What lights your eyes?

“What lights my eyes and feels worth forsaking my Savior, even for a moment?”

This question is posed in my SRT Bible, in reference to Judges 16. Every time I read it, I have to pause and consider it.

Samson’s lust for various women initially seemed to be worth it, though his disobedience led to the Spirit of the Lord departing from him, his strength leaving him, his eyes being gouged out, and eventually, his death.

Delilah’s 1,100 pieces of silver seemed to be worth it, though the silver had no value to her when she was crushed in the temple destroyed by the man she had betrayed.

Judas’ 30 shekels of silver seemed to be worth it when he kissed Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, though he soon realized the horror of what he had done and tried to give it back, only to realize it was too late. Judas took his own life in the midst of his agony over forsaking his Savior.

The common denominator in all of Scripture - in all of human history - is Proverbs 14:12. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”

What lights your eyes? What seems right to you but in the end leads to death? What is it that feels worth forsaking your Savior, even for a moment?

What is the Spirit’s response to you, specifically, when you pray, “Show me if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting?”

Knowing our hearts intimately - knowing our temptations realistically - allows us to grieve with and learn from Samson, Delilah, and Judas - rather than to pridefully judge them for their failures. 

It allows us to consider Samson’s final acts of crying out to the Lord and fulfilling his mission to defeat the Philistine in his death, and to praise God for His sovereignty over our sin.

It allows us to consider Judas’ act of betrayal as a horrific, but necessary, step on Jesus’ path to take away the sin of the world, and to praise God for the way in which He takes everything the enemy intends for evil and turns it around for our good and His glory.

It allows us to honestly ask the Spirit to search our hearts for any offensive way and not be stuck in or paralyzed by our sin, knowing that He was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities, believing that the same God who offered Samson a spot in the hall of faith, offers you and me a relationship with Him for eternity - not because we’re good, but because He is.

You know that thing that lights up your eyes and feels worth forsaking your Savior?

It isn’t worth it. And it’s not even close.