Daily Devotional

February 14th, 2025
by Pastor Wil Staley

“Fool’s Gold”

Judges 14:1–3 - “Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah 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 Timnah. 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.’” (ESV)

There are many pros and cons to online shopping. One of the biggest cons is that you don’t get to physically touch the item that you’re purchasing. Have you ever purchased something online and when it arrived it was not quite what you thought it would be? I remember for Alexis and I's five-year wedding anniversary I wanted to do something special for her. I was only 24 years old at the time, so still woefully optimistic about things that seemed too good to be true. In year five, the traditional anniversary gift theme is wood so I found the perfect personalized wooden plaque online that was scheduled to arrive two whole days before our anniversary (with expedited shipping of course). Unfortunately, what I received was a piece of poster paper with a wood print on the background. At that moment, the lyrics of one of my favorite artists immediately came to mind, "All that glitters, ain't made of gold."—Andy Mineo, Now I Know Better

In the passage above, we observe the origin of what ended up being a tragic story, all because something caught the eye of our main character. The Bible warns us about looking at corrupting people or degrading things (Psalm 101:3) and Samson's story all started with a second "considering" look. Again, first impressions are not everything yet Samson stakes his entire future on a look. A look that shows us the power that lies in what we see. What Samson saw, gave birth to a desire, that ultimately led to his downfall.

We must be a people who relentlessly protect what we see. How do we do that? By focusing on God's Word. Proverbs 7:2 tells us to keep God's teaching as the apple of our eye. We are to store it in our hearts and protect it as one would protect their eyesight. Anything we consider valuable we do not leave vulnerable. To uncomplicate many things in our lives we must simply surrender our eyes to the Lord and commit to not allowing worthless or unclean things to come in front of them.

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English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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