“Don’t let any flies in the bowl.” I have continued to mediate on this instruction from the Lord. In this post, I would like to unpack a few more thoughts on the subject. (If you missed the last post on it, you can read it here.)
Flies can represent things that are dirty and/or demonic — anything from little sins to big strongholds. In fact, it’s often the little sins that create the big strongholds… which is why we have to keep our guard up and not let any flies in the bowl. We are to be different or set apart from the world. The biblical model of this is first illustrated through the Israelites, God’s chosen people.
In the book of Exodus, the Israelites have been living as slaves to the Egyptians for over 400 years. God instructs Moses to confront Pharaoh and deliver this message: “Let My people go!” Pharaoh, of course, doesn’t go for the idea and refuses to let the Israelites leave. Then God sends a series of ten plagues on Egypt.
First is the Plague of Blood
Second is the Plague of Frogs
Third is the Plague of Gnats
These plagues impacted the entire land of Egypt, so it seems safe to assume that the Israelites would have also been affected by them. But then, the fourth plague comes and it’s a Plague of FLIES. And for the first time, look at what happens…
Exodus 8:22-23 NLT
22 But this time I will spare the region of Goshen, where my people live. No flies will be found there. Then you will know that I am the LORD and that I am present even in the heart of your land. 23 I will make a clear distinction between my people and your people. This miraculous sign will happen tomorrow.
WOW. This time, God states that He will make a clear distinction between His people and the world’s people. No flies were found among the Israelites. It became obvious that they were different and set apart. Then as plagues five through ten came, the Israelites continued to be spared from harm. Only the Egyptians suffered the consequences. And after the tenth plague, Pharaoh let God’s people go. They were finally free!
But here’s the thing:
- Is there a clear distinction that we belong to the Lord?
- How often do our choices blur the line between that distinction?
- Are we letting the flies back into our lives? Back into our land?
Yes, some stuff is out of our control. However, a lot of things are in our control. We have a free will and we get to make choices. We can choose to live different and set apart. We can keep the flies out. But too often, we keep the door to our life unguarded and the flies find their way in (1 Peter 5:8). There’s a powerful example of this in life of Samson as recorded in Judges 13-16.
Samson was born to be a Nazarite. By definition, a Nazarite was someone who was “separated” and “consecrated” to the Lord. As outlined in Numbers 6, Nazarites had to follow certain guidelines: they couldn’t consume anything from the vine (including wine and grapes), they couldn’t cut their hair, and they couldn’t go near a dead body. For Samson, this “Nazarite vow” was to serve as the guardrails on his life, making a clear distinction that he was the Lord’s.
But Samson is a complicated character. On one hand, he is a hero with supernatural strength. God used him many times to deliver the Israelites from their enemy, the Philistines. But on the other hand, Samson is also a weak human with many flaws and failures. You might be familiar with the story of Samson and Delilah where Samson loses his strength through Delilah’s trickery. But I would propose that Samson’s downfall didn’t start with Delilah. Samson’s life started to unravel long before that. Throughout his story, there were some flies that never got swatted down. There was one compromising choice after another. Over and over again, Samson let his guard down until his tragic end.
If we are going to be carriers of God’s glory, we must learn how to keep our guard up! Let’s look at the flies in Samson’s life, so we can swat them down in our own lives.
In Judges 14 (long before Delilah), Samson is hanging out in a town called Timnah. We don’t know exactly why Samson was there, but we do know two things: Timnah was filled with Philistines (who were the enemy) and it was surrounded by vineyards. Now remember, Samson was forbidden to consume anything that came from the vine. But here he is hanging out in a place filled with the very things he is supposed to be guarding against.
- #1 Guard Your ATMOSPHERE
First and foremost, Samson failed to guard his ATMOSPHERE. He is spending time in enemy territory with vineyards all around. He’s put himself in an atmosphere of compromise. Before long, as he spends time in this place, something catches his eye… a Philistine woman. And even though the Law says he is not supposed to intermarry with the enemy, he desires to have her.
The atmosphere you’re in will always influence the appetite you have. Atmosphere and appetite go hand and hand. Not only did Samson fail to guard his atmosphere, he also failed to guard his APPETITE. Samson literally told his father, “Get her for me. She looks good to me!” (Judges 14:3).
- #2 Guard Your APPETITE
The problem isn’t that Samson wanted a wife. The problem is that Samson found something that looked good to him and he never bothered to make sure it also looked good to God. Just like Eve in the Garden of Eden. The fruit on the tree looked good to her — it was “pleasing to the eye” (Genesis 3:6). So she took it, ate it, and sinned. Just because it looks good doesn’t mean it is good!
The problem isn’t that we have an appetite. The problem is that we have an unguarded appetite. Let me explain it like this:
Imagine you’re on your way to the movie theater. You promise yourself that you’re not going to buy any popcorn. You’re not going to consume that (expensive) bag of cholesterol, sodium, and empty calories! It’s not going to happen. But then you walk into the theater… and you get into that atmosphere where the aroma of warm, freshly popped popcorn and perfectly melted butter washes over you… Suddenly the atmosphere around you starts to whet the appetite within you. And before you know it, you’re halfway through a bucket of popcorn and the movie hasn’t even started yet!
The atmosphere you’re in will influence the appetite you have! Sometimes, to be on guard simply means to get out! Get into another atmosphere! Don’t hang around compromise (Psalm 1:1). Get in church. Get around other Christ-loving people. And for those times when you can’t physically move locations, learn how to cultivate your own atmosphere!
Samson didn’t do well being in a Philistine town. But there’s another man who also found himself in Philistine territory. It’s David, the man after God’s heart. Biblical scholars believe that David wrote Psalms 141 while living with the Philistines.
Psalms 141:1-4, 8-10 TPT
1 Please, Lord, come close and come quickly to help me! Listen to my prayer as I call out to you. 2 Let my prayer be as the evening sacrifice that burns like fragrant incense, rising as my offering to you as I lift up my hands in surrendered worship! 3 God, give me grace to guard my lips from speaking what is wrong. 4 Guide me away from temptation and doing evil. Save me from sinful habits and from keeping company with those who are experts in evil. Help me not to share in their sin in any way! 8 But you are my Lord and my God; I only have eyes for you! I hide myself in you, so don’t leave me defenseless. 9 Protect me! Keep me from the traps of wickedness they set for me. 10 Let them all stumble into their own traps while I escape without a scratch!
David knew how to cultivate a godly atmosphere in an ungodly place. Through sacrifices of surrendered worship, a fragrant incense shifted the atmosphere and stirred up an appetite for the things of God! We have to be like David and start cultivating a Holy Ghost atmosphere everywhere we go. It won’t happen by itself. It has to be done on purpose.
And because the atmosphere you’re in influences the appetite you have, the more you get in God’s presence, the more you’ll start to crave God’s plans. The more your desires will start to line up with His desires. The more your life will start to look like Him. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness!” (Matthew 5:6)
Continuing on... “One day Samson went to the Philistine town of Gaza and spent the night with a prostitute” (Judges 16:1). Wow, Samson goes from wanting a Philistine wife to ending up in bed with a Philistine prostitute. Samson had failed to guard his atmosphere, he had failed to guard his appetite, and now he fails to guard his ACTIONS.
- #3 Guard Your ACTIONS
It’s the slippery slope that James describes: “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15 NLT). Samson is allowing sin to grow in his life. Shockingly however, throughout this whole time, God is still using Samson. For years, he’s still operating in his gifting and strength. All while living this double-life.
Some more time passes and now we come to the infamous moment when Delilah learns the secret of Samson’s strength.
Judges 16:16-20 NLT
16 She tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it. (Talk about an atmosphere you need to get out of!) 17 Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. “My hair has never been cut,” he confessed, “for I was dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.” …19 Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began to bring him down, and his strength left him. 20 Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” BUT HE DIDN’T REALIZE THE LORD HAD LEFT HIM.
That last verse is the most sobering. Can you believe that a man so strong and so powerfully used by God could become so numb to the things of God, that he didn’t even realize the Lord had left him?! Wow. Which brings us to our final point:
- #4 Guard Your ANOINTING
Samson didn’t. And he lost what was MOST precious and valuable. “So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison” (Judges 16:21 NLT).
Samson, this once great hero, now finds himself bound, blind, and bald. He’s a prisoner and he’s powerless.
BUT THE STORY ISN’T OVER.
Judges 16:22 NLT
But before long, his hair began to grow back.
God is so merciful! God is so gracious! God is so faithful, even when we’re not! He’s the God of another chance!
Charles Spurgeon writes:
“When Samson’s hair began to grow, what did it prophesy? Well, first, it prophesied hope for Samson. I will be bound to say that he put his hand to his head, and felt that it was getting bristly, and then he put his hand to his beard, and found it rough. Yes, yes, yes, it was coming, and he thought within himself, ‘It will be all right soon. I shall not get my eyes back. They will not grow again. I am an awful loser by my sin, but I shall get my strength back again, for my hair is growing. I shall be able to strike a blow for my people and for my God yet.”
Samson is about to get one more opportunity to be used by God to defeat the enemy. During a great Philistine festival, the Philistines bring out Samson to make fun of him. Samson stands in the middle of the Philistine temple that is filled with 3,000 people. He leans against the pillars and he prays for strength one final time…
Judges 16:29-30 NLT
29 Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, 30 he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. SO HE KILLED MORE PEOPLE WHEN HE DIED THAN HE HAD DURING HIS ENTIRE LIFETIME.
I find this to be such a sad ending to Samson’s story. Yes, he defeats the enemy, but at what cost? I don’t think it had to end that way for Samson. But in the last moments of his life, he gives us perhaps the most important lesson of all. The verse says, “he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime.”
And that’s an illustration of what happens when we finally die to ourselves… When we finally realize our flesh has been crucified… In our dying, we defeat the enemy!
Romans 6:5-8, 11-13 NLT
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.
Jesus died so we could live free from the power of sin!
Remember how this post started? We talked about the “clear distinction” between the Israelites and the Egyptians. In the original Hebrew, “distinction” in Exodus 8:23 literally means “ransom.” It also means, “deliver, by any means, ransom, that are to be, let be redeemed, rescue, surely.”
Ultimately, the distinction on our lives is because we have been ransomed, redeemed, and rescued by the precious blood of Jesus! We can’t earn it. We don’t deserve it! But we can receive it because of His grace!
Romans 6:1-4 NLT
1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Even though Samson’s life ended in tragedy, his legacy lives on in the “Hall of Faith” found in Hebrews 11. Wow, what redemption! God really is that good.
Recently I heard someone say, “There is grace to do what truth demands.” That’s why we can keep the flies out of the bowl. It’s time to get our guard up and live as an instrument of righteousness.
Let me leave you with one final thought from Jeremy Riddle:
“I’m one of those broken… people God continues to work through. It really is an amazing grace. But I think we frequently confuse God’s grace with God’s approval. God continuing to work through a broken system or person is just that: a testimony of His grace, not an indication of His approval. If a measure of His power and purpose can flow through such broken systems and people… imagine what greater measure of His power and purpose could flow through wholehearted, consecrated ones. This is what my heart is longing to see.”
And that is what my heart is longing to see. A people so pure that His presence and His power can flow so freely. Guard your atmosphere, your appetite, your actions, and your anointing. It’s time for revival.