A reminder from Samson’s life to
remain spiritually awake…[1]
This post is dedicated to Patricia Bell who has been looking for some
reading material while she is in recovery. I pray God returns you to full
health, Mrs. Patricia. In the mean time, I hope you will enjoy this manuscript
from my sermon last Sunday.
Note: I actually wrote the transcript after the sermon so that I might
adapt it for reading and study. Therefore, it is not the exact wording I used
in the sermon, but it is a close approximation, expanded somewhat for the sake
of study clarity. This is actually a really long post, so you might want to
plan to break it up into several readings…
No one has ever really accused me
of being the most vigilant person in the world. No one has said, “You know,
that Tab guy really pays attention to what’s going on around him.” My wife, my
parents, and my schoolteachers would all attest that I spend more time in a
dream world than I do here on this earth. When I was younger, I was that kid in
little league baseball who would rather dig rocks up in the outfield and toss
them at the fence behind me than I would paying attention to the game going on
in front of me. My only indication that I was indeed paying baseball was the
coach yelling, “Miller! Get the ball!” Little league coaches take the game way
too seriously if you ask me.
By the time I made it to high
school, I began to care more about academics, and that carried on into college
and beyond. However, in middle school, I couldn’t care less. One sunny
afternoon I was sitting in class, and the teacher was is the midst of a coffee
fueled lecture when he apparently said, “Take out a sheet of paper. Number it
one to three, and answer the following questions.” I missed all of that. It was
in the middle of a lecture, and if you know anything about daydreaming, you
know lecture time is prime time. Anyway, my only indication that we had taken
the quiz is when the teacher asked us to pass them forward, and the guy behind
me tapped me on the shoulder to hand me his paper. Missed that opportunity. Oh
well.
But, before you begin to believe
this was just a childhood problem and that I eventually grew out of whatever it
was that kept me in the clouds—ADD perhaps—let me tell you a recent story. My
wife might not know this, so I might be in a little hot water now that I am
telling it. We bought a juicer some time ago, because, you know, we want to be
healthy and all. Anyway, we had not used it in some time, and I just thought
that was so ashamed. So, I surfed the web and found the perfect juice. You
know, the one that is to make you run faster, jump higher, and live to be 105.
Well, I went to the store and
purchased around twenty-five dollars of produce. I got home, pulled out the
juicer and examined it, trying to remember how it worked. I keenly observed a
container on the side and thought, “Of course, that is where the juice comes
out.” So, without further delay, I began to juice. I was more fascinated with
watching the fruits and veggies being ground up than anything else. I had made
it near the bottom of the bag and decided to look into the container to see how
much delicious juice I had made, and that is when I saw it. The container was
not there to catch the juice, but the solid waste, the pulp. The juice had been
steadily pouring out the other side and upon the counter. Oops.
Practically speaking, being
oblivious can be dangerous. I am on the road with unsuspecting civilians
everyday (only a joke, I am a good driver). If my pinkie toe could talk, it
would tell you that it hates my guts. At least three times a week, I crack it
on the same coffee table that has been in the same place in relation to the
couch for years. I think my toe has spent more time broken than intact in my
adult life. Having said this, if being mentally oblivious is dangerous enough,
then being spiritually oblivious is all the more dangerous.
In his first letter, Peter says,
“Discipline yourselves, keep alert (be vigilant, be awake). Like a roaring lion
your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour” (5:18).
If you have ever watched a nature program with lions, you will know that they
usually attack when the animal they are pursuing is not on its guard. So, Satan
seeks out those who are not paying attention, thinking that temptation is
really not a threat. Be mindful that when Peter is writing here, he is
addressing Christians. The adversary is not simply looking to devour the people
of the world, but us as well.
Now, I am thankful that, even
while we have a real adversary, we also have an Advocate. The Scriptures warns
us as Christians not to sin, but, if we do, the Bible also tells us that Christ
is there to pick us up and offer us grace (I John 2:1). This is a comfort to
know, but just because Christ offers us grace, this does not mean that there
are no consequences for the sins we commit. If Christ served as some sort of
cosmic clean up crew or garbage man, making sure that nothing ever affected us,
why then would Peter waste his time warning the Church to “keep alert”? The
truth is, sin still can hurt us, and it can leave us miserable.
We see this truth all the time.
We see Christian brothers and sisters in our very communities in pain and
misery. We see Christian families that are broken, because of sinful decisions,
and it is not as if a person wakes up one day and all of the sudden says, “You
know what, I am going to cheat on my spouse today.” No. It happens by degrees.
Perhaps it starts off by holding animosity against one’s spouse, and not being
willing to work it out, to talk about it with each other and with God. So, it
leads to the person doing little things that they think really don’t matter, like
a click of the mouse as he or she seeks intimacy online. This then leads to
flirting with others, perhaps at work, and then, the next thing the person
knows is that everything has imploded, and the family has fallen apart.
It is the same thing with drug
use. No one wakes up saying, “I think I’ll get hooked on heroin today, or,
perhaps prescription drugs.” No. It happens by degrees, and, although we will
always be forgiven when we take it to Christ, this does not mean that we should
take down our guard. It would be best to live as Christ has called us to live,
and to avoid pain and misery.
We are now going to turn to Judges
14:5-9 to see how being spiritually oblivious can be very dangerous.
Now, before we read the text, I will say this: This is not an easy text to
understand if you have never studied it or its background before. But, there is
going to be a payoff for our studying the text. We can easily become frustrated
with the Old Testament. It is largely a collection of ancient stories about a
people a world away, and the author does not end his tale with the statement,
“And the moral of the story is…” We are left to figure it out. The New
Testament is more didactic, easier to access, and it gets down to the brass
tacks. It says things like, “Be alert.” That is straightforward. However, if we
can see the Old Testament stories, like the one we are about to read, as opportunities
to learn, instead of obstacles to overcome, the pay off is great. The story
will serve as a lifelong reminder of being spiritually awake.
It is one thing to be in the
midst of temptation, perhaps there is a link online that we know we should not
click, and we remember a New Testament idea, like Peter’s words: “Like a
roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to
devour.” Yes, we know we are supposed to avoid temptation, but, doesn’t Satan
have bigger fish to fry. Clicking this link in the privacy of my own home, when
no one is around, this won’t hurt anyone. Without really seeing what the author
is talking about, it is easy to toss aside.
It is quite another thing to see
the slow decline of sin in the story of someone’s life, as we read it in the
Old Testament. Stories get etched into our mind, and, believe me. This story,
once you really hear it, will be etched into your mind. This is the beauty of
the Old Testament stile of teaching. Each Testament has its merits, but the Old
Testaments is often ignored.
This story, believe it or not, is
about a man who is not being spiritually vigilant. But, we will soon explore
the story together to see how it is indeed a warning to us, and, it will
hopefully be forever etched on your mind. So, let’s look at it. As we go
through, I will be providing a little bit of information to make sure the story
is as clear as it can be upon first read:
Judges 14:5-9:
5 Then Samson went down with his father and
mother to Timnah. Just prior to this, Samson has told his father and
mother that he wants to marry a Philistine woman. At this time, parents
arranged marriages, so he had to have them go with him to set the marriage up,
and while they are not happy he is marrying a Philistine, he demands that they
go. So, they are on the way when this story begins.
When he came to the vineyards of
Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. Samson has walked
ahead of his parents and is out of sight from them when a lion attacks him.
6 The spirit of the Lord rushed on him,
and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid.
Here we see the gift God has given Samson in full affect. The lion is no match
for Samson, and he kills the lion, dismembering it as one might a kid, a young
goat, perhaps bringing to the Israelite’s mind a sacrifice.
But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had
done. When his parents catch up with Samson, he does not mention the
lion to them.
7 Then he went down and
talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson. Samson’s mission to
arrange his own marriage was a success.
8 After a while he returned
to marry her, Some time has passed, and Samson and his parents are
making the same journey back to Timnah, this time for the wedding.
…and he turned aside to see the
carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and
honey. When Samson comes to the place where he had killed the
lion, he walks off the path, again his parents being out of sight, and he
checks out the body. Inside he see that bees have made a nest and have also
made honey.
9 He scraped it out into his hands, and went
on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to
them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey
from the carcass of the lion. He decides to get the honey out as a
snack for the road. He also gives some to his parent, and they eat some as
well. He again does not mention the lion.
Strange story, right? What does
this have to do with being spiritually unaware? In fact, what does this have to
do with anything? As a matter of fact, Samson’s story only gets stranger. If
you have ever been a part of Sunday School, you will undoubtedly know the story
nearer the end of Samson’s life, the story of Samson, Delilah, and the haircut (Judges
16). This is a strange story too. In this story, Delilah, who is being
bribed to betray her husband, tricks Samson into telling her the secret to his
power, and he eventually tells her it is his long hair. She cuts it, and sure
enough, Samson loses his power.
Now, as modern readers, we are
tempted to look at all of this and dismiss it as an ancient fable. We know this
is not how the world works. First of all, God does not give us magical power
for growing out our hair. Second of all, God would not be so petty as to punish
us for being tricked. We know Samson has been forbidden to cut his hair, but he
doesn’t. Delilah does, while he is asleep, and a man has to sleep sometime,
right? This seems sort of mean of God, does it not? So, we are tempted to toss
this story out as a fairy tale. Worse, if we go back earlier in the story to
try and find a key as to why God would do this to poor Samson, all we find is a
strange story of a man eating honey out of a dead animal.
But, what if I told you that, in
fact, the story of the honey and the lion is indeed the key to unlocking the
rest of the story? What if I told you that one does indeed lead to the other?
It certainly does not jump off the page at us, but if we begin to understand
some background, this story becomes much clearer. So, that is what we are going
to do. We are going to step back from the story to get some context.
I apologize for putting the story
on pause right now and not giving you an answer right away, but it will be
worth it. Also, I apologize for what I am about to do, which is to load you up
on information. As you read this information, you might think to yourself,
“What does this have to do with a dude eating honey out of a dead lion,” but I
promise it will all make sense soon enough. Just hang in here with me for a
moment.
Let’s first talk about Samson’s
world. Samson is, of course, an Israelite, and he belongs to the tribe of Dan. At
this time, Israel has not yet fully established the land. So, they are not a
geo-political entity yet, in the sense of having defined boarders. Instead they
are somewhere in between a nomadic people and a sedentary people, as they are
in the midst of the conquest begun by Joshua. Remember that Israel really
started as a slave people in Egypt. Through Moses, God delivers these people
and sends them to Canaan, via a forty-year sojourn in the wilderness. He has
sent them to Canaan as part of a promise to give them the land, and under
Joshua, everything is going well.
However, after Joshua’s death, where
the book of Judges begins, the people of God begin to forget about their duty
in conquest. God has commanded them to drive out all the inhabitants of Canaan
so that they will be the only people in the land. Many people have found this
kind of strange. Why would Yahweh demand displacement of all these peoples? Is
this not cruel? In order to understand this command, we must remember why God
has called formed Israel. He has called Israel out to be a “holy nation,” “a
royal priesthood.” In other words, Israel was called into existence for the
express purpose of being a ministry to the world, a light to the nations.
God is setting up Israel to be
different, to have a character unlike anything else in the world. In this, the
other nations will see Israel’s life and begin to ask, “What makes these people
so different,” and this will lead them to seeking after Yahweh. So, in truth,
this conquest is actually for the world, but, in the meantime, others could not
live with Israel for several reasons, but we will highlight two. First God
wants Israel’s light to be clear. He wants this land to be full of holy people.
He does not want a mix of people, for He wants to ensure others, when passing
through, will know as soon as they reach this area that something is different.
Second, Paganism, which was ubiquitous in all other cultures of the world, was
too big a temptation for Israel, and threatened God’s Holy ministry.
So, why did God have to pick the
land of the Canaanites? Why could the Israelites not find some nice place in
the middle of nowhere? Well, the very purpose of their existence was to be
noticed, to be in the midst of the world, but not of the world. While God did
not want others settling in their midst, he still wanted Israel to interact
with the world, and, in the Ancient Near East, Canaan, this little strip of
land on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, was the crossroads of the world.
All the world powers traveled through here to make trade. It was the perfect
local for such a ministry. This was for the world, but first, Israel had to be
established. At first, when Joshua was leading the conquest, Israel was very
successful in completing the will of God for their lives, but things changed
after His death.
When the book of Judges opens up,
the Bible tells us that Israel had forgotten about their call. They had taken
only part of the land, and they were satisfied with this. They had accepted as
much of God’s promise as made them comfortable and had simply said, “No
thanks,” to the rest. They wanted to have the gifts that God had promised
without having to live the life God had asked them to live. Because they had
forgotten God, He allowed them to feel the repercussions of living out from
under his protection.
Across the Mediterranean, an
Aegean Sea people were making their way to Canaan. These people were seeking a
place to live as they were being displaced elsewhere. They landed on the coast
of Canaan, and began to settle, which, again, was a big problem for the
conquest of Israel. Moreover, they clashed with Israel. In the book of Judges,
they especially clash with the Danites, Samson’s people. At this time, the
Israelites are living a little inland, in the hill country. Each group is
looking to expand, and each has something the other wants. The Philistines have
the fertile land of the coast, and the Israelites have access to major trade
routes and resources. Thus, these peoples were on a historical collision
course, and the Philistines had the upper hand. They were effectively
threatening the existence of the Israelites, and were well on their way to
extinguishing the light God had sent to the world.
Israel was in need of a savior.
So, God sent judges. These men and women where not judges in the sense of a
modern judge, a person who presides over a court hearing, although Deborah does
fulfill this role to some extent. Instead, these people are ad hoc military
leaders, persons sent as heroes and heroines to deliver Israel from their enemies.
There is one judge that this book spends an extended time focusing on, and he
is the focus of our discussion here.
Samson’s story begins just before
his birth. An angel of the Lord comes to Samson’s parents, and he tells his
father and mother (Manoah and his wife), that, although Manoah’s wife is
barren, they will conceive and have a son, and he will “begin” to deliver the
Israelites from the Philistines (13:5). The angel also tells
Samson’s parents that Samson is to be a Nazarite from birth (13:7).
This is essential to understanding our story today.
As we have discussed, Israel was
to be a “Holy” nation, set apart as a ministry for God to the world. Their
lives were to be different, and God gave them the Torah, the law, to show them
how to live. On top of these regulations, a Nazarite was to take an oath and
limit himself or herself to yet three more regulations (see Numbers 6): 1) A Nazarite could not come in contact with a
dead body of any kind. 2) A Nazarite
could not partake of wine or liquor. In fact, he or she could not even eat
grapes or raisins. 3) A Nazarite
could not cut his or her hair. This would be a sign of being further set
apart to the Lord for a special purpose. A Nazaritic oath was an outward sign
of an inward relationship with God, and, just as an Israelite was to be a sign
to the world of God’s work in the world, a Nazarite would serve as a special
reminder, a ministry to Israel, reminding them that God is doing special things
among them.
Usually, a person was not a life
long Nazarite. The oath would only last for a set amount of time. Traditionally
speaking, there were only three Nazarites in Scripture who were Nazarites from
birth. Samson was the first. Samuel was the second, and John the Baptist was
the third. Interestingly, all three of these men were born to barren women.
Samuel was the priest that anointed David and introduced him to Israel. In
other words, he was responsible for introducing the greatest king ancient
Israel ever had. Pretty big deal, right? John the Baptist was the man who
introduced Jesus to the world. Pretty big deal, right? In other words, this
exclusive club Samson was in was for men who had a destiny of greatness in the
ministry of God. So, what happened to Samson? His life did not quite measure
up. It ends with him having his eyes gouged out by his enemies and a building
falling on top of him. Perhaps our story today will help us figure this all
out.
Now that we have all this
information, we can now pull it all together and return to the story we read earlier
to see if we can make sense of it. First, we know that Israel is in a dark
place, in need of a savoir, and there real issue was not an all at once
rebellion against God, but a slow forgetting of their purpose: “Israel
frittered away its inheritance a little bit at a time. Before any claims of
overt apostasy appear, the text impresses on the reader a process in which the
nation simply compromised the divine. Before settling for something other than Yahweh’s covenant promises,
Israel settled for something less than
Yahweh’s covenant promises.”[2]
What we are going to see in Samson’s life is more of the same. Samson was
called to serve God by being a hero to the Israelites, one who would begin
driving out the Philistines, but what we will see is a microcosm of Israel’s
slows decent, as Samson also slowly forgets his place.
We begin right before our reading
in Judges 14:5-9, with the speaking of the reason Samson is on the journey we
find him on in our reading. He has demanded from his parents that they go
arrange a marriage for him to a Philistine woman (Judges 14:1-4). Samson’s
parents are distraught. They want him to marry an Israelite. This is not about
race relations, but about putting one’s will before God. Samson’s parents know
that marriage to a Philistine will mean that Samson will willingly bind himself
to the very people that are lording over his people, the very people trying to
snuff out the light of God to the world.
Samson is willing to compromise his calling and his people to have his
desires. So, the story of Samson’s slow decline begins with this:
1.
Sin
begins in the heart when we put our on wants in front of God’s will.
Now, we finally get back to the
weird story of Samson and his eating honey out of the dead carcass of a lion.
The first thing that we should note in this portion of the story is that, while
Samson might have been on the path of putting self in front of God, God is
still with him. The Scripture reports that while Samson was walking through the
vineyards of Timnah, which must have been like the valley of temptation for a
Nazarite that was not even allowed to eat a grape, a lion attacks Samson, and
“the Spirit of the Lord” rushed on Samson so that he could kill the lion. In
other words, Samson strength was not his own. God was his source of strength
and his deliverer.
After the body had been
decomposing a while, Samson passed back by alone, and decided he wanted to see
the body. Now, he is forbidden by his Nazaritic oath to God to come in contact
with a dead body. So, he is actively seeking temptation. He sees in the carcass
of the lion something sweet. In the midst of that which is forbidden is
something sweet. Samson is alone, and he probably thinks to himself, this is no
big deal. No one will ever know; my Nazaritic testimony won’t be damaged
because I am alone and I do not have to be accountable to anyone. The Scripture
says he scrapes the honey out. He doesn’t just dab the honey; he scrapes it
out.
2.
Sin
that begins in the heart soon manifests when we are alone and no one is looking.
We are often tempted to think
that our secret sins don’t matter. They do not hurt anyone. No one will know if
I click on this link. No one will know if I harbor this bitterness. No one will
know if I take this pill. Only I will know. And, often, like Samson, we think
we get away with it. Samson even tempts fate by giving some honey to his
parents. I bet he is being like the child who, upon doing something wrong,
immediately goes to see if his parents can tell or if they know something. How
they did not smell the dead carcass all over him, I will never know. It is like
the kid that goes out smoking with friends. How do the parents not smell smoke
all over them? Samson’s parents don’t say anything, and Samson assumes he is in
the clear. This is why our story today is so important, because it is so
common, and it is really the rest of the story that shows us that the little
sins, like this one, lead to deeper and deeper decline.
So, what happens next, after our
reading from Judges 14? Well, Samson goes on into Timnah, and he decides he
will throw a party with the Philistines in celebration of his marriage. The
English translations of Judges 14:10 obscures the real issue
here. The word for party (or feast) here indicates a drinking party, a party of
wine. Now, wine was not forbidden for the Israelites, but for a Nazarite like
Samson, it was. Remember, drinking wine was so forbidden that he was to abstain
from all forms of the vine, but now he is supplying a party of wine. The
implication seems clear. Samson is a part of this party. He has already sinned
in secret by breaking the oath of not touching a dead body. Now he is with the
Philistines, partying with wine, breaking his second oath.
3.
What
begins in the heart and moves to sinning in secret soon moves to hanging out
with the wrong crowd.
I am sure Samson thought to
himself. Well, no one at home will ever know about this. He is like a kid gone
off to college for the first time. He is thinking to himself, well these people
are already accustomed to party. I am not going to be a bad influence on them.
They already do this. No one will get hurt.
And just like all muscle heads at
a party, Samson begins to get cocky and starts acting stupid. He says to the
Philistines: “Let
me now put a riddle to you…Out of the eater came something to eat. Out of the strong came
something sweet” (Judges 14:12,14) He is of course talking about the lion he killed, bragging
cryptically, showing that he is actually growing arrogant in sin. He makes a
bet, knowing the Philistines will have no clue how to figure out the riddle. He
tells them that if they can crack the riddle, he will give them riches, but if
they can’t, they have to give him riches. In their drunkenness, they agree.
But, after they sober up, they realize that Samson is cheating them, and this
leads to a long back and forth fight.
4. What begins in the heart and moves to the secret places and on to
the company of people who will only bring you down, eventually leads to pride,
even in the midst of losing control.
Samson’s conflict leads to his wife first being given to
another man, and then leads to her and her father being burned to death. It
leads to the devastation of crops and to many deaths, but Samson is still
thinking to himself, “At least this is not hurting anyone at home.” But, he is
wrong. In Judges 15, the Philistines attack the Israelites. Now Samson’s
sins have made it back home, and his people say to him in essence, “Samson, you
are supposed to be our protector, but, instead, you have lead us into loss and
ruin. We have to get rid of you.”
Samson allows his people to tie him up and deliver him to
the Philistines. But, in the last moment, he breaks free, and he picks up a
fresh jawbone of a donkey. Do you see how far he has come? It all started with
him flirting with the forbidden, a dead corps, in secret, and then to partying
off with the Philistines. Now, he is touching what is forbidden, he is sinning,
in front of, not only the Philistines, but also his own people, the people of
God. And what is worse, I believe in his mind he justifies his sin. He thinks,
“I am about to die. I need a weapon. I have to touch this dead thing.” Isn’t this how it happens. We finally
get so caught up in sin that we take it home, and no matter how much it hurts
those we love, we make excuses for doing what we will.
5. What begins in the heart, moves to the secret places, then to
being with the wrong crowd, eventually leads to be defiant in front of those
that most love you, the people of God, and you eventually lose respect for even
them.
So, now we finally get to the story of Delilah. Remember,
Samson has already broken two of three oaths he has made with God. He has
touched a dead body, twice, and become drunk. Now the Scripture recalls his
allowing Delilah to cut his hair (Judges 16). He is not deceived. He
knows that each time he tells her how to take his power, she tries, but he lies
to her each time. Finally, he tells her if she cuts his hair, he will lose his
power. Instead of protecting himself from her by getting away from her, he
falls asleep. This is not just a physical sleep; he is spiritually asleep as
well.
When he awakes, she has cut his hair, and listen to what he
says: “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free” (Judges 16:20).
He has finally forgotten the source of his strength. Throughout the story, he
asks God for strength, but now, he says, “I will…” This is why he lost his
strength. The haircut is just a representation of the final step. His outward
signs of his inward relationship with God were all gone, and he had, like
Israel, finally forgotten God. The Scripture continues in v20 by saying: “But
he did not know that the Lord had left him.”
6. What begins in the heart, then with a secret sin that seems so insignificant,
finally leads to forgetting God’s place in our lives.
There is a silver lining. It is never too late to repent
and turn your situation around. After Samson loses his strength, the
Philistines gouge out his eyes, and tie him up in a mill, and he spends his
days grinding grain. As he is grinding grain he has time to reflect, and his
hair begins to grow (16:22). This is a sign of his remembering his calling. He is
brought into a building to be put on display in front of the Philistine elite.
The room is full of men and women leading the campaign against the Israelites. They
are mocking Samson. They feel they have one. Now, they will once and for all
snuff out the light to the world.
Samson’s strength returns to him, and he pulls the building
down upon himself and the Philistines, turning the tide for the Israelites. So,
even in the midst of sin, God still accomplishes through Samson what He set out
to accomplish. But, this does not mean Samson has had everything God intended
for him. He is no Samuel or John the Baptist. The good news is that even when
we do not live up to our calling, God’s ministry and purposes will still go on.
God will win, but that does not mean that we have no reason to be spiritually
obtuse.
We have a choice as God’s children. We can still do things
our way, or we can choose to follow after God. The Scripture tells us that when
we choose God, we will be given strength. Let’s go back to that passage in I
Peter and keep reading: “Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for
you know that your brothers and sisters in all the world will suffer” (v9).
The truth of the matter is that no matter what, we will face adversity. No
matter what, Samson was going to face the Philistines in his life. The question
is this: “How will you face your enemy?” Will you do like Samson, and try to go
it alone. This only leads to misery. Or, will you stay steadfast in Christ. I
Peter 5:10 tells us what the outcome will be if we choose to do it
God’s way: “And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace,
who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore,
support, strengthen, and establish you.”
For Samson, his demise was not about a haircut, but about a
slow decent of forgetting God, which started off with a seemingly insignificant
sin. For Christians, Satan is like a lion, but he is really a dead lion. Christ
has defeated sin on the cross, so the only way Satan can have power over you is
if you give it to him, if you fall prey to his temptation. Again, it is easy to
dismiss Peter’s words in the midst of what seems to be a small, insignificant
sin, but next time you are tempted to think it won’t matter, I hope Samson’s
story is etched on your mind. Therefore, choose to be vigilant, to remain
spiritually awake, and to live in all the hope and strength that God wants to
give you through Christ Jesus our Lord. AMEN.
[1] All
Scripture cited from NRSV unless otherwise noted:
The New Revised
Standard Version. Division of Christian Education of the National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. 1989
[2] Lawson Stone: Philip W.
Comfort, ed. Cornerstone Biblical
Commentary: Vol. 3 (Carol Stream: Tyndale. 2012) p.222
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