This morning I woke up with a song stuck in my head. It’s a country song, and oddly enough I can’t even remember the last time I listened to country music other than a song here and there on my sons IPOD. I think the song is sung by Rascal Flats but could be wrong. Anyways, the part I have stuck in my head is “I will stand by you, I will help you through, when you’ve done all you can do……”
Now, the reason this gave meaning to my morning is a couple of things. For one, I was supposed to pull an all-nighter studying, but just was too pooped out to stay up past 11:00pm. The other is that I am supposed to take the state exam for my insurance license on Wed. and I feel unprepared due to my lack of being able to study all weekend due to things beyond my control……my daughters High School Graduation, my sons 8th grade graduation…..things that I wouldn’t miss for the world. I also got up this morning looking around my house, at the unwept floor, the sink full of dishes, the bag of groceries yet to be put away…and all I can think of is how I am down to the wire and I am falling short in every area! With God’s grace I’ve made it this far and I cannot afford to fail the exam on Wed.!!!
So, the words came to me as I was getting my computer and everything set up to start studying: “Seek me first, and then all will fall into place”. Now these words hit me like a ton of bricks; because the first thing and last thing I normally do in the day is read the bible and pray, yet for a few days I haven’t done that I’ve been studying but it’s been the wrong book.
With that being said I opened my bible to a place I had left off at last week in Judges finishing the life of Samson. I’m sure most have heard of Samson in the bible, but probably have never actually “studied” his life. At least I had never bothered to do so. So I read the last chapters which led to the death of Samson. Now I’m not going to go into detail because there is a lot more time I need to spend studying on this exactly before I go preaching to anyone, but here is what I will say. Since before Samson’s conception, he was destined to be a leader and have supernatural strength. An Angel appeared to his parents before his conception and told them this, and gave them a set of things they should and should not do to this boy, as he is a born servant to the Lord. One of those things was to never shave/cut his hair. Long story….skipped to the end, after several mighty defeats Samson had over the Philistines, they finally were able to learn the secret to his godly strength and cut off his hair in his sleep. They then attacked him, gouged out his eyes, and put him in prison. Later, after being imprisoned the Philistines brought Samson out so that they could all see him in his weak state for their entertainment. When the guards brought Samson out he asked to be led to the pillars that support the temple so that he could use them to lean on, and the guard did as he was asked. While Samson stood there with one hand on each pillar he prayed to God and asked him to please give him his strength back one more time so that he may seek final revenge on these Philistines for gouging out his eyes. The Lord granted his prayer, and Samson with the strength of his two arms pulled down the entire temple, and it came crashing down upon him, but in doing so killed the Philistines and their rulers. So in his death he killed more than he ever did in his life.
Now, I’m not going to even to begin to explain something I don’t fully understand, but what I am going to do is tell you why this story affected me so greatly this morning. As I said I woke up feeling weak, like I was being held back, like things were impossible for me to do, that circumstances beyond my control were causing me to fall short, that I was confused and blinded on what I should be doing.
Our Lord is wonderful, he is loving when we don’t know we need it, he is there for us when we don’t think we need it, and when we are lost in the darkness he is our light! This morning I woke up lost in the darkness, the energy that usually comes in the morning for me was gone, and I was confused, the enemy had that quickly swept into my life and made me doubt myself and my purpose…but wait what words did I have in my head this morning?
“I will stand by you, I will help you through, when you’ve done all you can do…” and then “Seek me first, and all else will fall into place.”
You see, God already knew what the enemy was trying to do to me today, and just like a mother bear protects her cub, he put those words in my head to take the focus away from any problem and put them directly onto him, which is where they should be.
So as you go on with your day today first remember that all things are possible through he that strengthens me. So put your trust in the Lord and rest assured that today will be a great day of enjoyment, success, prosperity, and deliverance! FOR WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD!!
