BETRAYED BY A LOVED ONE

PROCLAMATION

“And Samson said unto them, ‘I will now put forth a riddle unto you; if ye can certainly declare it to me within the seven days of the feast … And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson’s wife, ‘Entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father’s house with fire … And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and it came to past on the seventh day, that he told her … and she told the riddle to … her people.”  Judges 14:12-17 (KJV)

 

EXPLANATION

These are the words of God which were written under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God by the Prophet Samuel.  Samson was born and grew and The Lord blessed him, and The Spirit of The Lord began to stir within him. (Judges 13:24-25)  After he was grown, Samson saw a Philistine woman in Timnah and he told his father and mother to get her for him as his wife. (Judges 14:1-4)  On their way to Timnah they were attacked by a lion.  The Spirit of The Lord came powerfully upon him and he killed the lion.  Then he went to Timnah and talked with the young woman and he like her. (Judges 14:5-7)  Some time later he returned to Timnah with his father to marry the woman and held a marital feast as was their custom.  The Philistine citizens of Timnah chose thirty men to be his bridegroom’s men. (Judges 14:10-11)  It was to these thirty men that Samson put forth the riddle in order to determine whether he would give them gifts or they would give him gifts. (Judges 14:12-19)  They prevailed upon Samson’s wife to get her the get the answer to the riddle for them and she did.     

 

APPLICATION

While our enemies can cause us problems, our biggest hurt and disappointment comes from the betrayal of a family member, a loved one, or a close friend.  Sometimes those who are close to us are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing.  People rarely change, they just lose the ability to keep holding up their mask.  We need to pray and ask The Lord God for the ability to discern between the righteous and the wicked, so that we can see people for who they really are. (Malachi 3:16-18)  We should not be surprised when people turn on us.  Remember that Judas was one of the twelve disciples with Jesus, The Christ, and he betrayed Him. (Luke 22:48)   

 

NOT MY WILL BUT YOUR WILL BE DONE

Proclamation:

“Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”  Luke 22:42 (NIV)

Explanation:

These are the words of Jesus, The Christ, as recorded by Luke, the physician, under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God.  After Jesus had His last Passover meal with His disciples in the upper room, He told Simon Peter that the devil wanted to use him but He had prayed for him. (Luke 22:31-32)  He also told Peter that he would deny knowing Him three times before the rooster crows. (Luke 22:34)  Then they left and went to the Mount of Olives to the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed this prayer.  Jesus prayed that His Heavenly Father’s will would be done and not His will.  Soon afterwards, Judas Iscariot led a group of priests, elders, and solders to the place where Jesus was and betrayed Him with a kiss on the cheek, and He was arrested and taken before Pilate and Herod. (Luke 22:7-71)

Application:

All of us have faced some situations which we did not want to deal with, but none of them was as bad as the one which Jesus was facing.  The “cup” that He was facing and wanted removed was not the cross, but having all of our sins put upon Him.  Being free from sin, He probably found this repulsive.  However, He was willing to do it in order to save us.  Jesus made it clear that what was important was that His Heavenly Father’s will be done and not His will.  We need to be able to sincerely pray, “Thy will be done.”  This is what Jesus taught us in the model prayer. (Matthew 6:9-10 and Luke 11:2)  If what we want, with our selfish desires, conflicts with the will of God, we need to understand that whatever it is that we want is not important.  We are selfish.  We need to humble ourselves and recognize that The Lord God knows everything about everything (1 John 3:20) and He knows what is best for all of us.