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"Peace, My Peace" by David Middendorf
Judges 16:15 She said to him, “How can you say you love me when your heart isn’t with me? Three times you’ve made fun of me, and you haven’t told me the source of your great strength.”
16 Every day she kept nagging at him and pressing at him, till it bothered him to death, 17 so that he finally told her everything. He said to her, “No razor has ever touched my head, because I have been a nazir of God since I was born. If someone shaves me, then my strength will leave me; and I will be like any other man.” 18 When D’lilah saw that he had really confided in her, she sent and summoned the chiefs of the P’lishtim with the message, “Come up this one last time, because he has finally told me the truth.” The chiefs of the P’lishtim went up to her and brought the money with them. 19 She had him go to sleep in her lap and called for a man to shave off his seven locks of hair. Then she began tormenting him, but his strength had gone away. 20 She said, “Shimshon! The P’lishtim have come for you!” He awoke from his sleep and said, “I’ll get out this time, just as I shook myself loose before.” But he didn’t know that Adonai had left him. 21 So the P’lishtim seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to ‘Azah. There they bound him with two bronze chains and put him to work grinding grain at the mill in the prison. 22 However, after the hair on his head had been cut off, it began growing back again.
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We must be careful here not to say too much about communication between husbands and wives, being cautious not to point a finger exclusively at either one. However, the conversation between Samson and Delilah in Judges 16 has a particularly familiar ring to many couples. The author leaves little to the imagination as to why Samson told Delilah the secret of his strength: “With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it” (Judges 16:16). The Message translation reads, “She kept at it day after day, nagging and tormenting him. Finally he was fed up–he couldn’t take another minute of it. He spilled it.”
The world today has a way of wearing down our resolve, our commitment, our calling to the point that we feel like giving in just to have a little peace. Yet, true and abundant peace comes through resilience, discipline, and reliance on the One who is peace in the turbulent times of life. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives” (John 14:27a).
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Hymn for Today: "Wonderful Peace" by W. D. Cornell
1. Far away in the depths of my spirit tonight
Rolls a melody sweeter than psalm;
In celestial strains it unceasingly falls
O’er my soul like an infinite calm.
Refrain:
Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!
2. What a treasure I have in this wonderful peace,
Buried deep in the heart of my soul,
So secure that no power can mine it away,
While the years of eternity roll!
Refrain:
Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!
3. I am resting tonight in this wonderful peace,
Resting sweetly in Jesus’ control;
For I’m kept from all danger by night and by day,
And His glory is flooding my soul!
Refrain:
Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!
4. And I think when I rise to that city of peace,
Where the Anchor of peace I shall see,
That one strain of the song which the ransomed will sing
In that heavenly kingdom will be:
Refrain:
Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!
5. Ah, soul! are you here without comfort and rest,
Marching down the rough pathway of time?
Make Jesus your Friend ere the shadows grow dark;
O accept of this peace so sublime!
Refrain:
Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
Coming down from the Father above!
Sweep over my spirit forever, I pray
In fathomless billows of love!
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Thought of the Day: Isaiah 32:18 My people will live in a peaceful place,
in secure neighborhoods and tranquil dwellings.
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Please Pray: For the development of Christian leaders in Grenada.
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in secure neighborhoods and tranquil dwellings.
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Please Pray: For the development of Christian leaders in Grenada.
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