But I’m Under a Lot of Stress.... Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: But I’m Under a Lot of Stress.... ------------------------------ Date: 07/10/2000 Keywords: "Samson" "stress" "temptation" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: Judges 16:1-3* 1. Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2. When it was told to the Gazites, saying, "Samson has come here,'' they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, "Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him.'' 3. Now Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron. Questions 1. Samson was a judge in Israel. He was responsible to administer justice throughout the land. Does verse 1, above, seem to you to be the kind of activity in which a judge in God's land should have been engaging?   2. In addition to being a judge, Samson was also very strong. Does the fact that he was physically strong and that he had a weighty set of responsibilities as a judge excuse his immorality?     Practical help We expect more from Samson than we get. As a judge in Israel, he should have been a model of morality. His moral lapses disappoint us. And, no, we don't excuse his visiting a prostitute because "he was under a lot of stress at his job." His calling as a judge doesn't excuse him from responsibility. Rather, it raises our expectation level for integrity and purity. Today, the Internet porn invites men (and women, too) to a subtle escape from the pressures and tensions of life. The invitation of Scripture is this: Don't be a Samson!! Stand up to the temptation manfully and learn what Samson never did, that... ...no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 It is up to you to resist temptation. It is up to God to provide an escape hatch from that temptation. It is up to you to find the escape God has provided and use it! eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 2000 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."