Day 114: God's Faithfulness

Then he told her everything in his heart, and said to her, "No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a holy one of God from my mother's womb.  If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like all other men."  Judges 16:17

The book of Judges is quite a depressing read.  There is a back and forth struggle with the Israelites and their faith.  It always seems that their lack of faith gets the best of them, and there are many stories throughout about what happened when they turned away from God.  Even the more 'heroic' stories are quite gruesome.  The story of Sampson is no exception.

When I read this verse, I thought that it summed up the entire story of Sampson.  He was a man set aside by his parents for God, but he always had trouble with temptations.  In the end, he fell for a woman who was trying very hard to betray him.  He gave into her out of complete desire for her.  And, when he finally renounces his dedicated state, he loses his God-given strength.

I find that this is a great metaphor on how our lives are.  If nothing else, Sampson's story shows us that we have many different challenges to face all throughout our lives, even if we set ourselves aside for God.  In fact, Sampson also shows that just because we are Christians by family association or my title doesn't mean that we are following Jesus or fearing God.

God gives us so many gifts throughout our lives, but it is up to us how we decide to use them.  Some of us will decide to improve on our gifts.  Others of us will try to hide or reject the gifts we are given.  Our rejection of gifts seems to be quite mindless, doesn't it?  I mean, if you're at your birthday party and your friends bring you different gifts, would you reject them right in front of them?  But that's what we do when we reject our own gifts from God - we show that we disapprove of them right before God's eyes.  What's worse is that we then turn away from all the good things that God has for us and head towards something that we think is good for the moment - that pretty guy, that throwaway job, those super expensive clothes.

The interesting, but hopeful, thing about Sampson's story is the sign of God's mercy.  Despite the fact that Sampson does some pretty questionable things throughout his life, he still has that godly strength throughout, right until he outright forsakes God with his own words.  And, even though it doesn't end in the best way for Sampson, God still answers his prayer right at the last moment of his life.  I pray that we will not have to wait until that moment, but it is still an example of the fact that God is always faithful to us, even if we aren't.  God wants us to do well, and God wants to bring us back to God.

Living life will involve lots of decisions, but if we take the time to pray and read the bible, then we will be able to find our way through our problems.  God is always faithful to us; let us be faithful.

Day 013: The Harvest, The Goal

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”       Matthew 9:37-38

 Here is a place where Jesus gives us a prayer to say.  What better way to pray than to pray the way Jesus did?

This specific passage is one that usually rings with the message that Jesus is calling for us to go out and do the work of God.  Indeed, there are so many people out there who are hungry for the Gospel.  But, at the same time, we are all weary from the troubles of this rude world.  We need to pray for Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, to send out his laborers our way.

These days, I had been getting into a sort of rut.  I graduated with my master's degree, but then I didn't know what to do next.  I got turned down in four auditions as I was preparing to graduate, and then I hadn't really picked myself back up from that.  I feel pretty broken in that respect.  However, now that I have plans to perform more this year, I am starting to feel ready to face challenges anew.  It was because I set tangible goals that I am ready to pick myself back up.

When I think about my current situation and story, I can't help but think about how God's chosen people were when Jesus came into the scene.  People were pretty set in their ways of interpretations of the Scriptures and had lots of constructs set in place for their society.  They found a passable way of living under oppression.  But, when Jesus came to the world, he challenged everybody to think about everything in new ways.  How can you spread the Gospel to the other nations?  How do you treat these new people?  How do you receive the love of God?  What is going wrong with your customs?

Jesus means change.  Jesus means change in the lives of the Jews in the past, and Jesus means change in my life today.  Jesus, for me, is the Lord of the goal.  I have trouble whenever I wander around, as a sheep without a shepherd, and it is only whenever I pray to the Lord of my goals, the Lord of my success, the Lord of all that is good in the universe, the Lord of mercy, the Lord of compassion that I can continue down the way.  Life is never going to be easy, and Jesus' life is the prime example of that, but the outcome will sure be worth it.

Today's readings:
Genesis 25-26
Psalm 10 (11)
Proverbs 6:26-40
Matthew 9:32-10:15
Acts 13