The importance of God’s ANOINTING in our lives
March 17 Bible
Reading: Judges Chapters 16-18
The importance of God’s ANOINTING in our lives
"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" (Judges 16:20)
Samson had fallen
into trouble and danger many times before by his love of foreign women, but he
did not take these warnings seriously. His blind love for Delilah (Judges 16:4)
and her constant daily pestering made him blurt out the truth: "No razor has ever come upon my head,
for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then
my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other
man" (Judges 16:17). We should note that Samson’s herculean powers did
not arise from his hair, but from his peculiar relation to God as a Nazarene.
His unshorn locks were a sign that he was a Nazarene, and a pledge on the part
of God to endow him with supernatural strength. Samson’s hair in itself was not
the cause of his strength but since it was the chief condition of God’s
covenant, God withdrew His presence and anointing when the covenant was
violated. We see that the anguish of Samson’s
suffering was so much greater than all the pleasures of sin he had got so far: "Then the Philistines took him and put
out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters,
and he became a grinder in the prison" (Judges 16:21)
It was God’s
anointing through the presence of the Holy Spirit alone that enabled Samson to
fight his battles and judge Israel. That anointing alone can help us today as
well. We may be born again and that is certainly the work of the Holy Spirit.
But we must still know the Spirit of the Lord coming upon us and empowering us
to serve the Lord. We should never be satisfied to do God’s work without the
power of the Holy Spirit. We can never do God’s work without the power of the
Holy Spirit. Even Jesus who lived a perfect life for 30 years - Who was born of
the Spirit, and Who had lived in obedience to the Holy Spirit for 30 years –
had to be anointed by the Holy Spirit before He went out to serve His Father.
As He prayed in the river Jordan, the Spirit of God came upon Him. We need to follow
His example. Any amount of knowledge or natural gifts can never be a substitute
for this anointing from God. We need to live under this anointing constantly. Samson’s example is a tragic reminder to us
how we can be anointed at one time, and then lose it later due to our willful
sins.
"But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31)
