WORLD'S FIRST BARBEE

Hello! How’re you doing this fine day?

I hope everything is going alright for you and if not, that God fixes what ails you. 

Welcome to today’s gist. 

Four weeks ago we started a study in Church about what someone called the situation with “the world’s first barber” and do you know who that is?

Let’s talk about Uncle Sammy, the Barbee, for a bit: before he was born, in Judges 13, an angel appeared to his mother, and then to his father, giving them the news of his impending birth and detailed instructions on how he should live his life upon his birth. A few months later, Uncle Sammy was born. 

Now I can’t say whether it was that his parents didn’t teach him to follow the instructions concerning his life, or he just refused to learn, but from the first records of his growth, Sammy was moving mad. Like other Judges, he came at a time his people needed deliverance, this time from the Philistines. I’m just going to stop here and add that Sammy was the only Judge at the time whose unction was given before he was born, the rest happened upon theirs while they were already living –that’s special don’t you think? That in his case, arrangements were made even before he came. 

But what does he do when he comes? Breaks the commands one after the other, like it was of no consequence; now before you run off to start insulting Sammy, think of how you are behaving like Him. God says in Jeremiah 1:5 that “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” (NLT). How many of the ordinances of your consecration are you breaking like Sammy? Let’s get back to his story sha. 

One of the instructions that Sammy’s mother was given was to stay away from unclean things so that her baby would not be contaminated even from the womb but what does Sammy do when he ‘comes of age’? He leaves all the Israeli women and goes to marry a Philistine woman from Timnath, even his parents asked him why he didn’t look for a wife among his people. And that began a string of terrible choices and actions by Sammy: marrying a woman from the very people who had enslaved his own people –without regard to the fact that God had asked the Israelites not to marry such people, eating honey off the carcass, let’s put it context –the decayed skeleton, of a lion (gross abi?), going into betting (bet9ja and ko probably got inspiration from here), killing 30 men, not because he was instructed by God to do so but to pay off his debt when ‘him ticket cut’, taking the clothes and belongings of these men he had needlessly killed, destroying people’s livelihood in retaliation for the fact that his wife had remarried another man, sleeping with prostitute(s) and finally taking up a mistress –Aunty Deli. 

See how his one decision to go outside and cavort with uncleanliness had ripple effect? Now that’s what happens when we decide to move from God’s will, it seems like just a little thing at first, inconsequential and something no one else may find out or be affected by, but it begins to grow and it weakens your defence and ability to withstand other temptations because after all, “what is one more sin?” It would begin with you making just a tiny compromise: showing a ‘little extra’ skin, taking just one sip of alcohol, watching just one scene of porn, uttering just one swear word, altering the truth ever-so-slightly, staying connected to that friend that is consistently encouraging you to do things that are not in accordance with God’s will, touching that person just a tiny bit inappropriately… two seconds, everything done scatter, before you know it, you’ve moved so far out!

It’s easy to insult Sammy for how he did so many terrible things but are we not behaving like him everyday? Never mind that you haven’t killed men or eaten off a skeleton before, there are intricate ordinances God has given you specific to your ordination that you are breaking. 

We’ll continue our gist about Sammy next week but in the days before then, I want you to spend time reflecting on your life, think of all that God has told you about yourself and your ordination, what are the things you are doing that are in flagrant, or not-so-flagrant, disregard of His expectations of someone of your standing? Then I encourage you to confess these sins and ask God to help you and give you the strength to begin to walk in the light of your calling. 

And if you don’t know who you are in Christ, or you are totally not in Christ, I ask you to come to Him, He’s waiting for you and will welcome you. 

See you next week!

Love,

Achenyo.