Revisiting Old Ground
But sometimes there will be times when we have to look back at something or redress something. I also have had to do that on several occasions. And the reason was that I had left the jobs or churches without really thinking about the reasons why. I just moved on. Quickly. Suddenly. Decisively. And I never looked back.
However, sometimes this was not the best way to do things. I needed to revisit the scenario in my mind to reconsider the reasons that I had left there. For they were sometimes having an affect on my mindset as I moved forward. The suddenness of leaving a job meant that I was sometimes left carrying old reactions and bringing them into the new job. The suddenness of leaving an old church meant that sometimes I was comparing old with new in the new church, or church group, that I moved to.
But sometimes I was to discover that as I moved from place to place I brought a lot of strengths with me. The building blocks of experiences lived, knowledge obtained, or hindsight gained. All this was part of me and I could take these building blocks and be a lot more proactive when I found the opportunity to be so.
I am reminded of Samson, one of the thirteen Judges mentioned in the Old Testament. You can read about him in Judges ch 16.
Samson hastily divorced his wife after she had humiliated him in front of her brothers and family. When he went to ask her to come back he found that his father-in-law had passed her on to someone else. Samson in his anger and pride went on a rampage and the stories are recorded in the Book of the Judges.
Judges ch16 v3 - And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
We are all mostly familiar with the next series of events in Samson’s life. His friendship with Delilah, (Scripture doesn’t actually record that they were married) her betrayal of his trust. How he was captured, imprisoned and subsequently made blind.
And while Delilah was able to cut his hair and allow him to be captured, when he was in prison his hair grew back again. This was part of the promise that was made to Samson’s parents when he was born. You see, it was a law of the Israelites, particularly the Nazirites, that they don’t shave their hair.
Judges ch13 v5 – “For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb…”
But this time, his fight was not for pride, valour, vanity or temper. It was to fulfil on older prophecy that the Angel of The Lord had given to Samson’s parents….
v5 “…. and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
That’s what this was about. Fulfilling God’s will.
And now. After years of ridicule and humiliation Samson finds himself in a familiar situation. Samson finds himself standing between two doorposts. But the familiarity stops right there. For Samson has changed. He is not the man he used to be. The confidence is gone. The bravado no longer exists. He has spent many years in prison. He has physically had his eyes gouged out. He has been brought so low that he had to be led about by a guide.
He knew now than rather than face this final humiliation, he had one strength that he could call back on. He asks the guide to position him between the two main doorposts. And he prays one last prayer.
Judges ch16 v29-30 - And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. Then Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
So as I sit and think about my life today. The people that I talk to. The places that I go. I am minded that these places and these people are not like the old days. Places have changed. People have changed. I have changed. And as Christians, we should be minded that although everything and everyone has changed, God is still in the centre of it all.
His will. His plan is still working in us, and through us. Everyday.
We just have to live out our lives and allow God to take care of the spiritual things.
Though trials may press us and burdens distress us,
He never will leave us alone.
God is still on His throne. And He will remember his own.
His promise is true – He will not forget you.
God is still on His throne.
TheseLivelyOracles@hotmail.com
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