What do you think of when I say the name Samson?
The strongest man in
the world?
A lustful man?
A man with vengeance
on his mind and blood on his hands.
Tragedy and poor
choices.
So my devotional
this morning led me to read Judges 15, about Samson’s actions after
he found out that his wife, Delilah had been given to a friend of
his.
Samson had married
Delilah and right away she tricked him into revealing the answer to a
riddle he had given to the Philistines. He should have known better
than to marry a Philistine woman whose people hated both Samson and
the Israeli people, but Samson followed his flesh right into the
marriage bed. When Delilah betrayed his confidence, Samson gave into
his flesh again. In anger he left his wife and returned to his
father’s house.
But he couldn’t
stop thinking about the beautiful wife he had left in the enemy’s
camp. So he took a young goat as a peace offering for his wife’s
family and traveled to his father-in-law’s house to reunite with
his wife. His father-in-law wouldn’t even let him in the house.
“I thought you
thoroughly hated Delilah for what she’d done to you, so I gave her
as a wife to your friend.”
Samson became
furious at this news.
His father-in-law
saw the fire in Samson’s eyes and his clenched fists and tried to
assuage his anger.
“Isn’t Delilah’s
younger sister more attractive? Take her instead” he offered.
But Samson’s
desire for his wife was immediately eclipsed by passion for revenge.
He left his father-in-law’s house and went hunting in the nearby
woods. He caught alive 300 foxes, tied torches to each of their tails
and set them loose in the standing grain of his enemies’ crops. All
the crops were burned to the ground, and the vineyards and olive
groves destroyed along with them.
The Philistines took
their revenge next by burning to death both Delilah and her father.
Enraged, Samson
killed many Philistines and then fled to a cave in the rock of Elam.
The Philistines then
turned to exact revenge on the men of Judah.
“Why are you
attacking us? What have we done to you?” the Judeans asked.
“It’s not you we
want,” they replied. Just give up Samson, and we’ll leave you
alone.”
So 3000 men of Judah
went up to the cave where Samson was hiding. “Do you realize what
you’ve done to us? The Philistines are after us to make us their
prisoners, and it’s your fault!”
“It’s not my
fault,” Samson replied. “I was just getting revenge, doing to
them what they did to me and mine.”
“We have no choice
but to hand you over to the Philistines, Samson. Our lives depend on
it.”
“All right, I will
allow you to bind me and deliver me to the Philistines, only promise
me this, that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
So God’s people
bound Samson with brand new ropes and delivered him to the Philistine
army. The Philistines took one look at their prize and came running,
shouting curses against this man who had killed so many of their
numbers.
But God.
Judges 15
tells us that “The Spirit of God came upon Samson in power.”
What? God, would you
really empower such a violent, angry, hateful man who followed his
flesh instead of following you?
The Spirit came upon
Samson and he stretched his arms and broke the ropes binding him. He
spied a donkey’s jawbone laying nearby, grabbed it and stuck down a
1000 Philistines. Then exhausted, he threw down the jawbone and
collapsed on the ground. He suddenly became overcome with thirst, but
there was no water in that desert area.
So this blood
covered, violent man cried out to God. “You have given your servant
this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands
of the uncircumcised?”
“Then God opened
up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it.”
Samson gulped down
the cool water and was revived. The new spring was called En Hakkore,
which means caller’s spring.
Who is this God who
gives gifts and doesn’t take them back when the recipient goes
rogue, like Samson did.
Romans 11:29 “And
when God chooses someone and graciously imparts gifts to him, they
are never rescinded.”
But God, people
abuse the gifts you’ve given them all the time. Leaders taking
advantage of their followers. Prophets speaking words they never
heard from you. Yet you say you don’t remove their gifts. Instead
you stand ready to forgive and to pour out Holy Spirit to empower
them.
The Caller’s
Spring. The only requirement to gain the life giving water was to
call out to God for it. How can you use such evil men to accomplish
your purposes, men like Samson who allowed hatred, lust and revenge
to motivate him, who shed so much blood,? Yet Samson went on to serve
as Israel’s judge for the next 20 years.
God, is there such a
thing of too much grace? You give gifts with no strings attached, no
guarantee that we will use the gifts unselfishly. The only requisite
for the spring of water was that Samson had to ask you for it.
So you empower
madmen? Sometimes. But the grace you poured out on Samson reaped a
harvest at the end of his life as you once more gifted him with
supernatural strength to destroy the enemies of God’s people by
pulling down the pillars of the building where he was held captive.
God, you amaze me
that you give me gifts and don’t tell me how I have to use them.
You don’t snatch them back out of my hand, even when I mess up. “I
trust you,” you tell me. “Just seek me first in everything, and
you’ll know how to use the gifts I’ve placed in you.”
So I read your word
and grieve over this bloody man, Samson, who experienced betrayal and
pain all of his life and gave in to anger and lust, allowing them to
motivate him. Yet you never gave up on him, even renewing his gifting
on the day he died along with his enemies. And you reserved a place
for him in the Hall of Faith, noted in Hebrews 11:12.
Here I am, Father
God, in possession of your gifts of grace. Help me never to take them
for granted, even though they are mine to use as I desire. Help me to be
like Jesus, to only do what I see the Father doing, and live to
please you.
Romans 8:32: “He
who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how
will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
