I remember the days of the large glass jars of honey. Cannot remember the name brand, but each jar had a part of the honeycomb in it. I always wondered how they got it in there without destroying the comb part. It was so sweet and excellent on those homemade buttermilk biscuits. Well, technology has changed a lot of things and one is the honey jar in that some are made of plastic! So there is no viewing the beauty of that honeycomb or even for one to have a thought process of how little bees do all that work and make something that tastes so good!
Like honey, the beauty of the amber color gently drizzled over a hot biscuit can entice even a dieter to throw in the towel to enjoy the flavor and taste of all that goodness. If something so simple as honey on a biscuit could cause us to stumble, what else is there that could cause the same problem? Well, you know that honey is good for you. Yes, it is in a certain amount, but what if you ate it three times a day.............and........................on hot biscuits fresh out of the oven all three times?
Proverbs 25:16..................16 Have you found honey?
Eat only as much as you need,
Lest you be filled with it and vomit. NKJV
When we type in honey in reference to the Bible, we can find a lot of scripture that pertains to honey. My favorite passage is found here in Judges 14. From reading through the book of Judges, we find it deals with those who judged in Israel during a very dark time of their history. At this time of their history, Joshua, their leader, had long since passed on to glory. The law which had been handed down was ignored. The only people who continued their walk with the Lord were those of Samson's parent's generation. They continued their devotion and worship to God!
It was by the Lord that the announcement came that Manoah and his wife would have a son. He was to be raised as a Nazirite found in
Judges 13:5 . Samson was to serve the nation as a Judge and stand in that office. He was to serve as one with a commitment to God. But in what the scripture passages reveal, Samson failed time after time.
Samson's major flaw was that he loved women!
So do we have a weak area in our lives? What is that which weakens our "spirit man"? What looks so good to us that we would "compromise" the word of God?
Judges 14:1-20
14:1 Now Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 So he went up and told his father and mother, saying, "I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; now therefore, get her for me as a wife." 3 Then his father and mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" And Samson said to his father, "Get her for me, for she pleases me well." 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. 5
So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah.
Compromise number one, was to his vow as a Nazirite! He was to not have anything to do with any product of grapes and we find him taking his parents on specific trip dangerously close to the vineyards of Timnah!
"Oh, I know the vineyard is there, but I will not consume it in any form?" Well, there is a party coming down shortly!
Compromise number two, Samson evidently did not like his father and mother telling him "no" when it came to the question of the pagan woman. But according to God's plan, Samson was not to intermarry with a Canaanite. Samson was to marry from his own people and someone from their land.
Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. 6 And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7 Then he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. 8 After some time, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. 9 He took some of it in his hands and went along, eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they also ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion.
According to the Law that was present at the time, no one was to eat from a dead carcass. There was not to be any touching of the thing that was dead or anything around it, in it or on it! Some state it was noteably a lion's body still in tact, some state it was just the skeleton. But Samson knew it was something he killed. Samson took up this honey from a "dead thing" and gave it to his parent's and never telling them where it came from and from what he had taken the honey from in regard to the body of the lion. Another compromise! His parent's were committed to God and standing in the truth of God's Word in the Law at that time. He caused his own parent's to sin by not telling "the truth".
Still, God would move forward in His plan using Samson against the Philistines.
10 So his father went down to the woman. And Samson gave a feast there, for young men used to do so. 11 And it happened, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12 Then Samson said to them, "Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can correctly solve and explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing. 13 But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothing." And they said to him, "Pose your riddle, that we may hear it." 14 So he said to them:
"Out of the eater came something to eat,And out of the strong came something sweet."
Now for three days they could not explain the riddle.
15 But it came to pass on the seventh day that they said to Samson's wife, "Entice your husband, that he may explain the riddle to us, or else we will burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us in order to take what is ours? Is that not so?" 16 Then Samson's wife wept on him, and said, "You only hate me! You do not love me! You have posed a riddle to the sons of my people, but you have not explained it to me." And he said to her, "Look, I have not explained it to my father or my mother; so should I explain it to you?" 17 Now she had wept on him the seven days while their feast lasted. And it happened on the seventh day that he told her, because she pressed him so much. Then she explained the riddle to the sons of her people. 18 So the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down:
"What is sweeter than honey?And what is stronger than a lion?"
And he said to them:
"If you had not plowed with my heifer,You would not have solved my riddle!"
19 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily, and he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave the changes of clothing to those who had explained the riddle. So his anger was aroused, and he went back up to his father's house. 20 And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man. NKJV
Compromise number three could have happened at the wedding feast! I mean this party thing lasted for seven days. There food and wine was served. Is it possible that Samson partook of the wine offered?
At the wedding feast he proposed a riddle. For entertainment purposes for the guests, Samson promised "thirty changes of clothes" if they could give him an answer to the "riddle" But unable to solve it, they then urged the new wife to get the answer for them. Of course He gave in to her demand and told the answer wherein she told the guests. Being betrayed by the new wife, Samson's wrath is kindled and with vengeance in his heart he went to Ashkelon, killed thirty Philistines, and gave the changes of "clothes" to those who had solved the riddle. When he returned to his father's home,
Samson's wife was given to his best man.
Compromise is not a good thing! We may think we are on the right path, but when things seem to fall apart, and those who should stand with you seem far away and take the side of the world's thing, then we must stop! Stop! Then take a breath, and pray : Lord, where did I compromise? When did I get off the path You set forth for me to walk?
Compromise: means to lower one's standard or weaken one's standards...but through God's word that is sweeter than honey we gain understanding. We gain the wisdom to know which way to walk and that which we should avoid!
Psalm 119:103-104............103 How sweet are Your words to my taste,
Sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through Your precepts I get understanding;
Therefore I hate every false way. NKJV
God's power in us is His Holy Spirit power! What has weakened our standards in view that the Word of God is that measure where we are at. If we did the plumb line, like we find in scripture, where would we be found? Isaiah 28:17...................17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line; NIV
Yes, God is totally unstoppable and He can flow through us to accomplish His will for our lives, but we never escape the consequence of sin in our lives. We have only covered a few passages of scripture on Samson's life. In respect to what we have seen, he walked into disobedience against his vow as a Nazirite.
I believe we are to enjoy life, and life abundantly, but not to compromise our heritage of having a Savior and knowing what He did for us! I believe we are to hold the Word continually before us to see if there be any problems!
Yes temptations can come into our lives, but how will we handle them?
If we find ourselves wanting to take "revenge" against someone for the hurt they have caused us, then we need to stop! Stop! Take a deep breath and pray!
In length of space I only wrote on the first portion of scripture on Samson. He had a life that dictated to his lust for women and in so doing was captured and blinded because of that sin. But we know at the end, even in bondage, in the last moments he had, he pleaded for the power of the Holy Spirit to return. He repented his sin before God and killed those who he was meant to take care for God in the first place. What transpired took him to a place where he had nothing left because the Spirit of God had left him and he did not know it! In reality we do not want the Holy Spirit to leave us, but in sin, the Holy Spirit will not be found in our life.
Compromise is a terrible thing and is a hard price to pay with in your body, health and relationships. Is there some area of weakness that should be addressed before it is too late? Is there something that seems harmless, but has the bite of asp, the venom to kill and destroy us?
I close with this scripture! It was one the Lord gave us when we (my husband and I) were saved many years ago!
Leviticus 20:22-26
22'You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them. 24 But I have said to you, "You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 25 You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26 And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine. NKJV
Our walk should never be "well, he said" or "well, she said", no it should be the Word of God! Everything is plumbed with the line of "righteousness". It should always be what the Lord is speaking and showing us by His Holy Spirit. Because trials can come, our choice should be for life and flee the lust that brings despair and death?
Father, thank You for YOUR Word that is life to us. In Jesus' name, I pray that we be men and women who will not compromise, but put YOUR word as the STANDARD in our lives. Father, I pray that each of us would know Your power through Your Holy Spirit and not misuse it for frivolous gain. I pray that YOU would show any of us where we might have missed the mark. Where have we "compromised" Your Word in dealing with others? I pray today that we would seek You in the Word and find that place that keeps us separated to You and from the world. We know temptations can come, but I pray that we would have put on that full armor to fight the fiery darts of the enemy. We are thankful that we are not under the Old Covenant, but have a New Living Covenant in Jesus Christ. Today, I expect and believe with a full heart that our land oozes and flows with that milk and honey. I believe us to have the fullness of what YOU have for us. Today I pray that we will continue to seek YOU and keep our focus on what You say. I pray for commitment to be in our hearts and that we will not turn back to folly. ( Psalm 85:9) 9 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. NKJV. AMEN!
