O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.
The most famous of all the judges makes an appearance toward the end of the book, and the Bible devotes four chapters to the soap opera-like events of his life. If Gideon shows how God can use a person with limited potential (chapter 7), then Samson illustrates just the opposite, a person with enormous potential who squanders its.
When Samson enters the picture, the Israelites are once again suffering under foreign domination. The Bible makes clear that God has an important mission in store for Samson and wants him specially set apart as a leader. Indeed Samson is blessed with supernatural gifts. When the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him, he can tackle a lion or single-handedly rout an entire army. Any yet, as the stories from his youth reveal, Samson wields that strength in ways more befitting a juvenile delinquent than a spiritual leader.
Like any rebellious teenager, Samson selects for his wife the kind of woman sure to cause his parents- and God- the most grief. When that marriage barely survives a week, he next takes up with a Philistine prostitute. This chapter describes how he stupidly forfeits his great strength in a dalliance with a third woman, the seductive Delilah.
Samson's story is like a morality play. No one in the world could match his physical strength; just about anyone could match his moral strength. His moral lapses would seem almost incomprehensible were they not repeated by spiritual leaders in almost every generation. Toward the end of Samson's life, it appears that the pagans and their gods have soundly defeated the God of the Israelites. But Samson- and God- have one last surprise for the Philistine oppressors...Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it.
Life Question: In what areas of your life are you living up to your potential? In what areas are you falling short?
I'm slowly but surely putting more and more time into my spiritual life. For too many years, I simply went through the motions of my faith, but now I am trying to slow down and live my life with meaning and a sincere effort to strengthen my relationship with Christ.
1 comment:
It seems that I have my hand in several endeavors. All of these are important and time-consuming. Many involve the music gifts God has blessed me with and I'm thankful. With that being said; it is important for me to work with the Lord on the way and grow more and more in His likeness. There is no more important endeavor than spiritual_growth. My desire is to grow in Grace and the Knowledge of God through Jesus My Saviour.
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