Spiritual Capital
Judges 16:15-17 KJV And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. (16) And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; (17) That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.
There may be a period of time when it seems like- no harm done, just enjoying life a little. However, there is a much greater agenda than just hanging out on the part of the adversary. He’s out for the heart and won’t give up nagging and persuading until the enticements and luring end up with the source of strength cut off and the heart taken captive by hands intent on destroying it. For every moment intentionally given to enjoying the company of the adversary there is an ever widening opening made in the heart through which the opposition can move in to displace the God who is very selfish about His abode.
For Samson it must have seemed that there was a considerable reserve of spiritual capital available for spending on life independence and flesh indulgence. After all, he had been brought up in the strictest of environments, protected completely from the slightest touch of anything unclean. Because of this dedication to God, his gift of physical invincibility had developed to the point that he was most confident in his ability to defeat any attempt of his foe- so much so that he could continue to spend whole nights in the very dwelling of those who wanted no more than to destroy him. Totally against what he knew to be right and in complete rebellion against the wishes of his parents, he kept returning to spend time using up his reserves in the den of his adversary. He couldn’t seem to resist the sweetness of sin’s offerings and apparently the subsequent demonstration of his strength and insurmountable ability to maintain his freedom. Possibly because of the anointing that was always there even after much time spent with an open heart to the enemy, Samson became increasingly vulnerable to the removal of that anointing and the inevitable subsequent bondage.
In the life of Samson, resistance to constraints of moral discipline (no one was going to tell him how to live his life), independence from the fellowship of the righteous, and willingness to use up his spiritual capital by spending time being gratified by the enemy’s enticements all obviously lead to his tragic end. While this may be an extreme case and a bit difficult to relate to, there is yet a direct correlation in it for all who have received the gift of life in Christ. The strength in this life is totally dependent upon obedience to a way of life that is much different than that of the world. It is possible to reach a point of self-confidence through compliance in one known area that breeds a sense of independence from the need for compliance in other areas. Time is willingly given to just hanging out in the realm of the adversary to taste of the thrills that can only be found there in his camp. In ways that may seem to be harmless and insignificant, however, an ever widening opening is developed in the heart through which destructive forces can come to cut off even that last area of obedience and render the once faithful anointing powerless.
It’s not so much that God wants to disallow pleasure. In fact, at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. But, for every moment given to pleasure in the realm of the enemy, there is a reception of heart threats that will eventually lead to its grief, its brokenness and eventually its destruction. There is no amount of spiritual ascendency or independence that will defend against an enemy to which a heart is continually opened. Spiritual capital will not last against the persistence of the heart destroyers.
There is fullness of joy for today that has no threat, but rather the promise of strength and stability. This joy, though, is only accessible in the presence of the Lord, and this presence is compromised when the entertainment, conversations, and indulgences of the enemy are sought out for gratification. Capital need not be spent but rather built up by a continual awareness of and fulfillment in the presence of the Lord. His goodness will never fail, disappoint, or bring any harm in the least.