Today is Judges 15 day!!!
What I mean by this is that for me, as I read through the bible-reading program, today is the day that God is speaking to me through Judges 15.
I’ve read through the passage, I’ve reflected on what it means, and made some personal applications.
Now as I go through the day I am paying attention to ways that my experiences today tie in with what I read, and how God is speaking to me through my day and through my reading.
I think this is something we all need to do.
Using whatever bible-reading method you choose, we need to do more than just read it and forget it.
But we also need to do more than read it like a book – we need to talk to the Lord about what we read, and we need to listen for His guidance or conviction in regards to our daily lives.
This is how I imagine it was for the first Jesus-followers.
As Jesus spoke to them through the day, the disciples thought about, talked about, and applied what they heard to their lives and experiences.
It was a day by day apprenticeship, rooted in a personal, conversational relationship.
We do not have the physical person of Jesus with us, but we do have His Spirit in us, and we have His truth and testimony in writing in the bible.
Reading the bible with the Lord, by His Spirit, allows us to have a day by day apprenticeship, rooted in a personal, conversational relationship.
Today the Lord is speaking to me through Judges 15.
Today I am going to look for ways that what I read there helps me, directs me, as I go through my day.
Feel free to add your thoughts about what the Lord might be saying through Judges 15!
One thought that kept coming back to me was, what a lousy role model Samson is. Makes it hard to understand how the Spirit of the Lord can enable him to do what he does.
Actually, the lesson I took from this was God’s amazing grace, working through our weakness, our pettiness, our immaturity, our immorality, etc., so that His kingdom comes through us, or despite us, one way or another.
The application for me is in how I look back on my day – on what I accomplished in the office, and on where I lacked or failed. Thank God that His Spirit can work through/despite my weakness.
One more thing, I notice how demanding Samson is at the end of the day – must I now die of thirst – is this what my prayers sound like?
Do I see Jesus foreshadowed in Samson? Only in a very weak way. Jesus is perfect, and when the Spirit of the Lord works through Him, watch out… I also see how desperately we need Jesus, no other ‘hero’ or deliverer’ will be able to help us, as good as they might be. Even the very best (like David) was a murderer, an adulterer.