Now do
I consider my life wasted, NO!! Are there areas in it where I believe I had wasted
time and effort, YES!!! There are times in all our lives where we have done
foolish things. Looking at Samson in Judges 14 through 16 he was seen having
accomplished at least five foolish things in his life. An engagement, a riddle,
his temper, his ego and finally his ending were pointed out as being these five
foolishness items. As a Nazarite there were three areas that he was supposed to
stay away from. He could not take part of anything fermented, having to do with
grapes or wine. Then he was not supposed to touch any thing dead and the third
was he could not cut his hair. So what did he do that violated these. He
entered a vineyard, duh, grapes, killed a lion, and after having killed it went
back and found honey in it. Can we say touching the dead? Then what do we
remember most, he allowed Delilah to know the secret of his strength (what he
thought was) and thus had a razor put to his hair.
Now I am not saying that drinking wine, touching the dead or
having your hair cut is wrong, I have done all of the above, but for Samson it
was. Where in your life have you done foolish things? Most of us can look back and
see plenty of areas where we have. Details are not important but understanding
that I have done foolish things is important for me to see where I came from
and where I am going. I started my life off pretty well by doing what I
believed was the correct way to live but I feel it is necessary to compare my
life to that of Samson concerning doing foolish things. I engaged in areas that
I should have stayed away from. When it comes to riddles, I would consider this
as saying things in ways that tempt others and myself in ways that would get me
in trouble. A temper, yes I have one and it has caused me problems in my past.
What can I say about ego? We all have one and to some of us it is a problem we
have to contend with every day. Samson thought his strength was in his hair but
did not realize the strength came from the Lord so he did not see that, not his
strength, but the Lord had left him. Our ending, the good thing about this is
that we still have a say in how that will be. Samson ended up asking the Lord
for the strength to return to his body and he weakened the pillars claiming the
lives of the Philistines and of course himself as well.
What have I learned from the life of Samson? I can appear to
be successful in life but if I am not living out God’s given purpose for me
then I am wasting the things that I am doing. Having made foolish choices in my
past has consequences that are carried with me that I must still deal with today.
An interesting statement that was brought up and I see as pretty eye opening is
“you make choices and those choices make you”. Then finally it is how you
finish your life that is more important than how you start it. I want to add to
that it is not what you do in the middle either. I am not perfect and have not
led a perfect life but I am striving to live out God’s purpose for my life. I
want to finish my life the way God has intended for me to live it. It will be
filled with trials and difficulties and I will even continue to do a few
foolish things but I shall strive to do the best that I can. An interesting way
to close out this is to say that “you preach your own funeral by the way you
live”. If a video of who you were was used what would it say? Yes, we have all
done foolish things but in the end was the climax of our life one that would
show who we were supposed to be for God.
