“HOW DID I GET HERE?”

Judges 16:20 KJV
And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

When we were much younger, a cousin of mine living with our family began to mingle with some bad boys. One Sunday afternoon they offered him some palm wine and he happily drank. Unknown to him, the drink had been laced with some strong stuff.

After a while, he started to act strangely. He pulled off some of his clothes, started running around screaming and attacking people.

Later he ran away. He was later found far, far away from our house asleep half-naked beside a refuse dump.

He was brought home and he slept for a whole day straight. When he finally woke up and was told how stupidly he had behaved, he kept asking in deep embarrassment, “How did I get there?”

He was wondering how he got to that far away refuse dump and slept among the feral goats.

I have listened to Believers who missed their way under the influence of lust or any other evil asking, “How did I find myself here?”

The answer is simple. Solomon tells us:

Proverbs 21:16 MLV
The man who wanders out of the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead.

The wandering away is gradual. People hardly ‘backjump’; they backslide. It is a gradual process of slipping away one inch at a time. One then later finds himself roused by a jarring occurrence and looks around only to find oneself in a strange land. The question then becomes ‘How did I get here?’

The Prodigal in the parable of Jesus was roused by the extreme humiliation and hunger he experienced. He asked himself how he got there.

Luk 15:17 KJV
And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

People make wrong choices and then ask how they got where they are. The Bible has answers for every question of man.

First, the people you move with will determine the direction of your movement and your destination.

Proverbs 13:20 KJV
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Second, when a Believer is filled with anything other than the Spirit of God, what he is filled with will get him where he never intended to be.

Ephesians 5:18 KJV
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit.

No one just finds himself in a place he doesn’t like by accident. There’s always a process. One gets intoxicated with something, whether it is ego, lust, anger, wealth, laziness or hypocrisy. What you are filled with controls you and drives you in it’s natural direction.

Samson did not notice his journey down the slippery slope of destruction. He just rose up one day and found that his power had gone. I can imagine him tied to the Philistine milling machine, his eyes taken out and his hair shaved clean, asking, “How did I get here?”

Watch those steps, Believer, they lead somewhere. Those decisions you take that you know aren’t good, or aren’t by the leading of the Spirit will only lead to more bad decisions. And more of them, until you find yourself in an undesirable place asking how you got there.

Be filled with the Holy Spirit, friend, and stay filled. Your final destination depends on it.

Have a beautiful day.

Your friend,
Deon.