Have you ever stood at life's crossroads, feeling the weight of a decision that could redraw the map of your future? This week we discuss that very concept, unraveling how one pivotal choice can lead to a drastically different life. We navigate through the treacherous waters of temptation, from the common lures of food and power to the more insidious allure of lust and money.
As we sift through the sands of time, we unearth the biblical sagas of Samson and Delilah, along with David and Bathsheba, revealing the raw human element within these divine narratives. These stories aren't just ancient texts; they're mirrors reflecting our modern-day battles with desire and manipulation. We dissect Samson's fall from grace, not just as a cautionary tale but as a conversation starter on the importance of humility and discernment. And in the poignant tale of David, we find a powerful lesson in accountability and the unexpected turns that even a king's journey can take.
Would you like to support the Cheer UP! Podcast? You can do so by clicking here
Kara's website - click here.
Cheri's website- here.
Email - cheeruppodcast@gmail.com
Instagram - @kararhunt
Leave reviews on - Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Google Podcasts,
Have you ever stood at life's crossroads, feeling the weight of a decision that could redraw the map of your future? This week we discuss that very concept, unraveling how one pivotal choice can lead to a drastically different life. We navigate through the treacherous waters of temptation, from the common lures of food and power to the more insidious allure of lust and money.
As we sift through the sands of time, we unearth the biblical sagas of Samson and Delilah, along with David and Bathsheba, revealing the raw human element within these divine narratives. These stories aren't just ancient texts; they're mirrors reflecting our modern-day battles with desire and manipulation. We dissect Samson's fall from grace, not just as a cautionary tale but as a conversation starter on the importance of humility and discernment. And in the poignant tale of David, we find a powerful lesson in accountability and the unexpected turns that even a king's journey can take.
Would you like to support the Cheer UP! Podcast? You can do so by clicking here
Kara's website - click here.
Cheri's website- here.
Email - cheeruppodcast@gmail.com
Instagram - @kararhunt
Leave reviews on - Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Google Podcasts,
Hi and welcome to the Cheer Up Podcast. I am your host, kara R Hunt, and with me is the wonderful Sherry Swalwell. How are you today, sherry?
Speaker 2:I am doing great, and you know what I am loving February. I can't believe we're in the third week of it already, but I am loving it. Last week, we talked about David and Bathsheba and we were talking about if you find yourself in a lustful situation or a lustful relationship, and we were encouraging people to get out while you can, and it made me think. I was thinking about a phrase that my pastor encouraged his congregation, or all of us, with, and he was talking about how we're always only one choice away from changing our life for the better or for the worse. And I think that that goes so good with not just what we were talking about last week with David and Bathsheba, but I think it goes really well with our topic for today, that lust is an emotion Just like. So you can lust after food, you can lust after people, you can lust after sex, you can lust after money, you can lust after fame.
Speaker 2:You can lust after a lot of different things, and lust after power, yes, and one of us were all only one choice away from giving into that or running away from that, and I just thought, oh, that is so good. I remembered what my pastor had said and so I just kind of wanted to share that today. But it's another encouragement that you may find yourself down that rabbit hole, but you're only one choice away, one good choice away, from pulling yourself out of that. So I just I don't know it encouraged me and so I just kind of wanted to encourage you and our listeners today that we're all only one choice away from changing our life, either for the better or for the worse.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I actually remember, when I was in high school, that there was a play and it was called Choices, right, and of course it was high school students in a play and our drama my my favorite drama teacher of all time. So a shout out to Dr Deborah Peppers, you know, and everything else. So, because as an adult she became a friend, right, you know, and someone who I always looked up to and admired and you know and everything else. But there was a, there was a, there was a skit what can I say? Skit? I let me just say play, but called called Choices, and I remember I think that was now we're in high school at this time.
Speaker 1:Well, let me just speak for me.
Speaker 1:I'm in high school at this time and I think it was that play that that really hit it home for me about how the choices we make can change our lives in ways we never thought they could possibly could.
Speaker 1:Now, of course, the play focused more on, you know, things that high school students get themselves involved in, like drinking and driving, unplanned pregnancies. You know, hanging out with people who you know may have drug issues or promote drug issues or encourage you to do drugs, and it was like so many four, five, six, seven people, many people in this play, and each one of them made choices to go down you know certain roads and then you know there was like one or two, if I remember correctly, that didn't choose to go down any of those bad roads and you get to see, like you know, later, how those choices affected each one of them. So your pastor is absolutely right and you're absolutely right. That is just something that we need to always remember, that we're just one choice away from a not just a very bad day, but from a very bad life.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. That sounds like that was a really good play.
Speaker 1:Oh, it was eye-opening for me. It was I, because, you know, I think when you're a teen you just don't quite see big picture like that. Right, you know, because you're just like I just have this one beer, or I'll just take this one drink, or I'll just smoke this one joint and get behind a car. Nothing's going to happen, you know, I'm just going to go home. Yes, exactly, I'm invincible. Nothing's going to happen. You know, come on, guys, everybody get in the car. We're going to have a blast. We're going to go barreling down Main Street, even though we're highest kites, right, and then when you're the only survivor at the end of that road, and then now you're facing prison time for manslaughter charges, for killing people and getting behind the wheel of a car, knowing that you were what do they call it? Incarcerated? Not incarcerated, that's when you go to jail. Oh, what is the word? When you're just anyway, you're too drunk Intoxicated.
Speaker 1:That's the word I'm looking for. I know began with an I, you know, and you're intoxicated. You can barely see in front of you, let alone the lines on the street, let alone the car, the child, the old lady in front of you, let alone the stop sign, and then you crash into another car, not only kill the people in your vehicle, but maybe there's an injured home someone else in there. As a child, as a teenager, you know, we just we don't think big picture like that.
Speaker 1:So that was one of those plays that just really made it hit home for me, like wow, you know, we can't just be so loosey-goosey with our decisions and the people we hang out with or the people we spend time with or the things we do, because it could really really become a stumbling block in a plant that you know I have, I have for my life, you know, and it does. So, yes, it was. And you know, as we'll see, as Sheri's going to talk about one of the choices that Samson made, wow, you know, I'm just going to say wow, and the way it ended, wow, and it was all because of a beautiful girl named Delilah. So, sheri, did you, did you want to just give us a quick summary on that or even just talk about it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely so. I I've been reading through the Bible with two other women, two other ladies and I actually read through Samson in December and I, I love okay. So first off, I'm going to backtrack on my own self here. You can never read the Bible too many times. You can never read the same passage too many times. The Bible is a living, breathing word of God and it will speak to you differently each time you read it. And I dare say you will hear and see and and find new things every time you read it. Not that they weren't there the first time, but it's kind of like that whole Volkswagen thing. Like if you're buying a Volkswagen, then all you see are Volkswagen's on the road. If you're buying a Nissan, then all you see are Nesans on the road. They were always there before, but now all of a sudden you think that that's all that there is, because that's what you're looking for. So it's not that the word change, but it's that you change and that as God is changing, you you'll see and different parts will jump off the page at you that didn't jump off before. So you'll find the story of Samson in Judges. His birth starts in Judges 13, and the whole story of Samson gets wrapped up in um by Judges 16. So I um?
Speaker 2:Well, first off. So Samson was born to these, to this couple who didn't have kids before, and they were given very, very strict instructions about how he was to be raised. He was not allowed to have his hair touched by a razor. He was not allowed to eat anything that had grapes with it. He was not allowed to drink any wine, no fermented drink at all. He couldn't eat anything unclean, um. I mean, god was very, very specific about what his mom needed to do when she was pregnant and how they needed to raise him, and his supernatural strength came from God through his long hair. So, as long as his hair was never cut, he would have this supernatural strength.
Speaker 2:Well, samson was not, was not necessarily a man after God's own heart. He was not like David, who, um, grew up and wanted to serve God. He was someone who became very prideful. I get the impression that he was very physically fit. He was very handsome, he was somebody that was attracted to all the ladies, and he knew it. Well, he deliberately did things that he wasn't supposed to do, like, for instance, when he killed this lion, um with his bare hands. Then he came back a couple of months later, or a couple of weeks later, and there was honey inside the carcass. He scooped out the honey and started eating it. God said no. God said you are not allowed to touch unclean things. You're not, and a carcass is an unclean thing. Um, so he, just, he, deliberately, like, almost like looked at God and said meaner, meaner, meaner, I'm going to do what I want to do, type of a thing.
Speaker 2:Well, I had totally missed, when I think of the story of Samson and Delilah, I totally missed the fact that Samson was married at one point before he even met Delilah, so he was married to this lady, and then he went off and he did whatever he wanted to do. And then he came back and his and the father-in-law said no, you can't have her now. You went off, you didn't want her, so no, you can't have her. Well then, um, something happened. I don't remember exactly, but I think she ended up getting killed or getting her dying somehow.
Speaker 2:Well then he ends up with Delilah and Delilah. I don't think he ever married her, I think he just basically had sex with her and had adultery with her, and so she, um, she was in cahoots with, like the big wig, people who were trying to kill Samson, and I mean he's an idiot, he's an absolute, complete idiot, who was being ruled by lust, because she asked him time and time again what is it that? That is your strength. Well, if he would lie to her, he would say um, it's, you know, if you tie me up with a um rope, that's never been, you know, like a young rope of some kind or whatever Well then, of course, they tied him up and he broke out of it. You would think he would learn after the first or second time. You would think he would get it in his head she's trying to kill me, but no, he doesn't get it. So, finally, because she nags him and nags him and nags him.
Speaker 1:He finally tells her the truth.
Speaker 2:Then he gets caught because they cut his hair. He has no strength, and but he's the idiot. Like seriously, I'm like you can't make up this stuff and it's better than a soap opera, like you're screaming at the TV you are such an idiot, why are you doing this? But yet he does it anyway. And so then he ends up getting his eyes gouged out. They take him as a prisoner, but it's, excuse me. But his hair eventually goes back.
Speaker 2:And so he asked the very end of the story. He says God, will you just give me? He finally gets it. So I kind of think he will be in heaven, because I think he finally did humble himself and surrender himself to God. I don't know for sure, that's just my opinion from reading it. You read it and then you tell me what you think too. But it finally gets the end of his life. He says God, will you give me one more chance to to do what you had told me to do, to be obedient to you? God says yes.
Speaker 2:He ends up being asked to go out in the middle of this Like arena temple thing where all these bad people are having this meeting.
Speaker 2:He pushes the pillars away that the house comes crashing down, or the temple or what, the building that they're in comes crashing down, he ends up dying at the same time as everybody else was kind of a suicide mission, and he ends up, um, finally, I think, fulfilling the mission that God had for him. To begin with, although I don't don't put me on that part I don't know if he was technically supposed to kill all those people, like if that was God's purpose in his life, but I do believe that he, at the end of his life, he was humbled, he realized that it was God that gave him the strength and he redeemed himself that way. But yeah, I mean, like you read the story and as you're reading it, I myself am going you're such an idiot. I cannot believe that you think that this girl is for you when she's not. So he's being ruled by lust instead of being ruled by a brain, and that is Sherry's version of Samson.
Speaker 1:Well, and that's a good summary of it, because, again, you know, um, like we, we in the previous two episodes where we give, like, biblical scriptures about lust and um. So please go back to those previous episodes and um, have a pen and paper ready and in that way you can um write down the scriptures that talk about lust. And you know, and and what Samson was dealing with. You know at the time, but Sherry was right. It says, though, his parents knew, uh, knew well, no, samson knew too.
Speaker 1:He knew what, why he was created, I mean, excuse me, created. He knew what his life was supposed to be about. That's why he had all these rules and restrictions, but he was just like so full of himself, right, and he was just so full because he had this great strength, you know, um, and everything else. And, like Sherry said, those strengths was in his hair, and people just don't like that. He was like pretty much invincible, especially the enemies um of of his people. So he, like Sherry said, you see, the Lila just come into his life and of course, she's offered all this money to uh bring him down to find out the secret to his strength. And, like Sherry said, after the first couple of times you're like dude, don't you get it. She's not your friend.
Speaker 2:Right you know she's.
Speaker 1:She's out to get you, she is out to destroy you and she's getting paid to do it. Okay, but no again. So the draw by lust. He can't see straight, exactly, straight. He can't see what was right in front of him, he couldn't see that he was being manipulated and everything else. Until you know he wakes up with his hair cut off and he's like what have you done? You know, and Dan is too late, right, mm?
Speaker 2:hmm, dennis too late. I'm like you're such an idiot, Like she told you she was going to do that. Why are you surprised?
Speaker 1:Right, why are you surprised? Did you think she was so in love with you or something that she wasn't going to try to take you down? Like no, no, she wasn't, you know, and she knew how this was going to end for you and all you did was lollygag over her and her beauty and all of that stuff, and you pretty much signed your own death warrant warrant. You know, and that's what he did. Every time he allowed her into his tent he had signed his death warrant. She was getting closer and closer each time to pretty. To get rid of his existence is what she was doing. You know she was not his friend, she was out to get him. You know she was plotting against him. But did she just, you know, come right up? And I mean, well, yeah, she did. She did just come up, come right out and tell them. But he thought she was joking.
Speaker 1:When people show you who they are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh, keep going Sorry.
Speaker 1:No, I'm saying when people show you who they are, believe them Right.
Speaker 1:You know, and. But you know why he couldn't see it. He was blinded by lust, that carnal desire to want something that you know you're not supposed to have or be in or being involved with. But he didn't get it. Just like we talked about Dave, uh, vashiv and David a couple of weeks ago, so it was, uh, this whole month of February we were discussing the topic of love versus lust and it, just like with King David, he didn't see it. It's that a prophet of the Lord came to him and helped point it out of what he was into and the things that he had done and, just like Samson, it wasn't until he was imprisoned. Pretty much right.
Speaker 1:They either had him in a prison or a cage or excuse me, I say prison, uh, jail, well, bars behind bars, or something, you know, um, or something. And wasn't it like some type of mock court that they were having, like pretending like there was going to be some justice, but it really wasn't? They were going to kill them? Oh, I know what it was. That wasn't what it was. Um, they were. They brought him there for everybody to see that. They got him right To my camp right To laugh at him.
Speaker 1:Yep, right, yeah, to mock him and to laugh at him. And you know, is this the mighty God who broke the, the, the, the jaws of the lion, and everything else? Well, look at him now he's in a cage and everybody's all laughing at him and mocking him, and you know, and everything else. But here's the thing they were also mocking his God witness. Right, you know, they were also mocking that mark.
Speaker 1:Uh, mocking that because I'm pretty sure his enemies knew that his strength was was from God, above the God of Israel. Right, and now here you are. You didn't let yourself all into a situation to where not only were you being mocked, but also the God of Israel is being mocked and he's. He's had enough and he knows it's not going in well for him. Anyway, I mean, he was pretty much as good as dead, regardless, right, and there are all these people in this arena or wherever it was.
Speaker 1:I can't say for sure it was an arena, but it was this place, right. And he asked now he's seeking God, now that he sees the error of his ways, right, and he's like, he goes, stands between the pillars when they when, you know, he's still chained and he's still chained, but he's able to get between two, two pillars that were actually apparently holding the place up, and his strength returns. He calls out to God, his strength returns and he's able to, um, push those pillars or something, shake those pillars or something, until the whole place is caved in and no more people, no more Samson. But you know what I find interesting? It doesn't say Delilah was among those people. Does it share, or am I missing something? I don't think so.
Speaker 2:I don't remember reading that I never thought about that part Right.
Speaker 1:So here's this woman who you lost it after, knowing that you were in the wrong, who you lost it after, who pretty much plotted and planned your demise from the moment. You met her, you entertained her, you took her into your bed, you had fun with her, you pleasureed her, she pleasured you. Now you're dead, and so are the people who paid her. But she could still be alive somewhere possibly enjoying her life.
Speaker 1:You were just another person, another man that she hung out with. You know, you weren't that special to her. The scripture doesn't talk about how she was outside the arena or something and she was crying and sobbing and repentant of what she did. It's just no, there's none of that. And she could have done it to many more men for various reasons, and that's cold-hearted. Do you really want less to take you to a place where you're just that cold-hearted about something? I mean, even, for goodness sakes, even Judas was sorry for what he did. He hung himself. He hung himself for betraying Jesus, for betraying Jesus. But it says nothing about Delilah being repentant at all or even like, wow, I didn't know how that was going to happen, but you know, it is what it is, you know. So you let yourself get tied up with these people who only want your demise and could care less if something happens to you, like literally care less, and will not lose a wink of sleep about it at night. That's how far less would take you. What did you want to answer, sherry?
Speaker 2:Well, the other thing that I keep thinking about between Bathsheba and Delilah. Now, bathsheba and Delilah were very different people. I don't think that Bathsheba had a mean bone in her body, so I have to preface that with what I'm going to say.
Speaker 2:But and I also don't think that beauty is an issue either I think the issue comes in when we focus more on the outward appearance of a person than on their inside. So, when you think about Boaz and you think about Ruth, ruth might have been very pretty, I have no idea. She might have been beautiful, but Boaz didn't focus on the beauty on the outside, he focused on the beauty on the inside. She was taking care of her mother-in-law, she was selfless, she was giving. So I think that that I know a lot of people and we're both women, so we're not going to judge women by any means. I mean, I don't think we would judge. We're not judging anybody, to be honest with you.
Speaker 2:But there are some people that are like, well, you know, if they didn't dress that way or they didn't act that way or they didn't do this, they brought it on themselves. No, I'm not. I'm not going there by any means. But what I do want to bring out is that Ruth is a selfish desire that you are feeding and you're looking at the outward appearance of a person. And Delilah had a nasty, evil, ugly heart, bathsheba. I really don't think she did. It doesn't sound like it from the scriptures. So if David and or well, david really just stayed away because she was married and he was married and they weren't married to each other, so David was just completely in the wrong there.
Speaker 1:But like and Bathsheba wasn't even enticing him because she thought, like you say, he was a way of war. So she wasn't even trying to entice us to do them. She was just doing her own thing, minding her own business, staying in her own lane.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and he came into her lane and he was completely, 100% wrong.
Speaker 2:And I don't think Bathsheba did anything wrong. She even obeyed the king, even knowing that, that she didn't want to, that she was married, and happily married to Uriah. But but with I think that I guess and maybe I'm not doing a very good job of of explaining this, but because it just kind of came to me but I think that we need to focus on the inward appearance of other people. And I know, like, for me, okay, I think my husband's amazingly handsome, and that's, that's the truth. But I do think that for women, I think that when we I think that we're attracted to the outward appearance of a man, but I think that they become even more handsome and even more attracted to us the more we get to know their heart. And I think that that I can't speak for men, but I think that that's kind of what we need to focus on is that we focus on the inward, inward aspects of people. But also, you want to be attracted to the outside, but not let that outside rule or take over your brain.
Speaker 1:That is so true because you can end up married to the most gorgeous person you ever met. You know, be miserable and rule the day that you did it Right and rule the day that you did it. And I think one day, my girlfriend we were just talking about our husband or whatever and she was like so, your husband, when you first met him, like what was one of the things that just really made you excited to be with him, like you just knew that he was someone you wanted to get to know. And I said confident, right, because to me I don't care how good looking you are and this is a carrot thing I don't care how good looking you are, you could be the next, imagine most handsome person that you could think of. He could be that person. But if you're, you don't have confidence, then to me I just I don't find that attractive.
Speaker 1:If I could say that in a nice way Right, yeah, and she was she man. Right, you know, or I think I can do this, or I may be able to do this, I don't know, you can probably do it better. You know, it's like that's just not my type, right? So, and I was, like you know, confident in that is so key. You got to find things in people and we've been together over 30. I was going to say over 30 decades, over 30 years, you know and because he also evidently found something in me, right, that was that was more steadfast in just the way that I look, or that he looked on the outside.
Speaker 1:And I was just reading this morning, I believe, and I didn't even think about this, right, but they were talking about the Proverbs 31 woman and it talks about it. They shared all the things that the woman in the scripture, proverbs 31 woman, is how she's often referred to, or the virtuous woman, and it highlights all of the things that the book of Proverbs talk about, that a woman should be right, virtuous, industrious, you know, and all these things I completely agree with you, kara.
Speaker 2:There are so many things about the Proverbs 31 woman, but she is not. They do not describe her physically. She is not described physically. That is not the thing that God cares about the most, and there's a Bible verse that talks about that, where it talks about that God looks on the inside and not on the outside, and I think it's very ironic. But God, that verse is talked about in 1 Samuel and it talks about when David. It talks about because David was the least likely to be the king. He had all these brothers before him. He was either the 10th or the 11th brother. He had all these brothers before him.
Speaker 2:And Eli came to Jesse, david's dad, and said this one or no, actually sorry, jesse came to Eli and said what about this one? What about this one? What about this one? What about this one? He said no, no, you have another son. And he said, yes, I do, but you don't want him. He's David, he's in the field as the shepherd, and he said, no, god doesn't look at the outside, he looks at the heart. So I completely agree with you, kara, that with the Proverbs 31 woman, her physical appearance was never once described. It was all the inward qualities that she had that made her the Proverbs 31 woman.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and it was like her, yeah, and they had mentioned that. And I'm going, wow, how many times have I read that scripture throughout my life and never noticed that? It doesn't talk about what her hair looked like. It doesn't say how attractive she was or wasn't. For all we know, she could have been overweight, right, right, she may have been unattractive, she may, you know all the things that most men probably just look past, right, the invisible women, right to men. But all of that it doesn't say. Or she could have just been the most beautiful man they had ever seen.
Speaker 1:It doesn't say, it only talks about her qualities as a person, and I think that's what you were trying to say, sherry, regarding Ruth Bathsheba and Delilah. You know, get to know that person on the inside before you tie yourself up with them, whether that be mentally, physically, emotionally, financially or sexually, before you get tied up with that person. You know, and especially if you're not married to them, you shouldn't be doing that last part at all, especially as a believer, as a Christian. But don't allow yourself to get tied up with that person, because if you don't know them and you don't have money inside, then you're just opening the door for trouble.
Speaker 1:You know people are constantly talking about oh, I don't like drama, I don't want drama, but yet you have someone in your life that's nothing but drama or is going to lead to drama for you, for possibly generations to come, as we found out with King David and Bathsheba. You know, like Sherry said, bo has looked at the inner workings of Ruth. David didn't get to know Bathsheba, he just took her, he just wanted her, he just said he just told his man to go get her and then he enjoyed himself with her, enjoyed her in his bed. They bought him to the palace or the castle or whatever, the King's palace or what not, and he just enjoyed himself with her.
Speaker 2:He didn't get to know her.
Speaker 1:He knew nothing about her, but she didn't have a chance to say no, regardless she did, she could have ended up dead. And then you have. And then you have Sansa, and then you have Delilah. You know all the red flags were there for Sansa that she was not a good person. He just chose not to, not to pay attention to them, because he was enjoying her. Maybe it was just her company, maybe he just enjoyed looking at her, her beauty, and you know, he just really, really, really, really enjoyed that, you know, and everything else. But it really, once you read Lauren to that story, it really seems like there was definitely a lot more going on between him and Delilah, things that he should not have been able to get into, but he didn't take the time. He let lust blind him to the point to where he didn't know that she was planning his demise until it was too late. Until it was too late, get to know the person.
Speaker 1:Don't let yourself get involved in these entanglements. But I think it's very important to these entanglements, excuse me, that can only lead to your demise, whether it be mental, physical or otherwise. The enemy is planning to take you out, and sometimes he doesn't even have to work that hard. He could just send a beautiful woman your way, as it shows in Sansa and Delilah, or he could send a handsome man your way, someone who looks exactly like you thought your mate should look like, and or, you know, he could send something your way because, as Sherry mentioned, lust just doesn't have to do with people. You can be lusting after a thing, you can be lusting after power, money, some other type of gratification that will, you know, ultimately give you the same consequences as if you were lusting after a person, different type of consequences, but you will still have them. They will still be there. Am I right, sherry? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I think it all boils down, in all honesty, to trust. Do we trust God? Do we trust God that he has the right person for us at the right time? Do we trust God that all the red flags are there but we're going to ignore them because we want to be married right now, because we want to be in a relationship right now, because it's Valentine's Day? And who wants to be single and alone on Valentine's Day? I cannot stress enough Do not settle.
Speaker 2:Do not settle for second best, don't settle for a hot dog when God has a stake. Don't settle in your life, especially in the huge areas of career and spouse. You can change pretty much anything in your life except for your spouse, and by that I mean I don't know how many people that I have talked to and how many people that have shared with me that, well, this isn't the. I should never have married so and so I should have never gotten married to so and so. Well, guess what? So and so is now the best husband for you? Because you are married. You married under God, you married under you, know his, his blessing, and his, his covenant, and you are married. So now, guess what? This person is the best person for you and you don't have to be subjected to living a life of misery. God does not expect that. God does not ask that of you. God is the God of restoration, god is the God of reformation, god is the God of healing. God can make the marriage that you have that you think is a mistake, and he can turn it into one of the best marriages ever.
Speaker 2:I just finished reading a fantastic book by a couple who are associated with family life radio. It is called sex on the first date. Now, I know that's a really weird title, but it talks about how they made so many mistakes in their life, but they never gave up and when they finally committed their their lives to Christ, he transformed their lives so radically that people did not even recognize them as the same people. So God can. God can heal, god can restore, god can redeem anything. So to those people out there who think that they're married to the wrong person because they made a mistake, they jumped in too quick, they got married just because they didn't want to be alone, there is hope. There is hope. God is the God of restoration and he can redeem what you consider a mistake and he can turn it into one of the best things in your life. There is hope, so is there anything else you want to say, or should I wrap it up when we come back next week and talk about Mary and Joseph?
Speaker 1:I'm good. I just highly, highly encourage all of our listeners to go back and really read through these stories and decipher for yourself. Was this a love action when boys did this? Was that a love action when Ruth did that? Oh my goodness. When David did this, you know, was that love or was that lust? And when that she but acquiesce. Was that love or was that lust? And I use the word acquiesce loosely because she had no choice, you know, and with Samson, go back and definitely read that story, because Definitely, like I said, go back, definitely go back and read that story and while you're reading it, take notes of all the red flags that he should have acknowledged but he didn't, and take note of why he wasn't supposed to do those things, why his hair was not supposed to get cut, and then take note of Delilah's actions and see if you agree with Sherry, like Samson.
Speaker 1:Come on now, by this, by this point, you should know better that this woman is out to get you Right. Go through those, point out all of the you know sort of love column in a category and in a lust category, you know, and then just write in there the things that you think you know fall into each category, because it really just brings us closer to see God. He may have all these rules and regulations for us, but it's only for our benefits, because, as you read in his stories, whether it was love or whether it was lust, which one ended up well, and of course you can, when you come back in next week with Joseph versus Mary, you'll see the same thing. Sherry, did we give the scriptures where Samson and Delilah can be found?
Speaker 2:Yes, but I'll give them again, that's a great thing. We started in Judges 13, and it goes through Judges 16. So it's only three chapters. It's not that long at all. The other thing that I want to reiterate with Kara, or piggyback on what Kara said, is, when you go back and you read this for yourself, ask the Holy Spirit to show you what he?
Speaker 2:wants to teach you from it and then just be open to what he wants to share. Because, like I said when I read this one again in December, I have read the story of Samson many times over my life. I never realized he had been married before Delilah. I was like what? So read it slowly, read it carefully. Maybe read one chapter a day from now until next week, or spoiler alert if you don't want to do that, if you'd rather read about Mary and Joseph first, so that you have a better idea, I would suggest reading the story in Luke, because Luke is the one, I think, that gives the most detail and you could actually read both about Samson and Delilah and Mary and Joseph, because Mary and Joseph is only. It starts in Luke one, sorry, and then it only goes to. Well, if you only want to read through before he's born, you can read just the first chapter, but if you want to read through after he's born, then you could even just read chapters one and two, and that talks about his birth, his conception, his birth and then when he's like a 12-year-old boy. So it's like, seriously, two or three chapters for Mary and Joseph, two or three chapters for Samson doesn't take that long, but reading it for yourself just opens it up and just gives it a much better, just gives the Holy Spirit an opportunity to share with you and to show you what it is if you want you to learn.
Speaker 2:So if there is something that you want to talk to us about, you can email us at sierracom or cast at dmailcom. We would be happy to play with you. We would be happy to encourage you. Whatever it is that you need, reach out to us. We love the people and the communications that we get and we try to answer every single email. If you want to join the community the Cheer Up Podcast community head over to Facebook. You can join us on our Facebook group Cheer Up Podcast. Here's website is karaarhunt. Go check out all that she's got going on over there and you can also check out some things that are going on in my life at sherryclawallcom. One thing I forgot to mention at the beginning of February was I or my devotional sisters in Christ, which is available on Amazon, was turned into a U-version Bible study on the U-version app.
Speaker 1:Oh, yes right and that was called so exciting.
Speaker 2:That is called build your own or build your sister in Christ community. So if you want to find that out on U-version, you can read the free version there and then, if you want to, you can then buy the full devotional, which goes into much more detail and unpacks a lot more things, on Amazon.
Speaker 2:So I'd forgotten to talk about that, but that's out on U-version if you're interested in that as well, and I would love for you to join the membership Jesus in the everyday and just join that community that we have going on as well. So have a great rest of your week. Have a fantastic day. I hope that you've enjoyed listening to Samson and Delilah, and next week we will be talking about Mary and Joseph. Have a great week.