RESTORATION
Today’s Reading: Judges 16
Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).
Tel Lachish National Park. According to the Bible, the Israelites captured and destroyed Lachish for joining the league against the Gibeonites (Joshua 10:31-33), but its territory was later assigned to the tribe of Judah (15:39) and became a part of the Kingdom of Israel. In this picture you see an ancient wall of the Commander’s palace that has been excavated.
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Judges 16:20
And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.
Here is a very sad verse. A mighty champion of God has compromised himself. He has let down the standards with which he was raised and conducted himself in a way that would guarantee shame for him, his people, and most of all, his God. Here is a man who was unaware that the Lord was no longer with him. Defeat was inevitable. During his humiliating imprisonment, doing a job that an ox would normally do, he repented to God. That most often repeated verse in the Bible, “His mercy endures forever,” took hold. God restored His supernatural strength in Sampson once more.
If we wonder where God’s strength has gone from our lives, just look back and almost always we’ll find a time when we departed from Him. He did not leave us or forsake us; we forsook Him by going our own way. He’s always there waiting for us to return. The word, “repent” means, “turn around with sorrow for our disobedience.” Let us return to the crossroads where we went our own way, ask forgiveness, and make a new start.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord Jesus, You always did the will of Your Father. According to Your promise, You live in me. Therefore, I pray with confidence, believing that You are leading me in the way I should go. Keep me by Your grace on the straight and narrow path of consistent Christian living. In Your Name, Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen!
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
As a teen I heard a preacher who entitled his sermon, “A haircut in the devil’s barber shop.” From the time I was a small child I knew the story that was coming. I would feel so sad for God, for Samson, and for all the people. And yet there was hope. I knew that with repentance, God would restore that which was lost.
A letter from several years ago stands out in my memory. A preacher from New Brunswick had turned away from God, left his calling, and gone into a life of rebellion against God. He may have had his reasons, but the letter did not tell that story. What it did tell was that one day, while watching the 100 Huntley Street telecast, God’s Spirit overwhelmed this old preacher, and he cried out in repentance and was restored to God. The next week, the preacher went to his ungodly son and asked his forgiveness for failing to live a consistent Christian life. His son forgave his Dad and together they prayed. The son came to faith in Christ. One week later, the son was killed in a car accident. I marvel at the grace of God. God knew of the son’s impending death. He brought Dad back to Himself just in time. Truly, God’s “mercy endures forever.”
Yours in celebration of God’s unfailing love,
David
Further excavations in ancient Lachish reveal many rooms.
From Streams in the Desert, Cowman
“Dear restless heart, be still; don’t fret and worry so;
God has a thousand ways His love and help to show;
Just trust, and trust, and trust, until His will you know.
Dear restless heart, be still, for peace is God’s own smile,
His love can every wrong and sorrow reconcile;
Just love, and love, and love, and calmly wait awhile.
Dear restless heart, be brave; don’t moan and sorrow so,
He hath a meaning kind in chilly winds that blow;
Just hope, and hope, and hope, until you braver grow.
Dear restless heart, repose upon His breast this hour,
His grace is strength and life, His love is bloom and flower;
Just rest, and rest, and rest, within His tender power.
Dear restless heart, be still! Don’t struggle to be free;
God’s life is in your life, from Him you may not flee;
Just pray, and pray, and pray, till you have faith to see.”
–Edith Willis Linn
Thank you Beverlee for this beautiful uplifting reading.
As David wrote in today’s reading, the story of Samson makes me sad, but thanks be to God because of Jesus we have hope and a future.
Thank you Jesus for your indescribable wonderful gift to your human family
Thank you Beverlee for sharing those empowering
words of encouragement that I needed today.
I will try to focus on these words to help me
during stressful times,
May God bless you always, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Thank you Edith and Beverly.
I have found it so, I have found it so.
Thanks for Sharing this Beverlee, it touched my heart.❤️
Thank you,Beverlee.That is a poem on a level far above my simple poems.It seems to ‘sing’ to the reader.
Samson,like most/all humans,eventually lost God’s voice and went his own way.He later repented in humble prayer and was restored for one last mission.I have a picture in my files that simply says:”If God seems far away,guess who moved.” May God bless
Glad to see Beverlee’s posting. Very great advice in the post she sent. Pray, pray, pray. Thank You Lord for hearing and answering our prayers (although, maybe not in the way we expected). Please pray for a young man who recently attempted suicide – that he will be restored and depression will be lifted. He was brought up in a Christian home/school. Father God, please guide, strengthen, and lift his spirit. Put people of Your choosing in his path. Amen and amen.
Amen to the comments above
Coming into agreement for this young man
That God would touch him and restore him am
en ✝️🙏
Amen to your prayer Doreen.
Especially for the salvation of this young man,
in Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
I am also agreeing with Doreen’s pray for that young man. May the Lord speak into his heart.
Thank you folks for your prayers for the young man. I’m so thankful for your prayers of agreement. Blessings.
Amen to all the prayers for the young man. May God restore him and give him and his family peace.
Thanks Beverlee for the words you posted. They are very uplifing.
God bless each and everyone.
In agreement with prayers and thoughts and Beverlee’s posting.