ARE YOU LIVING AS YOU SEE FIT?

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In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim said to his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse — I have that silver with me; I took it."

Then his mother said, "The Lord bless you, my son!"

When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, "I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you."

So he returned the silver to his mother, and she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who made them into the image and the idol. And they were put in Micah's house.

Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some idols and installed one of his sons as his priest. In those days, Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit.

A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within the clan of Judah, left that town in search of some other place to stay. On his way, he came to Micah's house in the hill country of Ephraim.

Micah asked him, "Where are you from?"

"I'm a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah," he said, "and I'm looking for a place to stay."

Then Micah said to him, "Live with me and be my father and priest, and I'll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes, and your food." So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man was to him like one of his sons. Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house. And Micah said, "Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest."

Judges 17

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

While living this thing called life, sometimes people will go a long time before they find God and often, this is because they tend to want to do what they want to do, unwilling to surrender themselves so to live only for Him and His ways. It’s true today and as we see in today’s message, it was in biblical times as well.

Point and case is a man named Micah who we meet in the seventeenth chapter of the Book of Judges, a man who isn’t any different than any other person in that he is overcome by a sinful action. In his case, it was the matter of stolen money, “eleven hundred shekels of silver” to be exact which he had taken from his mother.

As we read the story, we get a sense that Micah had been convicted by God for his actions, especially after he heard his mother call down a curse on whoever took the silver for he does go to her and confesses that he was the guilty party. Surprisingly, his mother doesn’t chastise him but rather commends him, saying:

"The Lord bless you, my son!"

And with that, Micah “returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother” after which she gives him some unusual instructions, instructions that will unfortunately plunge him back into sin:

“I solemnly consecrate my silver to the Lord for my son to make a carved image and a cast idol. I will give it back to you."

Wait a minute! Did we read that right?

So Micah’s mother was vowing to “consecrate” the silver to the Lord, which meant she would seek to set it apart for God, but then turned around and told her son to fashion the silver into “a carved image and cast idol”, all this despite the Lord having given this command to the Israelites long before:

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in Heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:4-6

Here, we clearly see that Micah’s mother, the one who should have been bringing up her son to honor God, had no clue about Him or His Word. Tragically, her actions serve to set a series of events in motion that would lead her son to not worship properly. For he certainly wasn’t going to find the Lord in the idol he had made after taking the “two hundred shekels of silver” she gave him to the “silversmith who made them into the image and the idol”...articles he then placed in a shrine that had been fashioned in his home. And if that wasn’t enough, he also “made an ephod and some idols” before installing “one of his sons as his priest”.

Basically, Micah was spiritually messed up. For he took Canaanite worship principles which used idol worshipping as its main foundation and mixed them with Israelite worship principles which involved a priest who would oversee and conduct religious worship ceremonies. And despite God’s demand that all priests had to come from the Levite family tree, Micah disregarded this requirement and appointed his own son into the position.

What in the world do we see happening here? Is this just an isolated incident or had all of Israel lost it?

Well, we find the answer in our passage for at that time, the scriptures tell us that within Israel…and at that time…everyone was doing whatever they saw fit. In other words, everyone was on their own program, doing their own thing and satisfying their own desires and wants, regardless of what God commanded them to do. This explains why Micah and his mother had no problem fashioning an image and idol from silver…why they saw no issue with having their own private shrine to worship their idols…and why they didn’t see any problem with ordaining one of their own family members as a priest.

You don’t get much more “doing everything as you see fit” from a spiritual standpoint than that.

In thinking about this, I often wonder if our world isn’t getting to the same place today. For it sure seems to me that a majority of people are doing everything as THEY see fit, either ignoring God or being completely ignorant of Him altogether. And while living void of His guidance and direction, it becomes a pervasive atmosphere of anything goes with nothing being truly off limits. It’s a climate that I have to think both angers and saddens the Lord.

Indeed, Micah, his mother, and his priest-appointed son were all unwilling to completely give their lives and their worship practices over to God and Him alone.  

Well, the remainder of this scripture passage centers on a man who Micah encountered…”a young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah who had been living within the clan of Judah” and decided to leave “that town in search of some other place to stay”. After inquiring where the man had come from, Micah learned that he was a Levite and automatically gave the man a proposal saying:

“Live with me and be my father and priest, and I'll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food".

We see where the young Levite agreed to Micah’s terms and became “his priest”, living in “his house”. This led Micah to proclaim:

“Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest."

In other words, Micah believed he would now find favor with God through his newly appointed Levite priest, a Levite who would never had accepted the offer if he had truly knew and understood who God was and his true responsibilities to Him as a Levite. He, like the others in Israel, was doing as he saw fit, trading in his loyalty to the Lord for a paid salary and shelter.

In the end translation, neither Micah nor his new Levite priest were interested in fully submitting and surrendering themselves to God and His ways. Instead, they wanted to live life according to their terms and this included the way they chose to worship.   

Friends, it’s time to wake up and see that a true and edifying relationship with the God who is the Maker and Master of all creation doesn’t come through anything this world can give. We don’t need any human being or object to gain access to Him…no magical spiritual conduit we can travel through by adopting some form of mysticism.

Thankfully, the Lord is closer than we think and always ready to enter into a direct, intimate, personal relationship with anyone who simply seeks him, willing to do His will and not just what they see as fit. This special, loving one-on-one communion with Him will always end up pointing us toward His Son Jesus, the only One through which we can be saved (John 3:16, Romans 10:13)…the only One through which we can come to God the Father (John 14:6) and gain eternal life.

So where do you stand today?

Are you doing what you see fit in your life or have you turned your life over to the Lord, allowing Him to dictate everything you think, say, and do?

If you’ve yet to gain your salvation by coming to Jesus the Son through God the Father, please make today the day of your salvation.

It’s a decision you will never regret.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

STAYING POWERED UP

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."

So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."

Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man."

Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied."

He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man."

So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.

Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied."

He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric and tightened it with the pin.

Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." With such nagging, she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death.

So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."

When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"

He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, "Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands."

When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying:

"Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain."

While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.

When they stood him among the pillars, Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. Then Samson prayed to the Lord, "O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."

Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.

Then his brothers and his father's whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years.

Judges 16:4-31

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

His name was Samson.

He was the God-chosen judge of Israel who was purposed from birth having been raised by two faithful, God-loving parents.

And although he was supremely strong and shrewdly intelligent, he lived part of his life immersed in self centeredness, vengeance, disobedience, and sexual immorality.

As we finish up our study of Judges, chapter 16, we find Samson’s story come to a close. When considered with the other heroes of the Old Testament, he wouldn’t be considered at the top of the list. Rather, believers should carefully study his life so to avoid falling into the same transgressions.

In regard to his relationships, we saw at the beginning of this chapter how Samson chose to sleep with a Philistine prostitute before escaping the clutches of a band of Philistines who wanted to take his life. As we turn to today’s passage, we find him entering into one final tryst, one that will lead to his doom.

For we see in these verses, Samson falls in “love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah”, a union that the Philistines saw they could capitalize on to get rid of him for good. And so we find the “rulers of the Philistines” going to Delilah and saying:

“See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."

The money enticed Delilah to sell Samson out and so she attempted to coax the needed information from Him, saying:

“Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."

Well, you may remember that Samson had already been deceived by another Philistine woman and so it appeared that he was wise to the possibility that Delilah might be trying to do likewise. And so he gives her an answer but it wasn’t the truth, saying:

“If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man."

Armed with what she believed was the secret to removing Samson’s power, we find Delilah going to the “rulers of the Philistines” who give her “seven fresh thongs that had not been dried”. We read where she then used the thongs to tie up Samson and, “with (Philistine) men hidden in the room” and ready to take Samson captive, she called out:

“Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"

No sooner did she utter these words that Samson broke free from his bonds, snapping the “thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame”. After seeing this, Delilah realized that she had been lied to and told Samson this:

“You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied."

Well, as we see Samson lies to Delilah twice more as she persisted in trying to find out how to take away Samson’s strength so to betray him and gain the promised silver shekels. And yet, even after the third time, we see where she was undaunted in her quest to find out the answer she sought as she said this to Samson:

"How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength."

And with that, the scriptures tell us that she nagged and “prodded (Samson) day after day until he was tired to death”, reaching a place where he decided to tell “her everything”.

So what would it really take to remove Samson’s immense power?

We find him telling her, saying:

"No razor has ever been used on my head because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man."

And with that Delilah, confident that she finally had the right solution, “sent word to the rulers of the Philistines” saying:

"Come back once more; he has told me everything."

And so the rulers “returned with the silver in their hands”, the stage now set for Samson to finally fall. We see where Delilah, not far from gaining the reward being offered, skillfully puts Samson to sleep on her lap before having one of the Philistine men to “shave off the seven braids of his hair”. We read where this “began to subdue” Samson, causing his strength to leave, providing the moment the Philistines to finally have their way with him. The scriptures tell us that they “seized him, gouged out his eyes, and took him down to Gaza” where they bound him “with bronze shackles” and “set him to grinding in the prison”. While incarcerated, Samson’s “hair on his head began to grow again”, which we will see allows his strength to return for one last defining moment.

You know, perhaps the saddest part of this betrayal story is that Samson didn’t even realize he was in trouble. He had always been able to overpower his adversaries in the past and was confident it would happen again. But the Lord had left him and sadly, he wasn’t aware of it.

So why didn’t Samson have the awareness he truly needed for proper discernment?

My guess is that he didn’t have a consistent relationship with his God and there’s evidence of this throughout his life story. And while it’s true that there was at least one juncture when he did turn to the Lord for help (a request to quench his thirst in Judges 15:18), he spent much more of his time living in selfish, self-centeredness, always wanting to have his own way on things.

Through his behavior, we should hopefully learn that our Lord isn’t some fast-food kind of God, someone we only express faith in when it’s convenient or when we fall into a time of sudden distress. Rather, we’re expected to turn to Him always…24/7…365 days a year. For if we do this, then we will always be connected to the Lord and He to us. If only Samson had done this, his story might have read much differently.

So how did his story end?

Well, we see where Samson does go out on a good note, used by God as an instrument of judgment on the Philistine people and their rulers. For as they gathered to “offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god”, they celebrated, proclaiming:

"Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands…Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain”.

And with that, they summoned the eye-less Samson to provide entertainment. They brought him “out of the prison, and he performed” but as he finished we find him asking one of his servants to do the following:

“Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them".

We read where the servant does as he’s asked and then Samson “prayed to the Lord” saying:

"O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."

We should notice here that Samson once again turned back toward God as the true source of his power and God delivered on his request for we read where “Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood”, braced himself against them, and shouted, “Let me die with the Philistines!", before he “pushed with all his might” and brought the temple down “on the rulers and all the people in it” as well as himself. He died a martyr for the one true God, having taken out the adversary of his fellow Israelites, His body was “buried…between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father” after leading Israel for twenty years.

So the life of Samson finished up here but perhaps in the end, he learned his greatest lesson…and, by doing so, taught us an important eternal truth. For Samson came to discover that his true strength wasn’t in his hair or his mind or in his muscles but rather in his God and in Him alone. He has been so since the dawn of mankind, the only true source of power for any man, woman, or child. The good news in this is that no believer today will ever be void of the strength they need as long as they remain plugged into THE power Source…that being the Lord. In Him, we can ensure we are powered up so to carry out the purposes He has for us day after day.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

THE SOURCE OF TRUE STRENGTH

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. The people of Gaza were told, "Samson is here!" So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, "At dawn we'll kill him."

But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

Judges 16:1-3

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Through our look at Judges, chapters 13 through 15, we have been studying the life of Samson, a judge of Israel. Through that study, we have seen two traits stand out.

First, we have seen how Samson was very shrewd and intelligent, able to outwit those who tried to come against him. We have also seen how he diabolically came up with creative ways to wreak revenge on his enemies and we will continue to see this as we continue looking at his life story.

That happens in today’s short scripture passage from the opening three verses of chapter 16 as the people of Gaza learn Samson is in town and plot to kill him at dawn, something that never happens as he escapes in the middle of the night and foils the plan against him.

As we look at that escape, we see that he didn’t do it with any sense of stealth for the scriptures tell us he “took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all”. He then lifted them up on his shoulders and carried them “to the top of the hill that faces Hebron”. This revealed Samson’s second major trait…his incredible strength. We’ve seen glimpses of this before in his story for you’ll remember how he tore an attacking lion in pieces and broke free from bondage to strike down a thousand Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone. Such was his powerful physical prowess.

How about you? Think for a moment about things the Lord has blessed you with. For He has given us all special abilities and talents that we are to use for His glory. And this is really the key…that we use His gifts for His glory. In fact, there should never be a time in our lives when we cease to glorify God with our actions, our words or our thoughts.

This is where Samson got into trouble in his life. There is no doubt the Lord blessed him with special gifts and talents, especially when it came to physical strength. Unfortunately, you can have all the physical strength in the world but if you don’t have spiritual strength…strength to be obedient to God…strength to fend off temptation…and strength to stay firm in faith…then you are really not strong at all but weak.

In this passage, as we have seen prior, Samson shows he is physically strong but spiritually and morally weak. For as he went to Gaza, he saw a Philistine prostitute and never hesitated to spend the night with her. Samson knew God had spoken strongly about illicit sexual behavior…and yet he chose to do it anyways. Samson also knew that God had forbidden Israel to enter into relationships with the Canaanites…and yet he chose to do it anyways. Remember that we have seen it before and we see it yet again here. Samson did what Samson wanted to do. It was all about him and his desires.

Shrewdly intelligent and mighty in strength. These were Samson’s gifts.

How about you? What are the special qualities that make you special, qualities granted to you by God who expects you to use them to His glory?

As we look at Samson, we have seen him using his gifts for his own selfish gain. We have also seen him use them in ways that honored his Lord.

Maybe we’re more like him than we may want to admit and my prayer is that we always seek God’s will for each and every day, not only being strong in the gifts He has provided but even more importantly, strong in Him…strong in His Word…and strong in His Spirit. For it’s then and only then that we can properly honor Him and glorify Him in every aspect of our lives. He expects nothing less than that and surely, He deserves it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

FRUITLESS VENGEANCE

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I'm going to my wife's room." But her father would not let him go in.

"I was so sure you thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead."

Samson said to them, "This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them." So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves.

When the Philistines asked, "Who did this?" they were told, "Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, because his wife was given to his friend."

So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. Samson said to them, "Since you've acted like this, I won't stop until I get my revenge on you." He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.

The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. The men of Judah asked, "Why have you come to fight us?"

"We have come to take Samson prisoner," they answered, "to do to him as he did to us."

Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?"

He answered, "I merely did to them what they did to me."

They said to him, "We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines."

Samson said, "Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves."

"Agreed," they answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you."

So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

Then Samson said:

"With a donkey's jawbone, I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone, I have killed a thousand men."

When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.

Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, "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. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.

Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Judges 15

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Judges, chapter 15 opens, we find Samson on his way to make amends with his Philistine wife who he angrily left at the end of the last chapter. You’ll recall that this was after he discovered she had tricked him into giving her the answer to a riddle which she passed onto the thirty Philistine companions he had made a wager with. As a result, Samson lost his bet and ended up striking down thirty Philistines in Askelon, taking their garments so to pay off his obligation. Through his selfish, self-centered behavior, we saw Samson clearly reveal that he was vindictive and treacherous, traits that we find continuing in today’s scripture passage.

For when Samson arrives at his wife’s home, telling her father that he going to her room, the father stopped him and informed that he had given his daughter to another man, a friend because he was afraid that Samson was never coming back for her. The father, realizing that Samson had legally made proper payment for his bride which put him in the wrong, tried to make amends by offering Samson his wife’s sister instead. The father promoted the other woman by praising her attractiveness but Samson would have none of it. As before, he wanted everything to go his way and so he vowed revenge on the Philistines.

We read that he carried out this vengeance in a pretty unique way, catching “three hundred foxes” and tying “them tail to tail in pairs” before fastening “a torch to every pair of tails, lighting the torches, and letting the foxes “loose in the standing grain of the Philistines”. As the foxes ran, the flames on their tails “burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves”. The harvest was destroyed.

Well, Samson’s quest for retribution didn’t end things but rather led to the Philistines doing likewise. For we read that when they investigated how their fields had been burned down, learning that it was carried out by Samson, they killed his prior wife and her father, burning them both to death. It was a classic eye-foe-an-eye scenario.

This series of actions only shows us the fruitless nature of revenge. For typically, it only leads to tragedy that never needed to happen and doesn’t accomplish anything good in the end.

For when we get right down to it, a vengeful spirit conjured up by any person is not of God but only of Satan and sin. This was underscored in God’s Word from Leviticus when He stated this:

“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” 19:18

Later, Jesus would go on to use these very words when defining God’s second greatest commandment after rendering the first, the call to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength (Matthew 22:36-40).

The Apostle Paul would go on to add these words in his letter to the Romans, echoing God’s word from Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse 35:

“Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” 12:19

The bottom line here us that only God and He alone could consider and render vengeance for He was and is the only true Judge of all mankind. None of us have the authority but Him but unfortunately, Samson…and too often us as well…disregarded God’s authority.

Going back to the scriptures, we read where Samson, after learning about the killing of his wife and father-in-law, decides to once again get even. In fact, he tells the Philistines that he wouldn’t stop until he gained payback before going on to attack them viciously, slaughtering many before taking up refuge in a “cave in the rock of Etam”.

The question is…What exactly did Samson gain from all this?

We don’t read that he received God’s favor for his actions. In fact, we never see an instance when Samson even asks God for His counsel for if he had, you can bet God would not have told him to go on a murderous rampage unless He planned on using Samson as an instrument of His own vengeance. There’s zero indication that this was happening here. Samson was clearly on his own program.

Well, while Samson was holed up in his cave, the Philistines didn’t stop seeking him. They hoped to do away with him once and for all, eliminating the vengeance he was bringing them. And so they camped near Judah and this made the Judeans very nervous. We get the indication that they were happy and at peace just living under the oppressive rule of the Philistines, something that wasn’t heard of before in this book as the nation of Israel never hesitated entering battle with the Canaanites as they followed God’s command to conquer their cities and drive all their people.

And so when the Judean men found out that it was Samson who had drawn the Philistines into their land, they took “three thousand men” and “went down to the cave in the rock of Etam” where Samson was. They then confronted him saying:

“Don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?"

In other words, they were letting him know that his actions had placed them all in danger and basically wanted to know what he had been thinking. His actions carried consequences impacting far more people than himself. Of interest, we should note that the Judeans were showing no concern for Samson himself either. They never asked if the Philistines had wronged him in some way. Rather, they assumed he was guilty and, in doing so displayed the same selfish attitude that Samson had shown for the better part of his life up to now. The Judean men were showing clearly that they were only concerned with themselves, not Samson.

Their very actions prove this as they took Samson and tied him up so to hand him over to the Philistines, all this after taking a vow that they wouldn’t kill him themselves. The Judeans were so self-centered that they would rather hand over a fellow brother Israelite to be killed than risk any harm coming to them. The needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few or the one.

And so we find the Judeans binding up Samson and taking him to the Philistines who began shouting as they advanced toward him. In the moment, things weren’t looking good for Samson as he tied up and unable to defend himself. Death seemed to be his destiny but as we see, it wasn’t God’s will for that to happen. For a “Spirit of the Lord” came upon Samson “in power”, resulting in the ropes on his arms becoming “like charred flax”. And as the bindings dropped from his hands, Samson grabbed a “fresh jawbone of a donkey” and “struck down a thousand (Philistine) men”. Once staring down death, Samson had experienced God’s grace and mercy first hand.

Friends, this same thing frequently happens to us as believers today. For like Samson, we turn from God and adopt our own sinful attitudes within our circumstances. Then, after we have managed to get ourselves into a difficult situation…a situation where we faced hardship, difficulty, or even danger as a result of our actions…God intervenes and rescues us from our potentially difficult circumstances…and He does so because it was His will for us. He didn’t wish for us to suffer the consequences for our behavior in that instance, even though we deserved it.

Well, in Samson’s case, we finally see him turning to the Lord…later than he should of for sure but he turns to Him nonetheless. This is something else I think we can all relate to.

So what led to Samson going to God?

The scriptures tell is that he became so thirsty that he cried out to the Lord saying:

“You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"

Note here that for the first time, Samson gave God the glory for the success he had gained. The victory over the Philistines wasn’t of his doing but of the Lord’s and we sense here that God rewards Samson for his faithful words, opening up “the hollow place in Lehi” and making water come out of it”…water that restored Samson’s strength. Instead of perishing from thirst, he would go on to rule the Israelites for another 20 years.

Friends, my prayer today is that we see the destructive nature of revenge in the story of Samson and never seek to carry it out ourselves. May we ever turn to the Lord in all instances and all occasions, seeking His guidance and then doing what He desires because He will NEVER lead us wrong.

We can always trust in that.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, "I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife."

His father and mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?"

But Samson said to his father, "Get her for me. She's the right one for me." (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.

Sometime later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion's carcass.

Now his father went down to see the woman. And Samson made a feast there, as was customary for bridegrooms. When he appeared, he was given thirty companions.

"Let me tell you a riddle," Samson said to them. "If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes. If you can't tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes."

"Tell us your riddle," they said. "Let's hear it."

He replied:

"Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet."

For three days they could not give the answer.

On the fourth day, they said to Samson's wife, "Coax your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father's household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?"

Then Samson's wife threw herself on him, sobbing, "You hate me! You don't really love me. You've given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer."

"I haven't even explained it to my father or mother," he replied, "so why should I explain it to you?" She cried the whole seven days of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him:

"What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?"

Samson said to them:

"If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have solved my riddle."

Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle.

Burning with anger, he went up to his father's house. And Samson's wife was given to the friend who had attended him at his wedding.

Judges 14

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Despite a parent’s best efforts to raise their children properly and set the right example for them, there are times when the child chooses to reject everything they were taught and go their own way. In doing so, they often turn away from God and His expectations as well. Such is the case with Samson as we look at his life in Judges, chapter 14.

You’ll remember that in chapter 13, we saw how Samson’s parents, Manoah and his wife, were people who trusted and believed in God, obedient and faithful to His word and will. In return, God miraculously blessed them with a son who would deliver Israel from the oppression of the Philistines. Unfortunately, we see where Samson is nowhere near as faithful to God as his parents.

We see this right away as Samson becomes interested in a Philistine woman and commands his parents to “get her for me as my wife." His words were very disrespectful and dishonorable to his parents since custom dictated that they would be the ones who would select a wife for their son, making arrangements with the girl’s parents in advance of the wedding. Further, Samson was eyeballing a woman from the very people oppressing His people and worse yet, his demand to marry her was in direct violation of God’s command to not intermarry with any Canaanite. For all these reasons, we find Manoah questioning their son, asking:

“Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?"

As any good, loving parents would do, they were trying to persuade their son to think about his actions and realize his serious error in judgment but unfortunately, we find him persisting in wanting the Philistine girl, refusing to heed their sound and godly guidance. It was obvious that he was dead set on having his own way in the matter.

And so we read that Samson and his parents “went down to Timnah together” and, along the way, Samson was attacked by a young lion. The scriptures tell us that the “Spirit of the Lord came upon (Samson) in power” so that he could tear “the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat”. All this happened away from his parents who never knew what took place because Samson didn’t tell them as they carried on to Timnah where he “talked with the woman and…liked her”.

After this first meeting, Samson and his parents returned home for awhile only to eventually return to Timnah. As they traveled back, Samson passed by the carcass of the lion he had killed earlier, noticing there was a “swarm of bees and some honey” in the carcass. And so Samson “scooped out (some honey) with his hands and ate as he went along”. He would also give his parents some as well after rejoining them, never telling them where he had gotten it.

While this initially might not look like a big deal, it was. For in eating the honey from the dead carcass, Samson had once again shown his unwillingness to be obedient to God’s requirements since a Nazarite was to have no contact with anything dead. Further, he doubled down on the sin by sharing the honey with them both.

Again, we find Samson bent on doing whatever he wanted to do, regardless of whether it was against the will of God or not.

Once in Timnah for the second time, we see where Manoah, Samson’s father, “went down to see the woman” his son wanted to marry while “Samson made a feast” where “he was given thirty companions”, all Philistines. This feast was actually more like a party where drinking was prevalent and it’s believed Samson did partake in consuming alcohol at the festivities, yet another violation of the Nazarite vow. Over and over and over again, we find him rejecting the Lord and His desires to chase after his own.

Well…in the midst of the feast, we find Samson telling his companions a riddle but there were some strings attached. For if his Philistine companions could answer the riddle “within the seven days of the feast” then Samson would give them “thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes” (garments and clothes were highly valued in this day). However, if the Philistine companions could not answer the riddle, then they would have to give Samson “thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes." The companions agreed to the challenge and so Samson shares the riddle.

We see where his quiz is centered on two things: Samson’s victory over the attacking lion and the honey he would later find in the carcass. This made it so no one could possibly know the answer except for him as he was the only one present on both occasions. And so in essence, there was no way Samson could lose the wager without telling someone the answer. He had set everything up to have his own way and win the prize.

Well, the Philistine companions pondered the riddle for “three days” and “could not give the answer” and so on the fourth day, they began to worry that they would lose the bet and have to pay Samson. And so they went to Samson’s wife and pressured her to get Samson to tell her the answer, issuing the following threat:

“…we will burn you and your father's household to death”.

Further, they also accused her of inviting them there on purpose so Samson could rob them, thinking she might have been in on the riddle with him.

After receiving the death warning, we see where Samson's wife went to him and cried out saying:

“You hate me! You don't really love me. You've given my people a riddle, but you haven't told me the answer."

We should note how deceiving the wife was because she didn’t tell Samson the real motive for her wanting to know the riddle’s answer.

Well, Samson resisted this plea, telling his wife that he hadn’t “even explained it (the riddle) to (his) father or mother” and so he wondered why she would think he would tell her. And so he refused her request and this led to her crying “the whole seven days of the feast” after which Samson could take it no more. The scriptures tell us that he “finally told her” on the seventh day and immediately, she then ran and told the answer to the Philistine companions who had threatened her.

And so armed with the answer, the Philistine companions went to Samson “before sunset on the seventh day” and told him what they knew. This led Samson to immediately knowing that he had been betrayed for how else would they have known the answer except by his wife…the only one he had told. We see where Samson chastised the men before going to the Philistine town of Ashkelon and striking “down thirty of their men”. He “stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle”. Ultimately, the Philistine men’s win came at the expense of thirty of their own who lost their lives.

Well, after paying off the bet, we read where Samson was “burning with anger” and “went up to his father's house”, abandoning his wife who had deceived him. And while this anger raged against her, it was more grounded in the fact that he hadn’t gotten his own way for once. Think of it as an adult temper tantrum.

We see the chapter ending with Samson’s wife being “given to (a) friend who had attended him at his wedding” since he had left her with no indication that he would ever return. We’ll see where this leads to more problems when we move into Chapter 15.

You know, I think we see a flaw in Samson that many of us have shown ourselves at one time or another. For too often want to have everything our way and this comes at the expense of submitting to the Lord’s will and way for our lives. We selfishly place our own wants and desires ahead of His and this has contributed to the prevalence of an “I and Me” mindset over the “we and us”.

So how can we combat the urge to make it “all about me” in our lives?

It’s pretty simple. We need to make our lives all about the Lord instead.

For if we center all that we do in thought, word, and deed on what God expects then we will always be led to the right and just ways…the ways that will always be centered on the needs of others over our own…just like Jesus did. For isn’t being Christ-like at the core of being a Christian?

Friends, if we would only selflessly change our daily focus on God over ourselves, we would find a life that is abundant in peace, joy, and contentment. And we can be left to wonder how very differently Samson’s story would have turned out had he not been so set on having his own way in everything. Today and every day, let us vow to learn from his mistakes and commit ourselves to do what the Lord wills, ever seeking to honor and glorify Him with everything we do. If we make our life all about Him and not about us, we can and will do just that.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.