#70. Judges 13-17 | He Does Not Know It Will Cost Him His Life

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This is a dwelling place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox, and we're

at the point of judges in which

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we'll be discussing Samson's story.

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There's really no way around this.

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I'm going to issue that sensitive

ears warning again and say

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that this is ideal for mom ears

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because, because it's Samson.

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When I look at his life, I think

things that make you go, hmm.

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We will have to be careful to not

attribute his sinful choices to

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the Lord, but rather see a God

that is able to accomplish his

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purposes with very fallen people.

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That theme is throughout scripture and

it can give us encouragement as we're

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praying for those that seem to be far

from God because none of us is outside

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the reach of the grace of Jesus Christ.

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Let's keep the end of the story in mind

while we read about the chaos and sin

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prevalent on the pages of Samson's story.

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Hebrews 1132 tells us.

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And what more shall I say for time

would fail me to tell of Gideon Barack

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Samson Geha of David and Samuel and the

prophets, who through faith conquered

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kingdoms and forced justice obtained

promises stopped the mouths of lions

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quenched the power of fire escaped.

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The edge of the sword were made strong,

out of weakness, became mighty, and

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war put foreign enemies to flight.

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God's word attributes, faith to Samson

and the Holy Spirit certainly used him

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to defeat some of the enemies of Israel.

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Our scripture reading for

today will be from chapter 14.

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And this follows chapter 13, telling

us the spirit of the Lord began to

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stir in him Samson went down to

Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of

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the daughters of the Philistines.

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Then he came up and told his father

and mother, I saw one of the daughters

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of the Philistines at Timnah.

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Now get her for me as my wife.

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But his father and mother said to

him, is there not a woman among

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the daughters of your relatives?

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Or among all your people that you

must go to take a wife from the

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uncircumcised Philistines, but Samson

said to his father, get her for me.

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she is right in my eyes.

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His father and mother did not know that

it was from the Lord for he was seeking

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an opportunity against the Philistines.

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At that time, the Philistines

ruled over Israel.

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Then Samson went down with his

father and mother to Timnah, and

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they came to the vineyards of Timnah.

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And behold, a young lion

came toward him roaring.

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Then the spirit of the Lord

rushed upon him, and although

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he had nothing in his hand,

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he tore the lion in pieces

as one tears a young goat.

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But he did not tell his father

or his mother what he had done.

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Then he went down and talked with a

woman and she was right in Samson's eyes.

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After some days, he returned

to take her and he turned aside

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to see the carcass of the lion.

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And behold, there was a swarm of bees

in the body of the lion and honey.

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He scraped it out into his hands

and went on eating as he went, and

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he came to his father and mother

and gave some to them and they ate.

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But he did not tell them

that he had scraped the honey

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from the carcass of the lion.

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His father went down to the woman

and Samson prepared a feast there

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for, so the young men used to

do, and soon the people saw him.

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As soon as the people saw him,

they brought 30 companions to be

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with him, and Samson said to them,

let me now put a riddle to you.

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If you can tell me what it is within the

seven days of the feast and find it out.

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Then I will give you 30 linen

garments and 30 changes of clothes.

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But if you cannot tell me what it

is, then you shall give me 30 linen

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garments and 30 changes of clothes.

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And they said to him, put your

riddle that we may hear it.

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And he said to them, out of the

eater came something to eat.

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Out of the strong came something sweet.

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And in three days they

could not solve the riddle.

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On the fourth day, they said to Samson's

wife, enticed your husband to tell

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us what the riddle is, lest we burn

you in your father's house with fire.

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Have you invited us here to impoverish us?

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And Samson's wife wept over

him and said, you only hate me.

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You do not love me.

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You have put a riddle to my people

and you have not told me what it is.

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And he said to her, behold, I have

not told my father nor my mother.

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And shall I tell you?

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She wept before him, the seven

days that the feast lasted.

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And on the seventh day he told her

because she pressed him hard, then

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she told the riddle to her people and

the men of the city said to him on

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the seventh day before the sun went

down, what is sweeter than honey?

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What is stronger than a lion?

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And he said to them, if you had not

plowed with my heifer, you would

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not have found out my riddle and the

spirit of the Lord rushed upon him.

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And he went down to Ashkelon and struck

down 30 men of the town and took their

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spoil and gave the garments to those

who had told the riddle in hot anger.

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He went back to his father's house

and Sampson's wife was given to his

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companion who had been his best man.

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This is just a disaster.

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How complex is it that when

Samson wants to marry a woman

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from another nation that it says.

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That it's from the Lord.

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Interestingly, she's not from

one of the seven nations that

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God forbade them to marry into.

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But it certainly seems marrying

someone who worshiped Yahweh was

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still the best practice to follow.

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His parents encouraged him to

do the right thing, but Sampson

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continues on with his plan.

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Some scholars would say that when

he killed the lion and went back to

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touch its dead carcass to get the

honey that he was touching a dead

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body and breaking his Nazarite vow.

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Others would say that the vow

only applied to dead human bodies.

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But at the end of the chapter,

when he kills the people for their

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clothing, he definitely broke The vow

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It's really disappointing

that Samson's wife.

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Was so loyal to the guests

that were threatening to burn

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her over her new husband,

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and this can certainly be a warning

to us to not be manipulative as

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wives, to not use our emotions to

get what we want, but rather to

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be surrendered to God's purposes.

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And to use prayer and reasoned words

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when we have a worthy cause,

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and I don't think any of us would like

it if our husband called us a heifer.

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When he returns with the garments of those

that he killed, he finds his father-in-law

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has given his wife away to the best man.

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You might have noticed that scripture says

over and over that they were in Timnah.

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This was an area that

thrived on their agriculture.

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So a Samson continues his

revenge in chapter 15.

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And gets 300 foxes, lights their

tails on fire and then releases them.

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It would've been a devastating

consequence to the Philistines

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because this fire spread

and destroyed their crops.

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They retaliate by burning Sampson's

wife and her father to death.

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Later, Sampson kills a thousand

Philistines with a jawbone of a donkey.

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The chapter concludes telling

us that he was a judge for 20

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years, and then in chapter 16 we

read about his well-known demise.

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The lust of his eyes leads

him to stick out a prostitute.

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After he destroys and carries the city

gates on his shoulders, he finds another

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woman to love, whose name is Delilah.

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The five leaders of the Philistines

come to her offering to pay

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her 1000 pieces of silver each.

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The lowest estimates of this would

equate to about $35,000 of today's money.

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They're trying to determine what the

source of Samson's strength is, and she

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allows them to hide out in her inner

chamber samson toys with her over and

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over and eventually confesses after

she presses a lot more manipulation.

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He tells her that it's the

Nazarite vow that he's made to

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God that gives him his strength.

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What's very telling is that he

refers to God as Elohim instead

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of Yahweh, God's personal name,

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he is not talking about a God

that is the Lord of his life.

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In his sleep, Delilah shaves his head.

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He's made so many compromises along the

way, but this reveals his abandonment of

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the Nazarite call on his life, and God's

spirit leaves him as well as his strength.

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The Philistines are finally

able to capture him.

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They gouge out his eyes, imprison

him, and force him to grind.

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Grain at the mill, which would've

been very demeaning because

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that was usually a woman's job.

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They bring him to the temple of Daggon

and finally, scripture tells us that

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Samson called out to the Lord, which is

in all capital letters, meaning Yahweh,

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and then he cries out, oh Lord God, please

remember me and please strengthen me.

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only this once.

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He takes two pillars of the structure

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And leans upon them killing

the: 3000

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on the upper level, which was

more than in his entire lifetime.

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I can't read the story of Sampson without

thinking of many of the warnings in

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Proverbs, particularly in Proverbs seven

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with much seductive speech.

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She persuades him with her smooth talk.

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She compels him all at once.

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He follows her.

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He does not know that it

will cost him his life.

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And now, O Suns, listen to me and be

attentive to the words of my mouth.

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Let not your heart turn aside to her ways.

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Lust is a fire that must be tamed with

the Lord's help, and unfortunately

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it led to Samson's demise.

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and then in chapter 17, there's

an odd story where a man named

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Micah steals from his mother.

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What was probably her entire life savings.

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And then she gives him a reward

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for confessing it.

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It makes an idol out of it.

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They worship it, build a shrine, and then

have one of the sons become a priest.

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He decides later, oh, I should probably

get a Levite to be the priest and

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almost treats a Levite is a good luck

charm, so that God will bless him.

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I love that my moody commentary said Micah

was a thief and his mother was a fool.

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Yep.

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There's just no way around that.

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But the key to this

chapter is in verse six.

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In those days, there

was no king in Israel.

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Everyone did what was

right in his own eyes.

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And that feels like today in our

culture to me, that people are frowned

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upon for talking about Big T Truth,

rather than saying, live your truth.

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many deny basic facts and instead, worship

feelings and those who wish to have

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an ultimate source of truth and wisdom

like scripture are mocked and ridiculed.

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Many in our culture have no

more hope than the people in the

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book of Judges, but thankfully.

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These stories show us

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that with God there is hope for us all.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we're well aware that

if our own lives were cataloged in

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the chapters of a book, there would be

many parts we'd be ashamed of as well.

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So if we ask that you would help us

to evaluate our own hearts and our

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own propensities towards sin, may

we continually look to you and

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your spirit to renew and change us.

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We pray particularly against the sin

of lust in our lives, in the lives

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of our husbands and in our children.

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May we be diligent to protect them.

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From the ever present opportunities

for evil with technology

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guide us to walk in the fear of you and

that our sons and our daughters would

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not do what's right in their own eyes,

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but instead.

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live lives of obedience onto you.

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Thank you, Jesus, for your grace

and your mercy to rescue us and

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to use us in spite of our own sin.

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It's in your name we pray.

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Amen.