Tag: Samson

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Judges Devotionals

Self-centered? God-centered?

Who has your heart?

As I’ve been reflecting on the life of Samson the past few days, two things stick out to me.

First and foremost, his whole life was self-centered. Even when he did things beneficial to the Israelites, defeating their enemies, it was totally incidental. It wasn’t his desire to deliver his people. It seems his desires were motivated purely by revenge.

Second, his relationship with God was practically non-existent. The only time he interacted with God was to ask him for help.

You never see him building altars. You never see him worshiping. You never see him giving thanks to God for his victories, or for anything else for that matter.

God did use him to bring some measure of relief to the Israelites from the Philistines.

But you never see him leading anyone. The only interaction you see him having with his own people ends with them handing him over to his enemies. (Judges 15:11-13)

He most certainly led no one to follow God.

He, like everyone else at the time, did only what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 14:17; 17:6)

I don’t want to be that way. I want my heart to be God’s, inspiring others to follow him.

How about you?

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Judges Devotionals Psalms Devotionals 2

Living with integrity

Prayer

Every morning, I read the psalms along with my daily Bible readings.

By chance, Psalm 26 was my psalm for the day. And I couldn’t help but notice the difference between King David’s attitude and Samson’s in Judges 14.

Imagine how different Samson’s life would have been had he prayed and lived David’s words.

Vindicate me, LORD,
because I have lived with integrity
and have trusted in the LORD without wavering.

Test me, LORD, and try me;
examine my heart and mind.

For your faithful love guides me,
and I live by your truth.

I do not sit with the worthless
or associate with hypocrites.
I hate a crowd of evildoers,
and I do not sit with the wicked.

I wash my hands in innocence
and go around your altar, LORD,
raising my voice in thanksgiving
and telling about your wondrous works. (Psalm 26:1-7)

I want to pray and live David’s words.

How about you?

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Judges Devotionals

Our true light

True light

…you will conceive and give birth to a son..and he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines. (Judges 13:5)

Samson’s name meant “little sun.” But he was only a dim reflection of the Light that was to come.

Samson began to save his people, but because of his many flaws, he never truly completed the job.

Israel’s true light was yet to come. (John 1:9)

But 2000 years ago, another angel appeared to a man named Joseph and said,

[Mary] will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21)

That’s what I’m thanking God for today. Our Light has come!

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD shines over you. (Isaiah 60:1)

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Judges Devotionals

Who does our heart belong to?

Judges

“How can you say, ‘I love you,’ ” she told him, “when your heart is not with me?” (Judges 16:15)

Lots of irony in those words since Delilah’s heart was clearly not with Samson. Whatever love she may have had for him was clearly diluted by her love for money.

The same could be said for Samson’s love for Delilah, and for that matter, God.

And ultimately, that was Samson’s biggest problem: his diluted love for God. His heart never truly belonged to God.

I’d like to think he truly repented at the end. Did he? I don’t know. It seems that revenge was still at the top of his mind rather than the welfare of Israel.

He “judged” Israel. But he never truly cared for the sheep God had raised him up to care for. And I think his people sensed that. They certainly didn’t consider him someone they wanted to follow. (Judges 15:11-12)

How about us? Do our hearts truly belong to God? And do we truly love the people God has placed into our lives? (Matthew 22:36-40)

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Judges Devotionals

Losing that which we cannot possibly keep

Judges

A missionary named Jim Elliot once wrote, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

Sadly, Samson was a man who gave up what God had intended for him to gain what he couldn’t possibly keep.

Samson was a Nazirite, a person dedicated to God, and in Samson’s case, for life. With that came God’s blessing and leading. (Judges 13:23-24)

But in this passage, he sought a woman forbidden by the law of Moses.

God used Samson’s action to accomplish His own purposes and begin saving His people from the Philistines. But at the end of the day, Samson gained nothing, losing the woman he had sought.

How often, I wonder, does God accomplish his goals through me, and yet I gain nothing because my heart is wrong before him.

Instead of seeking Him and His kingdom, I seek what I cannot keep, whether it’s the things of this world, the praise of people, the pride of life, or whatever it may be?

Lord, let me be as Jim Elliot, not Samson. Let me give up what I cannot keep, to gain what I cannot lose.

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Judges Devotionals

Imperfect savior. Perfect Savior

Judges

As I read the story of Samson at Christmas time, I can’t help but notice the similarities in the announcements of Samson’s birth, and Jesus’.

You will conceive and give birth to a son…he will begin to save Israel from the power of the Philistines. (Judges 13:3, 5)

You will conceive and give birth to as son, and you will name him Jesus. (Luke 1:31)

She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:21)

There are two huge differences, of course, between Jesus and Samson.

First, the scope of the salvation they were to bring. Samson saved the Israelites from the Philistines, while Jesus saved us from our sins.

More importantly, as you look at his life, you find that Samson was a very flawed savior. Jesus, on the other hand, was a perfect Savior.

But one more point: the word “angel” in the Bible, simply means “messenger.” And it seems very likely that the messenger that came to Manoah and his wife was actually Jesus.

Notice the exchange between Manoah and this messenger.

“What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?”

“Why do ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” (Judges 13:17-18, ESV)

And after the messenger ascended into heaven, Manoah recognized, “we have seen God!” (22)

Years later, the prophet Isaiah would say these words,

For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,
and the government will be on his shoulders,

He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6）

Let us worship God today for our wonderful, perfect Savior.

Categories
Judges Devotionals

Where’s the love?

Judges

As I read the story of Samson, several things strike me.

Unlike the other times in the books of Judges, the people weren’t crying out to God for help from the Philistines. There was no sign of repentance at all on their part.

Instead, it seems they were either content, or at the very least, resigned to being under the Philistines’ thumbs. (Judges 15:11).

Samson, while definitely not happy with the Philistines, shared many of the same characteristics of his people.

1. He did what was right in his own eyes (14:3, 14:7).

2. He prostituted himself spiritually by involving himself with idol worshipers. (14:1-3, 16:1, 16:4).

3. And he broke his vows of being holy or separated for God. (See Numbers 6, and then compare it to Samson’s actions in these chapters).

But the most striking thing was two women, who should have had no claim on Samson’s life at all, basically asking him the same question: “Where’s the love? Can you truly say that you love me?” (14:16, 16:15).

How often can the One who has all the claim on us in the world say the same thing to us?

We hold things back from him. We prostitute ourselves to our sin and lusts. And we’re content to live that way. Or we say, “Well, that’s just the way things are. It’s who I am.”

Can you imagine your husband or wife, hiding things from you, cheating on you, and when you confront them, saying to you, “It’s just the way things are. It’s who I am”?

He is our God, and we rightfully belong to him.

Therefore, come out from among them
and be separate, says the Lord;
do not touch any unclean thing,
and I will welcome you.

And I will be a Father to you,
and you will be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)

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Hebrews

When we trust God

Hebrews

Have you ever noticed the people that the writer of Hebrews mentions as “paragons” of faith in verse 32? Most of them were hardly paragons.

Samuel, though he was a great judge and prophet, failed greatly when it came to raising his sons.

And while David was the greatest king in Israel’s history, he stumbled badly twice, once in his sin with Bathsheba, and once in counting his fighting men out of his pride.

Yet at least for the most part, these were good and faithful men.

The rest?

Most people when they think about Gideon only think about his triumph over the Midianites. But after that, his actions were hardly stellar.

He took vengeance on two cities that refused to help him in his fight against the Midianites.

Then, although he refused kingship, he nevertheless started to act like one taking multiple wives, and even naming his son Abimelech which means, “My father is king.”

More, he made a golden ephod which was usually a garment that priests used for consulting God. So it almost looks like he was trying to take on that duty as well.

Worse, the people started to worship that ephod and it became a snare to him and his family.

Barak? He refused to go to war against Israel’s oppressors unless Deborah the prophetess went with him.

Samson? Sure he brought a measure of deliverance to the Israelites from the Philistines. But he broke all his Nazirite vows in the process, drinking wine, touching dead carcasses, and allowing his hair to be cut.

More, he was sexually immoral and vindictive. The fact that he delivered the Israelites seemed more incidental than intentional on his part.

Jephthah? By a foolish vow he made, he either unintentionally was forced to put his daughter into the service of the Lord, never to marry or have children, or he actually sacrificed his daughter on an altar, completely contrary to the commands of God.

Why in the world, are these latter 4 mentioned as paragons of faith?

Maybe for the simple reason that they are not paragons.

They were ordinary sinners just like us. They did many awful things. But when they actually did put their trust in God, they did awesome things.

What can we learn from them? God can use you to do great things if you’ll just trust in him day to day.

But when you fail to do so, you are also capable of doing horrific things.

How people will look at you at the end of your life will greatly depend on how you live.

Will you consistently, day in and day out, put your trust in God? Then people will look at you as they do with Daniel and his friends. As men that shut the mouths of lions and quenched the fury of the flames.

But if you are one day trusting him, and one day living for yourself, you’ll find yourself with the legacy of a Samson or Gideon. People who accomplished great things when trusting God but making an utter of mess of things when they didn’t.

Which will you choose?