Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”
Our Bible verse for today: “Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again.” Judges 16:17, 21, 28 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “Our mistakes can be costly”
Have you ever had your eyes gouged out by a ruthless Philistine jailer? No, me neither. But I have suffered other consequences from my mistakes that while not quite that harsh, they have carried with them a big cost. I’ll bet you have experienced that too.
Samson was a man who had been called by God to play a special role in the history of the nation of Israel. He was set aside from birth as a Nazirite and his life was intended to be a holy one that brought honor and glory to the One True God. Boy did he stray from his calling! If you know the story than you know that Samson was bull-headed, self-absorbed, impetuous, and he was a hedonist (he lived to satisfy his pleasures). That wasn’t even close to the life God wanted him to lead.
As a result, Samson suffered. His was an unstable life that caused pain and anguish for himself and for others. At the end he found himself in a Philistine prison, eyes gouged out, being led around by a young man, and on display in the city arena for the amusement of the citizens – kind of like a dancing bear. What a wasted life! But the story ends with Samson finally calling out to God and much to his amazement God was still there for him. In fact, God had always been there for him and He would have gladly accepted Samson back, if only he had gone to Him. Once Samson did return to God, God used him to accomplish one final great act.
Samson’s story is also the story of many of our own lives. Most of us don’t fail in as spectacular a fashion as Samson did, and most of us don’t suffer consequences quite that severe, but we do have plenty of failures of our own, and they each do carry a cost. What are the lessons we can learn from Samson’s sad story? There are at least three:
1. Just as God had a good plan for Samson’s life, so too He has a good plan for yours and mine. However unlike Samson, we just need to pursue God’s plan instead of our own.
2. Just as God had always been there for Samson and would gladly have accepted him back and blessed his life again if Samson had only returned to Him, the same is true for you and me. God will take us back any time we’re ready and willing to return to Him.
3. Just as God was prepared to use Samson once again once he did repent and return, so too He will use each of us again if we will just come back to him.
There is no mistake in life that God won’t forgive and which we cannot recover from. But how much we suffer, for how long, and how much recovery there will ultimately be, depends entirely on how far we drift from God, and how long we stay away from Him. The sooner we stop drifting and come back to Him, the less distance we will have to travel to get back on the path He has chosen for us. That then will minimize how much recovery will be needed, and it will mean more time left for us to enjoy life right in the center of God’s will (which is the best life any of us will ever have). Unfortunately for Samson, he waited until the end of his life before he corrected his mistake and came back to God. Therefore there was no time left to enjoy a life blessed by God. Let us not make that same sad mistake.
Our mistakes can be costly, but we can recover from them. But don’t be like Samson and wait too long. Return to God today.
God Bless,
Oak Hill Baptist Church 