Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

You must go to take away from the uncircumcised Philistines, but Samson said to his father,

get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.

Oh, there's so much here in these three verses and judges and so much that leads us to pray.

I want to point out a couple of things in particular. One,

Samson uses language here at the very end of verse three that is the worst language possible.

That's what we see at key points in the Book of Judges, the people of God doing what is right in their own eyes.

You read the Book of Judges and it is horrible.

Some of the pictures of sin and evil that we see in this book and it's what happens

when people do what is right in their own eyes, instead of doing what is right according to God

and his word. And that's what's happening here in Samson's life. He has taken things into

his own hands. He's making one of the most significant decisions in his life, who he's going to

marry and he's making that decision according to what is right in his eyes. And the picture is, as you

think about all three of these verses, Samson is going outside of God's word to his people.

God has told his people not to knit their lives closely like this, particularly in marriage with

Philistines, with those outside of the covenant people of God in the Old Testament. And Samson

is doing exactly the opposite of what God has said. So as we think about our lives,

significant decisions in our lives, even down to for those who are single or as you, if you're

a teenager or a child or a parent of a child who is not yet married to pray that God would give wisdom

to marry someone according to his word, not according to what is right in their eyes in the world.

And then for all of us to pray that God would help us not to give ourselves to what seems right

in our eyes. When it goes against God's word, God, we pray for that. We pray for that in each of our

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