VULNERABLE MOMENTS AND THE WRONG BOSOM

Church started when I was still single. I was 25 years old. In those early days, as much as I wanted to obey the Lord passionately, there were questions I could not answer. One day, I went to see a dear teacher in another city. It was a tough season.

As I drove back to town, I was crying on the wheel and singing, “Lord, you called me to this work of ministry. Prove yourself!”. Upon arrival at home (For caution’s sake, I was not living alone as a single pastor. I stayed with my parents), the first person I saw was a female friend.

I had composed myself. But the way I greeted, hugged, and held on longer than usual, she must have wondered what was wrong with pastor. I pulled away and went inside. It was a vulnerable moment. I needed a bosom to simply cry on.

Friends, there is no superman anywhere. Always remind yourself even if you are a man of God that there is still “man” in the equation. When Jesus was tempted by the devil and referred to as the Son of God, Jesus replied him by saying “Man shall not…”. In temptation, remind yourself that you are a man. A man can fall. A man can mess up. A man can find rest in the wrong bosom. Remind yourself always that you are a man.

I honestly believe that one of the things that Sanson was seeking was a bosom to rest in. He slept in the wrong place. The way it was recorded is profound:

After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
Judges 16:19 NIV

She puts him to sleep on her knees. It sounds like a baby who needed a place of rest. It sounds like singing a lullaby to a baby. He needed rest but he lost his strength instead.

There are people who today have unspoken regrets of putting their head in the wrong bosom. You told no one but you know you lost some strength. Your vulnerable moment became the enemy’s opportunity to strike.

There was a military general who lost a critical battle. He ran away from the battle. He found the tent of an ally. He ran into the tent to hide. The wife welcomed him. He asked for water and he was given milk. He needed to rest. He was given a bed. But when he slept, the woman picked a tent peg and a hammer and drove it through his chest to the ground. He died. Why? In his vulnerable moment, he slept in the wrong place.

Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin; king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my Lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up. “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’ ” But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died. (Judges 4:17-21 NIV)

A generation talks about “hugging transformers”. That’s a really dangerous one. Some people have hugged “death sentences”. Be careful where you find rest in your vulnerable moment. Do not go back to the addictions you have escaped. It is a trap. Do not indulge your flesh, it will not end well. I feel like shouting to someone: It is a trap! Do not get caught in the web!

I pray you strength in tough times. I pray you sensitivity in vulnerable moments. I pray that your head will not find rest in the wrong tent. And if you have lost anything to a vulnerable moment, I pray that you will enjoy the restoration power of the Lord. Pray for me too! We are all men.

temilOluwa Ola, Eruwa.