The Powerful Pull of the World
I wish Samson's story got better at some point but it keeps descending into a morose.
Judges 15:16–20 (ESV) And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. 18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
This passage is perhaps the most revealing of Samson's character than any other. He has just finished killing 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass when he celebrates his triumph in poetry and then tosses the jawbone aside. In the next moment he cries out to God with a good measure of irritation! "You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"
Right here we see it. Samson truly believes what he has become is what God wants. Nothing could be further from the truth. Remember the words of the angel to his mother before his conception:
Judges 13:5 (ESV) behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
Let's recap: Instead of taking his Nazirite vows seriously, he has hung out at the vineyards of Timnah, sought to marry a foreigner and touched the carcass of a dead lion. Instead of leading Israel, he's fighting his own foolish battles that arise out of his sensual lusts. Instead of saving Israel, he's only seeking retribution for the disrespect he experienced from the Philistines.
Yet in spite of all the evidence, Samson really believes all he's doing is God's work. "You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant" His blindness is settling in.
It's a scary place to be. Samson is at that place where you're so consumed with your personal hangups and goals you've completely forgotten what you were made for. Did this happen overnight? We can't say from the text. What we do know is Samson is reflecting back to Israel their current spiritual posture. They have fallen far from being the light to the nations God desired them to be. They have intermarried with the foreigners and given up their calling for compromised living with those who have no heart for God.
Sadly today, many Christians will find themselves in this exact place. The worst part is, they may think they are doing God's work when they are only living out a fraction of what God meant for them. Conflict and anger will result when our lives are turned from the call God placed on us.
The world is attractive and none of us are exempt from it's pull. We can get so inundated with the world that we let it shape us into something other than what God had in mind. If the Israelites were not exempt from this temptation and even Samson, the fore-ordained deliverer, could not withstand it, how could we?
The answer beyond this text is to look to the true fore-ordained deliverer sent by God to a woman messaged by the angel that her Son would save His people from their sins. There's a deeper issue IN us than any issue around us. Sin has its grip and we cannot break free. As strong as Samson was physically, the internal weakness of his heart became his undoing. The same would be true of us. But Samson's failure points to our hope - that in Christ we have victory over the old nature. In Christ we overcome the power of the flesh. In Christ we can grow and develop from the inward place transformed by the Spirit.
It is what Paul had in mind when he wrote:
2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV) And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
In Christ - the pull of the world loses it's power - because our heart has been tethered to One who is greater.
Judges 15:16–20 (ESV) And Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I struck down a thousand men.” 17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. 18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
This passage is perhaps the most revealing of Samson's character than any other. He has just finished killing 1000 Philistines with the jawbone of an ass when he celebrates his triumph in poetry and then tosses the jawbone aside. In the next moment he cries out to God with a good measure of irritation! "You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"
Right here we see it. Samson truly believes what he has become is what God wants. Nothing could be further from the truth. Remember the words of the angel to his mother before his conception:
Judges 13:5 (ESV) behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
Yet in spite of all the evidence, Samson really believes all he's doing is God's work. "You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant" His blindness is settling in.
It's a scary place to be. Samson is at that place where you're so consumed with your personal hangups and goals you've completely forgotten what you were made for. Did this happen overnight? We can't say from the text. What we do know is Samson is reflecting back to Israel their current spiritual posture. They have fallen far from being the light to the nations God desired them to be. They have intermarried with the foreigners and given up their calling for compromised living with those who have no heart for God.
Sadly today, many Christians will find themselves in this exact place. The worst part is, they may think they are doing God's work when they are only living out a fraction of what God meant for them. Conflict and anger will result when our lives are turned from the call God placed on us.
The world is attractive and none of us are exempt from it's pull. We can get so inundated with the world that we let it shape us into something other than what God had in mind. If the Israelites were not exempt from this temptation and even Samson, the fore-ordained deliverer, could not withstand it, how could we?
The answer beyond this text is to look to the true fore-ordained deliverer sent by God to a woman messaged by the angel that her Son would save His people from their sins. There's a deeper issue IN us than any issue around us. Sin has its grip and we cannot break free. As strong as Samson was physically, the internal weakness of his heart became his undoing. The same would be true of us. But Samson's failure points to our hope - that in Christ we have victory over the old nature. In Christ we overcome the power of the flesh. In Christ we can grow and develop from the inward place transformed by the Spirit.
It is what Paul had in mind when he wrote:
2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV) And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
In Christ - the pull of the world loses it's power - because our heart has been tethered to One who is greater.
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