Posts Tagged ‘society’


Under Gods Command

Samson and Delilah

Judges 16:20 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him.  And his strength left him. 

Delilah was a deceitful woman with honey on her lips and poison in her heart.  Cold and manipulative, she toyed with Samson, pretending to love him while looking for personal gain.  How could Samson be so foolish?  Four times Delilah took advantage of him.  If he didn’t realize what was happening after the first or second experience, surely he should have understood the situation by the fourth time!

Lets Bring it Home: We think Samson is foolish, but how many times do we allow ourselves to be deceived by flattery and give into to temptation and wrong beliefs?  Avoid falling prey to deceit by asking God to help you distinguish between deception and truth.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 7:1-5 My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “you are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman; they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.

Sons often neglect their father’s instructions and warnings. If they forget them, they will not be ready, when temptation is in their eyes, ears, heart, and loins. And the temptation here is dangerous and powerful – a beautiful and skilled adulteress (7:5-27). The same lesson applies to young women, when they are infatuated with a handsome man. Solomon begins and ends his warning with appeals to remember his advice (7:1-4,24).

The dangers of not remembering are great. How will a young man resist, when his eyes are full of her beauty, his ears full of her flattery, his heart full of her offered love and submission, and his loins full of desire (5:3;6:24-25; 7:13-21)? How will a young woman resist, when her eyes are full of his manliness, her ears full of his flattery, her heart full of his attention and affection, and her body craves his full embrace (Gen 34:1-3)?

By nature, a son does not value his father’s warnings. He deceives himself to believe that his father is out of touch with the world, that his father overstates the danger, that his father wants to deprive him of pleasure, that his father never met a desirable woman, that his father did not have sexual lusts, or that he can escape the consequences his father describes. All these are damnable lies from a foolish youthful heart and the father of lies.
Sons must trust fathers and esteem their advice and warnings. Every father was once a young man with the same desires and temptations. But a father has survived youth and reflected much on what is best for his son. He has long-term success in mind, not short-term pleasures that will ruin his life! Fathers love their sons more than any woman will ever love them, even a virtuous wife! Young man, keep your father’s commandments!

Young men must resist the attraction and temptation of a whorish woman by having their minds firmly established in their fathers’ commandments long before they encounter this very dangerous creature. Once they are even slightly captivated by the appearance, flattery, or offers of a seductress, it becomes almost impossible to recall any warnings. But what will a young man do, whose father does not teach or warn him about such a woman? He will be helpless before the drawing power of her body and wiles. Such fathers are accomplices in the destruction of their sons! Though he may have advised and warned about many dangers, he neglected the most harmful. Fathers, save your sons!

Reader! God your Father has given His commandments and law to you. Do you keep them as the apple of your eye? Do you read them daily? Do you meditate upon them? Do you tremble before their warnings and rejoice at their instruction? Or do you deceive yourself that you can forget or neglect them and survive? Do not be a fool!


Under Gods Command

Judges 11:1-3 Jephthah the Giledite was a might warrior.  His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute.  Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and when they were grown up, they drove Jephthah away. “You are not going to get any inheritance in our family,” they said, “because you are the son of another woman.”

 3. So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a group of adventures gathered around him and followed him. 

Circumstances beyond his control forced Jephthah away from his people and into life as an outcast.  Today, both believers and nonbelievers may drive away those who do not fit the norms dictated by our society, neighborhoods, or churches.  Often, as in Jephtah’s case, great potential is wasted because of prejudice a refusal to look beyond ill-conceived stereotypes.

Lets Bring it home: Look around you to see if there are potential Jephtah’s being kept out due to factors beyond their control.  As a Christian you know that everyone can have a place in God’s family.  Can you do anything to help these people gain acceptance for their character and abilities?


Under Gods Command
 Proverbs 11:03 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity. 

 There is a safe way to live – do right! And there is a dangerous way to live – do what feels good and sounds good! By committing to do only what is right at all times, you will have a certain guide for every situation. But living your life by your own feelings and choices will often lead you to great perplexity, and it will certainly destroy you.

What is integrity? It is the glorious character trait of always doing what is right, regardless of difficulties or consequences. It is the upright who have integrity. What is perverseness? It is turning away from what is right to act contrary to law or nature. It is transgressors, or sinners, who are perverse, for they choose to reject moral restrictions.

The upright always do what is right – they have integrity. Their confusion in life is minimal, for they have chosen to follow what is right in every choice and dilemma. They have a constant guide. Transgressors do whatever they want – they are perverse. They have no standards or parameters for their actions, and their perversity will destroy them.

What is right? Whatever the Bible says is right! Anything to the contrary is perverse and wrong! The Bible should be exalted on every subject, and all other opinions should be hated. Such a rule defines Bible Christianity. It doesn’t matter what a pope thinks, what is socially acceptable, what is traditional, or what will win you a promotion.

Is sex up to you? No! God invented the pleasure, and He has ruled concerning it. Joseph was a man of integrity, and he never had a doubt about what to do with the seductive advances of Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:1-12). But Samson was perverse in his obsession with Philistine whores, and it cost him his eyes, his freedom, and his life.

The blessed Lord Jesus Christ always did those things that pleased His Father. He had perfect integrity and prudence in obeying the word of God and living a perfect life. For those who believe on Him, He is the Source and Means of everlasting righteousness.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 27:15-16 – A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day; restraining her is lie restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.

Quarrelsome nagging, a steady stream of unwanted advice, is a form of torture. People nag because they think they’re not getting through, but nagging hinders communication more than it helps. When tempted to engage in this destructive habit, stop and examine your motives. Are you more concerned about yourself-getting your way, being right-than about the person you are pretending to help? If you are truly concerned about other people, think of a more effective way to get through to them. Surprise them with words of patience and love, and see what happens.