Encouragement

GRACE GETS DOWN AND DIRTY

by David Bender
05/05/17
For Sale
Author requests article critique

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

Jesus will never leave you or forsake you. His grace gets down and dirty in the mud, the blood and the tears. His righteousness is not the least bit squeamish. Christ will stick with you through the thick and the thin- until the end of time. And that will be just the beginning!

The Gospel (good news) of Samson illustrates this point, that grace gets down and dirty, quite well. Though Samson was very strong physically, morally he was a weakling! This following experience shows God’s marvelous grace. In spite of Samson sleeping with a prostitute, God didn’t abandon him. Judges 16: 1- 3 (The Message Bible) tells the story: “Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute. He went to her. The news got around: "Samson's here." They gathered around in hiding, waiting all night for him at the city gate, quiet as mice, thinking, "At sunrise we'll kill him." Samson was in bed with the woman until midnight. Then he got up, seized the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, bolts and all, hefted them on his shoulder, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.”(Italics supplied).

God and Samson had a special Nazirite covenant. He was to never cut his hair and Jehovah would use him to begin Israel’s deliverance from the Philistines. The Almighty often gave him special strength when cornered by his enemies. This time God gave him power to carry the gate of the city away with him – after he had spent the night with a harlot - can you imagine that? And Gaza appears to be well over 35 miles from Hebron – where Samson set the city gates down! Yes, the Most High’s righteousness is not too delicate for everyday experiences. It can stay with you when life gets down and dirty, when things are unvarnished and unpolished. Praise the LORD, God sticks with us when we are good and when we are not good! That is how grace works!