who were attempting to keep him on the right track were unaware of God's actual plan. This set off warning bells, klaxons, and strobe lights in my mind. Did God really want Samson to go against all that was right for him?  While I cannot be sure of God's intentions through my own finite thought process, I can refer to Scripture to help me decipher something that seems contrary to the nature of God.  The passage states very clearly that God was trying to set up an "occasion" with the Philistines.  The Israelites had been under the Philistine thumb for too long, and God was fed up with it. Does that mean that God actually condoned Samson breaking with Israelite law and tradition?  As I digest the story even more, I begin to see parallels between our modern day and the day of Samson. God knew every intimate part of Samson, and new his areas of weakness, just as God knows ours.  God did not need to nudge Samson in a direction that Samson's fallen nature was already taking him. In reality, all of the tragedy and triumph of the story of Samson would not have happened had Samson actually been 100% obedient. In reality, there is no Scripture that says, "determine if your particular sin furthers the kingdom of God before entering therein". (I apologize for the pretentious use of therein, I just don;t get many opportunities to pull that out of the bag)  The bottom line for Samson and for us it that God knows our predilection to certain types of sin. Him being all knowing, and having the most profound understanding of human nature means that he able to handle our weaknesses and turn them into strengths, or at least moments of impact. He is not surprised or shocked when we do the same thing we have always done, but he is saddened when we turn our backs on Him and pursue our own path. So, in summation, no, we do not have permission to sin. But we will.  There are no such things as "sanctioned" sins, no matter how much justifying we as humans do.  There is however, a God who has a plan for us which contains full disclosure regarding our fallen nature.

If you have any insights of comments about this issue, please post on FB, so we can discuss.  I am still not sure if I have my head wrapped around this one.

The Two Words Guaranteed to Destroy any Relationship

Often times, following closely upon the heels of "I do" are the deadly words, "I deserve".  It permeates every aspect of our lives, and can be perpetual fertilizer for our resentment and anger.  In fact, the very beginning of sin, as it is recorded in the Bible comes from those very 2 words.  Satan thought, "I deserve", as he sought to take what he thought to be his rightful place in Heaven's hierarchy.  Eve was tempted by the deceit of these words as she sought to fill the void of "I deserve" while she bit into the fruit that she felt was withheld from her by a stingy God. As I look back on all of the vast number of incidents in my life where anger and resentment have grabbed the steering wheel and directed me into oncoming traffic, all of them found their root in the words "I deserve".  These words have become the very foundation of our American mindset as each individual seeks to grasp and claw for what they "deserve".  "I deserve to have a wife who supports me no matter what."  "I deserve to have kids that listen to me and heed my every command." "I deserve to have a boss who appreciates the work that I do." " I deserve to have a fair and just reward for my efforts." "I deserve, I deserve, I deserve." "I deserve to have horrible drivers not obliviously cut me off."  This concept of getting what we deserve slowly undermines every aspect of our lives as it pertains to anger and resentment.  During the past month, an amazing Biblical lesson was taught to me as I listened to the story of Abram as he stood in front of a vast, beautiful grazing range that by every law and right he deserved.  To his left stood his somewhat sketchy nephew, Lot.  Lot had made very few good choices to this point in his life, and what he truly deserved was the leftovers that Abram did not want. Abram, in an act contrary to what most people would find even reasonable, gave Lot the first choice of the land.  Of course, Lot chose all of the best for himself.  I have no doubt that Abram knew exactly what choice Lot would make, but Abram chose to eliminate "I deserve" from his vocabulary and thereby received an even greater blessing from God.  If I break it down even further in to what we truly deserve, there are countless verses in the Bible that tell us that what we truly deserve is spiritual and physical death. God, in his infinite grace, and in his wisdom (although I often wonder how wise it is that he chose me as His reclamation project), sent His Son to die for us.  The one person who actually could have said "I deserve" and actually been worthy of that sentiment. It goes against every lesson from human psychology to not spend our lives carving out what we deserve.  It goes against every urge we have when we disagree with our wives, husbands, coworkers, tax man, neighbors and kids. I still have a long journey ahead of me to erase these devastating words from my mindset and vocabulary, and I can bet that most of you who are reading this have some inroads to make in this area as well.  It is human nature and the whole course of human existence that we are battling against.  Although the battle will be fierce, we have assurance that God is on our side, and he has brought us beyond what we deserve, to a place where His Son frees us from those words.  The next time you get into an argument, get cut off in traffic, have a rough time with your boss, or have your kids do the exact opposite of what you desire, think the following thought.  In fact, picture the following scene.  Jesus, weeping blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, prays to his Father in Heaven if there is any way he can avoid bearing what we deserve on the cross.  He then surrenders His "I deserve" to the saving plan that his Father has in place.  Is your "I deserve" able to trump that?  If not, surrender the idea of what you deserve to the plan for peace that our Heavenly Father has for us.  I am betting some of you are even cringing as I paint a picture of a world where you have no rights and you rely on the whims of those around you. I cringe too.  But not as much as Jesus must have cringed when the nails pierced his hands, or when the soldier pierced his side or mocked him with cries of "save yourself".  He did not deserve that. We did.  Don't fall for the trap of rights and "I deserve".  Lead through your surrender to Jesus and his saving work on the cross. He will provide for all your needs. And that is far more than any of us deserve.

The God Who Sees Me (how the gospel works)

Have you ever had that feeling that someone is following you?  Often times people who have experienced trauma are set off by the sound of echoing footsteps in the subway tunnel, a snapping branch in the twilight woods, or by a small gesture or noise that brings their trauma rushing back to them.  Our church service this morning was about  just such a story of trauma.  A woman who was taken as a slave from her homeland was mistreated by her master, taken by force by her master's husband and found to be with child.  Sarai, her master greatly resented this pregnancy and began severely mistreating and abusing her.  In desperation, Hagar ran from her only home to an unknown and most likely fearsome destination.  Hagar had no destination in mind,except for one that did not include Sarai and Abram. Although I cannot imagine her pain, there was a time in my life when I was running as well. Maybe the trauma was not as severe, but the destination was just as vague and bleak.  In a perfect example of God's pursuing love, and of the absolute grace that he extended when I did nothing to reach out to Him, he saw me and saved me.  The same happened to Hagar.  God actually showed up to her, asked her to step out in faith by following Him into a path that was clearer, although not one that would be free from trials. Here we have a woman whom society would have shunned, who had absolutely no place to go, and had absolutely no connection to God.  She ran exactly because she lacked that connection.  God saw her though.  God saw her hurt, and her mistreatment and saw that her future was bleak at best.  He reached out to her, cut through her own anger and fear, promised her a future that would be secure, and most importantly, made it clear that He saw her.  Her pain was not hidden.  Her fear was not disguised.  This same God is still pursuing us. In fact, the whole of His story throughout the Bible is that God pursues us. He sees us.  Not just in the "don't do anything wrong, God is watching" sense, but in the "everything may be going wrong, but God is watching"sense. He was watching a scared, lonely, single mother who had nowhere to go and no plan when she reached there.  He is watching you as well. Your pain, your anger at others, your anger at God, the heights and depths of your addiction, the hidden areas where no one else has even a glimpse of your hurt.  He sees it and feels it and will pursue you and wants nothing more than to take that feeling upon himself.  He did that for us on the cross.  It is just up to you to respond to the God Who Sees You.