Sermon Brief
Date Written: September 13, 2006
Date Preached: September 13, 2006
Where Preached: OZHBC (Wed - PM Service)
Sermon Details:
Series Title: Basic Bible Study
Sermon Title: Be Careful what you ask for… you may get it!
Sermon Text: Judges 14:1-3
Introduction:
In the book by C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, he writes about how the White Witch played on Ed’s cravings for pleasure and importance.
She magically gives him enchanted Turkish Delight, and the more he eats, the more he wants.(anybody been there?) She promised to make him a King of Narnia, and then he could eat all the Turkish delight he wanted. (Sound familiar? Gen.3:5-6) there’s another thing about sin; it is always a distortion of God’s good plan.
For we know that Edmund was always destined to be a King of Narnia and the witch knew it! But we can see that the Witch promised him the same thing, but by the wrong route.
In a similar way, we go looking for good things, but in all the wrong ways, contrary to God’s design. Sin is our rebellion vs the recipe of God.
So often we think that we have God all figured out and we try to place Him in a box all neat and tidy, and we try to do things OUR way!
But what we cannot grasp as humans is that God is so much more OTHER than us that we cannot comprehend His wisdom and plan…
We may look at what He says and does and think to ourselves,
“I sure would have done that differently!” But in the end we can rest assured that our way will always lead to trouble and trial and disappointment, but God’s ways are always good and right.
The prophet Isaiah knew this and he wrote these words some 700 years before Jesus walked this earth…
8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 (NASB)
The apostle Paul wrote about this as well, but from a different perspective…
In Phil 4 he writes, “…11 for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. 12 I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need…” Phil 4:11-12 (NASB)
He also wrote the church in Rome, “…28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose…”
Romans 8:28 (NASB)
I say all of this to introduce our Scripture for tonight. Tonight I want to speak on how we need to be careful what we seek after because we may get it… it may be what God wants for us, but we may go the wrong path to obtain it…
Now in the overall scheme of things this story fits into God’s plan on restoring Israel by using Samson to judge the Philistine people.
But we can see that Samson did not go about becoming a judge of Israel by the path of God’s commandments. He chose to go his own way, even against the advice of his parents.
And although Samson was not the righteous judge we all think he should have been (because he was constantly messing up and getting himself into situations that led to pain in his life) This is because Samson’s faults and frailties were his own desires that he sought after! He did not seek God’s face…but trusted on his own judgment.
Let’s read our passage Judges 14:1-3
1 Then Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 So he came back and told his father and mother, "I saw a woman in Timnah, one of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife." 3 Then his father and his mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she looks good to me."
Judges 14:1-3 (NASB)
And just like Samson we are all called by God to serve, but we find ourselves struggling with our human tendencies to seek after our own desires and wish for the things that catch our eye.
We need to understand that God does not call perfect people to serve Him… because there are none in this world. God has only the choice to use imperfect, fallen, and broken vessels to carry forth the message of the Gospel.
But the fact that we are imperfect and prone to falling and failing God… that does NOT excuse us when we do falter… when we do abandon God’s plan for our own desires.
Samson was sent by God to be the deliverer of the Children of Israel. He was to deliver them from the hands of the Philistines. His mother was visited by an angel and told NOT to drink strong drink during her pregnancy and that the young man was to be raised with the Nazirite Vows… Samson was set aside by God for a special purpose!
But when it came time for Samson to do what God had sent him to do, Samson did not follow God’s plan. Samson allowed the distractions of this world to dissuade him from his calling.
And Samson began to focus more and more on HIM and less and less on God! But I praise the fact that God can take OUR screw-ups and make them into victories…aren’t you!
Like I said, Samson was more interested in his own desires than serving God. Samson knew of God’s promise to be with him, but he took God for granted and only seemed to call on God when he was in trouble!
I don’t know about you but that sounds a lot like the believers of today. We are all set aside by God to do His will and follow His plan!
And when we start out we begin to see the distractions of this world and we are dissuaded from our calling as believers. We know of God’s promise to be with us always and we begin to take God for granted.
For many so-called believers the only time they truly pray is when they are in need or in trouble. The rest of the time they are living like Samson, seeking their own desires.
This is because Samson did not fully trust God and His plan. Samson thought he must do it HIS way. Samson was powerful and strong and thought he could overcome anything, but we can see that he was defeated by the wiles of a woman.
So often we as believers are NOT trusting of God. We see His plan but we do NOT trust His plan. We know what He wants us to do but we do not want to do what He has called us to do.
So often we approach our lives like we have everything under control and we can handle everything, but every time we are deceived and defeated by an enemy that is not only stronger than we are but smarter too!
At the end of Samson’s life we find Samson lost and alone and in a predicament that he cannot handle. He cries out to God to allow him to serve him… to give him the strength to serve just one more time. God grants him the strength and even in death Samson wins a great victory for God’s people.
The ‘moral’ of the story of Samson is simply this, be careful of what you ask for or seek after because you may get it and you have NO idea on how it is going to affect your life. Listen to this sad but true story about someone who wished for something and got it… but regretted it!
In 1988 William "Bud" Post won $16.2 million in the Pennsylvania lottery. When he was interviewed recently he said, "I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare,"
A former girlfriend successfully sued him for a share of his winnings, but that was not the only lawsuit. One of his brothers was arrested for hiring a hit man to kill him in hopes of inheriting his fortune.
Other siblings pestered him until he agreed to invest in a car business and a restaurant in Sarasota, Fla., -- both of these business ventures brought no return for his money back and to make matters worse it further strained his relationship with his brothers and sisters.
Within a year of winning the lotto, Post was $1 million in debt and miserable. He even spent time in jail for firing a gun over the head of a bill collector.
Post admitted he was both careless and foolish, trying to please his family. He eventually declared bankruptcy. Bud Post now lives quietly on $450 a month and food stamps.
He says, "I’m tired, I’m over 65 years old, and I just had a serious operation for a heart aneurysm. Lotteries don’t mean [anything] to me,".
We don’t know what is ahead and therefore we should trust God to order our steps, but sadly we try and try to do it OUR way. We need to come to the realization that… “…Nothing takes God by surprise. He knows the future and can therefore guide us through its trackless ways...” W. T. Purkiser
Beware of cut-and-dried theologies that reduce the ways of God to a manageable formula that keeps life safe. God often does the unexplainable just to keep us on our toes -- and also on our knees. -- Warren Wiersbe
We must come to the conclusion in our mind that God knows best… that God is in control… and that all we can do is mess things up!
When we get to that point in our Christian walk, we will be mature past MOST believers and well on our way to a healthy walk with Christ in this life!
When we reach that point we will also be able to live as Paul lived in being content in any and all situations. We will be able to understand what Isaiah said in that God’s ways are far above our ways and that His thoughts are WAY above our thoughts…
When we reach that point in our Christian walk we are the moldable clay that Christ desires to serve and prosper the Kingdom of Heaven!
Pray!
