When We Think We Know

Verse of the day: Judges 14:4, But his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

One of the most discouraging things we can do to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ is to judge one another’s action in ignorance. Far too many of us spend excessive amounts of time minding everyone else’s walk with Jesus, rather than focus on our own walk with Him. One of my favorite “mind your own business” quotes comes from Jesus’ conversation with the Apostle Peter in John 21:20-22, “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’ 21 Peter, seeing him, said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ 22 Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’” It is very easy to be critical of someone else’s service to the Lord, simply because we would not “do it that way”. However, we must not forget that the Lord does not use all of us in the same way and He may choose unconventional means to accomplish His will and plan in our lives. There are approaches to ministry and serving God that are not sinful, but may not be preferable, but we have no business making that judgement in someone else’s life. There are certain liberties that we can take in living the life God has chosen for us that others may not understand or agree. The Lord may even choose to take a life that has been broken by rebellion and poor choices, and put it back together in a beautiful way. We must be careful that we not become critical about that which God has put back together, simply because we are too judgmental to let someone else’s past be just that…their past. Samson was making a choice that was not the wisest choice, because the woman was not a follower of God, but it was not in direct violation to God’s command. In Deuteronomy 7:1-3, God listed the nations that He forbade Israel to intermarry. The Philistines were not on that list of people. In Ezra 9, a passage that some use to argue against this, God once again does not list the Philistines and the passage does not apply as the events in Ezra takes place after the life of Samson. Nonetheless, the point is that God can use whatever circumstance(s) we find ourselves in to accomplish His will and plans. Although it would have been better, and wiser, to marry a woman of his own people, God used Samson’s “love at first sight” moment to seek an occasion against the Philistines. God created Samson, knew Samson’s character, and chose to use that to accomplish His plan to begin to deliver His people. Abraham was a perfect example of God using something that seems out of the ordinary and even inconsistent with God’s ways to test Abraham’s faith. We know that God did not call for, and does not call for, human sacrifices (Deuteronomy 12:29-31). Yet, in order to test Abraham’s faith and ability to recognize the voice of God, He chose to tell Abraham to sacrifice his only son (Genesis 22). God already knew that He would not allow Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, but chose that act to prove Abraham’s faith and intimacy with the Lord. How would any one of us have known that this was God doing if we were alive to witness it? We would not have known. Therefore, today, we must be very careful about how we judge another person’s work and service to the Lord. When it comes to our service to the Lord and our lives lived for the Lord, with our imperfections, mistakes, poor choices, and broken lives that God put back together again, who are we to judge one another without knowing what God is truly doing through those instances? It would be best for us, before we jump to conclusions about other people’s walk with the Lord, to stop and consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 14:4, “Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.” We may not always know what we think we know.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).