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Last week, in The Time Before the Kings, Part 14, we learned from the stories of Ibzan, Elon and Abdon that we all have a calling. Great or small, we are the only ones who can fill that calling, and when we do, God's blessings are poured down on us!
The next four chapters of the book of Judges (Chapters 13-16) brings us to a very well-known ... and perhaps … infamous … judge: Samson!
There are many lessons to be learned from Samson’s story, but we will focus on just a few:
As is recorded with most of the other major judges of Israel, Samson was called after Israel had yet again fallen away, and: "… the Lord handed them over to the Philistines for forty years." (Judges 13:1 NASB).
However, this is where all similarities to previous judges ends…
Rather than raising up someone to deliver Israel, God placed the next judge of Israel ... inside a barren womb (See Judges 13)! In fact, it would be 9 months before this judge was even born!
The next place the story diverges from previous accounts is that while most judges led massive armies, Samson appears to like to work alone!
In addition, previous judges didn’t routinely interact with the enemy, whereas Samson seemed to like Philistinian women. He married one (See Judges 14), he slept with others (See Judges 16:1-3), etc. In fact, it seemed that Samson went out of his way to associate with the Philistines!
Here, in all this deviation from previous stories, lies the first lesson for today: God doesn't always deliver in the same way! Rather, He is creative in His miracle-working power!
When we ask for a miracle, we tend to expect God to work in a certain way, and when He doesn't, we are discouraged. Meanwhile, however, He is working something different -- and though we may not immediately see it as such – something infinitely better!
The Bible records that many of Samson’s interactions with the Philistines were "of the Lord". When his parents were against his marriage to a Philistine, the Bible records: "…his father and mother did not know that this was of the Lord, for He was seeking an occasion against the Philistines." (Judges 14:4 NASB). It would seem that God's overall plan was very different from previous deliverances. Rather than rousting them completely, God seemed to simply want to "irritate" the Philistines!
Take, for example, Samson’s wedding. Thirty companions were chosen for him; but rather than simply go along with the customs of the day, Samson chose to "rough them up" a bit. He gave them an impossible riddle: "“Out of the eater came something to eat, And out of the strong came something sweet.” (Judges 14:14 NASB). Only by treachery was the riddle solved. This angered Samson, who appears to be a man with an incredibly short fuse, and, "he went down to Ashkelon and killed thirty men of them and took what they were wearing and gave the outfits of clothes to those who told the riddle." (Judges 14:19b NASB).
What I find to be one of the most interesting parts of this story, however, was that he was able to single handedly kill those thirty men because, "...the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him..." (Judges 14:19a NASB)!
In another example, after this incident, Samson was overcome with anger: "And his anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house." (Judges 14:19c NASB). Once he cooled down, however, he regretted his decision. Upon returning to visit his wife, he learned the awful truth: "I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I gave her to your companion...” (Judges 15:2a NASB). Samson’s quick anger was roused. He caught thirty wild dogs, tied their tails together two by two, and put a lighted torch in each the tails of each pair. "When he had set fire to the torches, he released the jackals into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to both the bundled heaps and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and olive groves." (Judges 15:5 NASB). This angered the Philistines, and: "So he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter..." (Judges 15:8a NASB).
It's safe to say Samson had a quick temper. In fact, I'm pretty sure I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with his arrogance and impulsivity, and I would probably have been questioning if God had really sent him to deliver Israel! And this is exactly what Israel must have thought. After the wedding incident, Sampson, "...went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam." (Judges 15:8b NASB). This was in the land of Judah, and when the Philistines came after Samson, the people of Judah, fearing that Samson would cause the Philistines to attack them, "...bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock." (Judges 15:13b NASB).
No, Samson doesn't seem much like the kind of person God could use to deliver Israel ... And herein lies the second important lesson for today: Those called by God aren’t necessarily perfect! He uses our innate personalities, flaws and all, to His glory!
I take comfort in this. Like all of you, I’m not perfect. I have my flaws! Yet not only does God still want to use me in His service, He chooses me because of my negative traits! He uses these to His glory!
In summary then, from the story of Samson today we learn that God sometimes surprises us with His methods of deliverance. However, He does have His excellent reasons, even if we don't understand them. We also see that God doesn't call perfect people, and sometimes what we consider to be our negative traits are exactly what He requires for His glory!
Please join us next Saturday to see the next lesson the Bible has to teach of from the story of Sampson, in "The Time Before the Kings, Part 16"!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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