Day Sixteen: Samson – Flawed Instrument
Today’s Reading: Hebrews 11:32; Judges 13:24-16:31
Introduction: Samson is the most enigmatic of all of Israel’s judges. He had a unique calling from God to be an instrument of God’s judgment and he fulfilled that calling with reckless abandon. His birth was announced to his parents by the Angel of the Lord Himself. He was a Nazirite from birth by the Lord’s calling. His parents were faithful Israelites who sought to be obedient to the Lord. Yet, their son Samson was willful and reckless. He persisted in seeking out relationships with women that brought him great pain and his parents great distress. In spite of all of this, he was still the Lord’s chosen instrument to punish the Philistines for their oppression of God’s people (Judges 13:5; 14:1-4). No doubt, the Philistines deserved the judgment of God. We’re even told at one point that they burned Samson’s wife and her father to death (Judges 15:6). Samson meted out God’s judgment with the same destructive fervor with which he lived his life. Eventually, though, Samson’s willfulness caught up to him. He was captured and blinded by Israel’s Philistine overlords. At the end of his life, he cried out to the Lord to let him deliver one final act of death and destruction on the Philistines. God granted this request, and the text tells us that those that Samson killed in his death “were more than those whom he killed in his life” (Judges 16:30).
Application: For better and for worse, Samson teaches us some important realities about fulfilling our own calling from God. For one thing, while we expect better of Samson in his personal life, and should seek to be better people ourselves, Samson’s story assures us that we don’t have to be perfect to accomplish what God calls us to do. Second, and crucially, there is a right way and a wrong way to fulfill God’s calling. Perhaps the moment called for a man with little regard for his own personal welfare. God certainly found such a man in Samson and gave him a task suited to his personality. Surprisingly, the Bible never explicitly condemns Samson for his shameful behavior. It doesn’t have to. His willful behavior speaks for itself. The biblical text doesn’t excuse the way Samson lived, nor will God excuse us if we persist in ungodly behavior. The Bible calls on us to pursue holiness in our personal lives. In the end, after he had spent his life, Samson finally called on God to help him rain down one final punishment on the Philistines. We would wish that Samson had begun his life calling on God. Had he been more concerned about God as a young man, we probably would have more respect for the man in addition to our awe of his achievements. We, too, should seek to behave like the people of God while we do the work of God.
Prayer: Dear Lord, I know You have assigned a service to me in Your Kingdom, and You have uniquely gifted me for it. Thank You. Help me fulfill my calling and to do it in such a way that I honor You as much by how I live my life as by how I accomplish what You have given me to do. Amen.