THE MOST CARELESS MAN THAT EVER LIVED 1

MEMORY VERSE: A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished. Proverbs 27:12

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Psalms 51 -55, Proverbs 1

BIBLE STUDIES: Judges 15:11-14

Proverbs 27:12 says: “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.” A prudent man, also known as a careful man, sees evil from afar and hides from it but a careless man will not see evil until it is too close and many at times he cannot hide from it. At times, a careless man will see evil from afar and not take decisive steps to avoid it. In Judges 15:11-14 is the story of Samson – the man who holds the record for the most careless man that ever lived. Three thousand men of Judah, his brothers, went up to the top of rock Etam to bind Samson. When they met Samson, the bible records thus: “And they said unto Him, we are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves” (Judges 15:12). These men spoke in plain language to Samson not in parable. They told Samson, we are here to hand you over to the enemy who wants you dead at all cost i.e. we are here to kill you. They literally told him that his existence was a threat to their own existence so they would rather see him die than live. Their actions implied that they neither cared about what becomes of him nor the vision of God for his life.

The men of Judah also made it abundantly clear that they are going to bind him. If all they wanted was to hand Samson over to the Philistines, let us say for the sake of peace, they could have taken him there without binding him. Better still, they could have tied his hands alone, why bind him i.e. tie his hands, legs, etc? They wanted to bind him so that he will not be able to escape from the hands of the enemy. This was how much they hated him. I expected Samson to challenge this men but to my utmost shock, his response was, “swear unto me, that ye will not fall up upon me yourselves.” What kind of response is this? I thought Brother Samson would have said to the men of Judah, there is no point binding me, just tell me where they are, i will go and personally hand myself to them. After his response, they described how they were going to bind him, “but we will bind thee fast” (Judges 15:13), they said. In other words, we will tie you in a way that it will be impossible for you to escape or break the rope. Samson agreed. Some of us are like Samson in that we see trouble from far and we pass on into it. You are in courtship with a brother, and he has slapped you twice in the last two weeks, what do you think will happen after marriage? Don’t you know that he is trouble in waiting? The brother who cannot control his temper before marriage will turn you into a punching bag after marriage. Every time you are alone with that brother, he tries to touch you in an indecent manner, what do you think will happen if you go and spend a night at his place? Don’t you know that brother is up to something? If he is bold enough to touch you in an indecent manner in the public, what do you think he will do behind closed doors? In the first place, should you even agree to go and pass a night in another man’s house? What type of message do you think you are sending to him? You have just met a brother and strange ladies are calling you, warning you to leave their husband alone and you said you are seeking the face of God to see if he is the right man. That is fire you are playing with. Sister in Christ, that brother that is always receiving strange phone calls around you and does not want you to know who is calling is not genuine.

WORD OF THE DAY: If you are unsure about any brother, do not go ahead and marry him.

PRAYER: Let us pray for our spinsters that the Lord will guide them in the choice of their marriage partner.

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