Once you’ve been a Christian for a while, it is easy to begin to “lean on your own understanding.” In other words, it’s easy to stop looking to God for the answer because you can look back to past experience and what seems to be common sense.
I think that’s an easy thing for missionaries, veteran youth workers, or even seminary students to do. We often fall into the trap of thinking that we have been in a million church services and have so much life experience that we can forget to consult the One who has the answers.
I have been guilty of this on more than one occasion. We need to seek God in all of our decisions, not just the ones where we don’t have “the answer.” What are you leaning on today? Your own understanding? Or the advice of the great counselor?
This morning, I drove in the worst traffic I have ever driven in. I left my house at 7:50 am to go speak at Mexico City Christian Academy. I was scheduled to speak at 8:30, but I didn’t arrive until 9. It usually takes me only a half an hour to get there. But today, it was over an hour.
Most of the time, I was behind a Mustang GT, and I began to think about the waste of potential there was in that car. I would never own a Mustang GT in Mexico City because there is no reason to have that much power under the hood with very little opportunity to use it. I am always amazed that there is a Ferrari dealer here in this city.
My thoughts then wandered to Samson. He was a man of so much potential. He had lots of power. Judges says multiple times that the Spirit of God came on him. Imagine what he could have been. He was constantly stuck in traffic due to his own personal problems. I pray that my life can live up to its potential and that I can get out of the traffic jam that I sometimes get myself into.
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I’m reading and re-reading Judges 13-16 and the stories that are told about Samson. These chapters tell a lot about the man that we all remember as being very strong. We remember the story of Samson and his girlfriend Delilah, and her name is synonymous with women who trick and deceive. But there’s more to the stories of Samson than just his strength, hair, and impurity.
Samson was born into a Godly family. He was born under extraordinary circumstances. He had the potential to be a great man of God that would be remembered forever as the greatest judge that ever lived. The fact that he would be born was announced by an angel. He was a miracle from the beginning, and the hand of God was on him. But he ended up having his eyes plucked out by his enemies and committing suicide as a dying act of service to his God.
How did his life change so dramatically?
Samson’s problem was the desire for revenge more than it was impurity. It seems that in every story about him, he was always looking to get even with people. He was selfish and had poor self-esteem. These things led to his impurity. We can see this from the first words he speaks in Judges, when he tells his parents what he wants and will not settle for anything less.
Despite his shortcomings, God still used Samson. Imagine what God could have done through his life if he were fully devoted and would have dealt with the problems he had in his life.
The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him. I will try my utmost to be that man. -D.L. Moody
We often think that God is only powerful enough to work in the way we have experienced Him. In other words, we look to our past experience with Him and think that He will work the same way in our present situation. Instead of looking to His power, we look at ourselves and our experience.
But God is much more powerful than that. Almighty is an incredible word to ponder. All-Mighty. Think about it. The God we serve is powerful enough to do All. We limit His power because of our finite mind and experiences. I should be trusting Him to be exactly who He says He is: Almighty.
I often say, “There’s no way I could do that,” thinking that I am limiting myself and my abilities. What I am really doing is doubting the power of God to take care of me and help me with what He has promised.
The woman at the well in John 4 had “misgivings” about Jesus, as Oswald Chambers states in today’s entry for My Utmost for His Highest. She wasn’t sure that Jesus could draw water because He had nothing to put in the deep well. I do the same thing.
For example, my family often has the conversation about raising more financial support. We need more monthly support, but we often say, “But we have no more contacts to ask.” What we are really saying is that God can’t provide the money for us because we can’t figure out a way to raise it.
I also say often, “Who am I to head up a ministry in Latin America?” I don’t have the credentials to do this. But God has the power not only to draw from the well, but to create the water to fill the well. He could have filled the pitcher without drawing from that well. He can do as He pleases.
We must believe that God has miraculous power to provide for our needs, and we rely on His power and not our own.
I was reading in My Utmost for His Highest this morning about Paul’s concept of service. In it, Chambers says, “The institutional church’s idea of a servant of God is not at all like Jesus Christ’s idea. His idea is that we serve Him y being servants of others. Jesus Christ actually ‘out-socialized’ the socialists. He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be the servant of all.”
His point is that we as Christians should be servants first. Leadership is based on servanthood. If I am not willing to serve, I have no right to lead. We should not look to obtain positions of honor, but to serve first. Obedience to Christ means serving others in the most minimal of details. Do the things that are unimportant in the eyes of most people. That is the mark of a true leader.
