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

Judges chapter 14, verses 1 through 3.

Samson went down to Timna, and at Timna he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.

Then he came up and told his father and mother,

I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timna.

Now get her for me as my wife. But his father and mother said to him, is there not a one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timna. Now get her for me as my wife.

But his father and mother said to him, is there not a woman among the daughters of your

relatives or among all our people that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised

Philistines? But Samson said to his father, get her for me, for she is right in my eyes. This phrase at the end of this passage

is such a dangerous phrase, and we see it throughout the book of judges, people doing what is right

in their eyes. For Samson here, this is the beginning of

blatant sin against God and His Word that will unfortunately mark much of Samson's life.

And it's mysterious how one who was empowered by God's spirit in certain ways was still prone

to sin in other ways.

I remember reading what one author wrote, he said, spirit given power in one dimension

of life does not by itself

guaranteed spirit impelled discipline and maturity in every dimension of life. It follows that the

presence of spiritual gifts is never an excuse for personal sin. I think about this in my life, in others' lives around me, whom I love,

and even other leaders around me, I just think about people who are gifted spiritually in

different ways. That is never an excuse for personal sin and disobedience to God. And it's a reminder,

this passage is a reminder that we are all prone to veer toward that which seems right in

our own eyes, which is why we need. We need God's word to guard us, convict us, guide us. We need brothers and sisters around us,

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