Topic: Danger Of Self-Will [Thursday March 29, 2018]
Text: Judges 14:1-11 (KJV)
Key Verse: “Then his father and his mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well” (Judges 14:3).
MESSAGE:
Not many people will like to be remembered for what they otherwise would have been, especially when there is clear evidence that they had tremendous potentials to be something else. History reserves unkind remarks for such people for their wasted, God- given gifts and privileges, though they had attained some measure of success.
Samson was intended by God to be a Nazarite and live according to God’s highest standard for His people. He grew up in Zorah and wanted to marry a Philistine woman from Timnah. This was a clear contravention of God’s commandment on mixed marriages. Although God had blessed him and given him the Spirit (Judges 13:24,25; 14:6,19), he committed fatal errors that led to his spiritual failure and eventual death. God never initiated or approved Samson’s intention to marry an unbeliever. He did so to satisfy his lust.
Unequal yoke in marriage, marriages contracted outside God’s definite commandment, had always attracted tragic consequences. God’s standard for marriage had always stood out over the ages. Children of the Kingdom must never be yoked to the heathen. Light and darkness must never cohabit in marriage.
There is a vital lesson to learn from Samson’s life. It is the tragedy of self-will. His marriage was a violation of the law. That God, in His sovereign wisdom, ignored his character defects and weakness was in order to fulfil His purpose for the nation of Israel. However, no true believer should go the way of Samson by setting aside God’s commandment on the altar of self-will. Unequal yoke in marriage, business, and so on must be avoided at all cost. For our marriages to be worth the while, they must be predicated on God’s unalterable precepts. Every conjugal union must seek God’s glory and fulfil His enduring purpose.
Thought For The Day: Gains of self-will are but temporary.
Bible Reading in one Year: Joshua 22-24
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
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