I am reminded of an example from Scripture that
can be found in the 16th chapter of the book of Judges, “Now Samson went to Gaza and saw
a harlot there, and went in to her. (2)
When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and
lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the
morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” (3) And Samson lay low till midnight; then he
arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two
gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried
them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
(4) Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek,
whose name was Delilah. (5) And the
lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ‘Entice him, and find
out where his great strength lies,
and by what means we may
overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will
give you eleven hundred pieces
of silver.’” (Judges 16:1-5) This passage is soon followed by one of the
saddest verses in the bible, 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 was one of the great Judges of Israel, one of their
leaders not knowing that sin had taken him far from God. In the above passage we read “But he did not know that the Lord had departed
from him.” This would imply that he was familiar with the Holy
Spirit, that he was aware of the presence of God upon him and in his life and
yet he woke up this one morning unaware that he was now far from God. How could this have happened?
No one wakes up on any given morning and says “I think I
will start down a path of sin today”. It
is evident in this passage that he had already made the steps to do so. Delilah had tried to find out the source of
his strength and he played her game. That
is how the enemy works; subtly getting us to listen to his music and we are
soon dancing his dance. Soon we are
caught up in the minstrel’s tune not knowing that we are slowly moving away
from the Savior. Slowly led away like a
lamb to the slaughter, moving farther and farther away from God, farther and
farther away from the One who truly cares for us. It is quite evident that many believers
follow this same path as Samson. They
follow a path that will lead them away from the light of Christ into the darkness
of sin. They march blindly into sin’s
bondage leaving the freedom that we have in Christ behind.
I have spent untold hours talking
to and counseling believers who have found themselves lost out on the sea of
despondency, their lives facing shipwreck on Sin’s reefs of despair. Just when they think that they had victory
over Sin they find that it once again has victory over them. As believers we often find ourselves
overpowered by the enemy and as if without a fight trapped back in
bondage. This is so because we had given
in one step at a time. Sin’s victories
are sometimes subtle, sometimes blinding, yet always overbearing and we find
that it doesn't take long before we are caught up in sin and back in over our
heads.
How do we get so far off course so
fast? One small step at a time, that’s
how. It often begins with one extra
lingering look at a woman or a man that you shouldn’t have taken for those who
struggled with porn. One sip, an “innocent”
drink that you shouldn’t have accepted for those who struggled with alcohol. And so the list goes on for whatever
addiction that you may have been or are currently struggling with. “It always begins with one seemingly simple…
(list your vice here).” It does not take
long in any confrontational situation for God to begin to convict the counselor
of his own backsliding issues. You can
hypocritically take a “Pharisaical stand” by saying, “…‘God, I thank You that I am not
like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector,”
(Luke 18:11) or you can take note
and deal with the issues in your life.
I can let you know this that God
will deal with both parties regarding the issue of backsliding whether you are
the counselee or the counselor. The
warning that we get about our backsliding will not go unnoticed once God has
warns us. We find that God has warned us
of this through the Apostle Paul in Galatians
6:1-5, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken
in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of
gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (2) Bear one another’s burdens, and so
fulfill the law of Christ. (3) For if
anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives
himself. (4) But let each one examine
his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in
another. (5) For each one shall bear his
own load.”
This warning is given to all
believers. It is a special call
especially to those who serve as ministers, leaders or counselors because ministry
has caused some to fall into the trap of examining themselves in the light of
others and not Christ. They will find
that the Grace of God will expose their sin if it goes unaddressed and that the
Grace of God will not allow anyone to continue in sin. It will be this same Grace that God that will
aggressively extend in love toward His children to make them uncomfortable so
that they too, by His Grace will seek the forgiveness of God for their sin as
well.
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