Posted on 02/15/2011 2:29:48 PM PST by wmfights
The greater the potential for success, the greater the possibility of failure. The higher our expectations, the farther we can fall.
No one was born with greater potential than Samson, whose birth is recorded in the book of Judges. Here is a man who had it all and lost it all. But it is because he had so much that his loss was so great.
He was a great man who spent most of his life seeking after small things. He squandered incredible opportunities.
He was a man of contradictions: he had incredible physical strength, but a weakness for women.
He was a man who had the Holy Spirit but was fascinated with trivial things. He amused himself with riddles and tricks. A great muscle, but a little mind. A man of God who lacked common sense. He was a gigantic child.
What made Samson a candidate for success? What made him such a mystery; such an enigma?
The Israelites again “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” But this time they did not even cry to God for a deliverer. They were content to be influenced by paganism through commerce and intermarriage. We learn only one thing from history and that is that people do not learn from history!
God sovereignly chose to intervene even though the Israelites did not cry to God. There was no national revival; Samson always acted alone. There was no one else there with him. Because there was no national repentance there was no national deliverance. Samson was a one man show.
We can’t help but be impressed with the opportunities he had. God chose an ordinary family to bear an extraordinary child to become an extraordinary deliverer.
Two features make his birth exceptional. First, he would be born to a couple who previously had had no children. Ever since Genesis 3:15, the promise of a deliverer was associated with the “seed of the woman” that is, childbearing. So to not have a child was considered a curse of God. God never said that, but that’s the way couples felt if they were childless. Now an angel appears to this couple to say that they would bear a special child.
To grasp just how privileged Samson was, consider the fact that only three other times in all the Bible did an angel announce a birth. Sarah was told she would bear a child in her old age and Isaac was born. An angel told Elizabeth that she would bear a child and John the Baptist was born. And, of course, we know the story of Mary who was visited by Gabriel with a message that she would bear a special son. Samson is in great company! Heaven is taking note!
In fact, this was not an angel of the Lord, but rather the angel of the Lord, that is a manifestation of Christ. The angel reappears and Manoah invites him to eat with them, but He refuses. When He is asked his name, the angel says, it is “Wonderful,” that is, “Beyond Understanding.” Yes, His name is “The Wonderful Counselor,” beyond understanding! Manoah then offered a sacrifice to God, and while the flame is burning, the angel disappears. Manoah and his wife now know that they have “seen God.” Obviously, Samson was destined for greatness.
Samson also had a privileged career. He was to be a Nazarite. That word comes from the Hebrew word Nazir which means “to set apart.” A Nazarite was someone who took a vow to be set apart by God for special service. From Numbers chapter 6 we learn that this vow (1) was voluntary. It was a vow motivated by love and faith. A man or woman could take it for six months, a year or longer. It was to help someone devote himself completely to the Lord.
Also, (2) the person was to abstain from anything that was alcoholic; there was to be nothing in his mouth that was of the fruit of the vine. Nothing was wrong with wine in itself, but it was a symbol of the good life and God wanted this person to live simply and find his joy in God.
Finally, (3) the Nazarite was not to touch a dead body. God wanted to teach Israel that death was the result of sin. So even the priests were not to defile themselves by touching a dead body. So also the Nazarite.
Now if your neighbor took the vow you would want to know about it. You would want to spare yourself the embarrassment of offering him a glass of wine when he came for a visit. So the outward symbol of this vow was that the person would let his hair grow long.
In the case of Samson, his vow was not voluntary. His mother took the vow and Samson was to be a Nazarite from when he was born until he died. This is not what Samson chose; God made that choice for him. He was chosen from before birth to do great things.
Along with all of this came a special anointing of the Spirit. We read, “Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Nahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol” (Judges 13:24,25).
Single handedly, Samson now began his exploits. He will kill the Philistines by the hundreds, walk off with the gates of their city and burn their fields by catching 300 foxes and putting their tales on fire and sending them through the barley fields of the Philistines.
What are the great lessons to be learned so far? First, God prepared a leader by preparing the parents.
How many parents would be ready to handle this revelation from an angel and be willing to follow instructions without complaining?
Manoah knew that his wife was a partner in the process and they would learn from the Lord together. When his wife told him about the angel, he (Manoah) now prays that the angel will reappear to give them wisdom regarding this child. He says, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom Thou hast sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born” (13:8). He saw that rearing this child was a sacred responsibility for both of them. “Teach us” he says.
God can give us wisdom for all of the tasks of life. Commit your next step to Him and He will guide you.
Why was the mother asked to also take the Nazarite vow? God knew that Samson needed to have an example of commitment. If he saw his mother drinking wine, it would have been much easier to rationalize his own lifestyle. God knew that the influence of the mother during those formative years would be greater than that of the father.
I can’t prove it, but I think he also took this voluntary vow. He appears to be a very dedicated and committed man.
God’s dreams for our children are often shaped by our dreams for them. The most powerful motivation for Christian living is still the Christian home. It is the example of mother and father that will be lasting and life changing.
Some of you parents are being shaped by God right now because your children have a special calling from God. When God wanted to prepare the Wesley brothers to bring revival to 18th century England, he gave them Suzannah Wesley, a godly woman who, though she had 19 children, gave each of them religious instruction each week.
Almost always God prepares the parents to shape the life of the leader. I must qualify this, however, with a second lesson: The commitment of the parents is often greater than the commitment of the children. Godly parents do not always produce godly children. Samson had weaknesses his parents did not have. He was a mighty deliverer. Even in death he killed a thousand Philistines. But his life was marred by a weakness for beautiful women and a fascination with trivia.
That’s why I’ve titled this series: Samson: A Great Man Who Pursued Small Things. I don’t think that his failures were a fault of his parents. Parents are responsible to shape their children to grow up to love God, but when the children are grown they just might to choose to walk in a different direction.
Some parents have endured endless false guilt about their children, tracing each of the child’s failures to their own failures. But there is not a one-for-one correspondence. Godly parents sometimes produce ungodly children. And sometimes (though not often) the reverse is also true: godly children have sometimes grown up in some rather ungodly homes.
Finally, and most important, it’s not how you begin but how you end that really matters. Samson had a great beginning, but ended badly. You might have a bad beginning, but have the potential to end well. Samson took his chances, rolled the dice and, at least for a time, lost it all. He blew the whole thing! He went from position of privilege to prison. He went from killing Philistines to serving them. He went from sight to blindness.
What was Samson’s name? It means, “Little Sun.” Perhaps it was a nickname, “Sunny.” When the sun arises, a new day has dawned. But it was a day with plenty of clouds.
Samson reminds us of another deliverer. Christ is the “Sunrise from on high”, “To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death. To guide our feet in the way of peace” (Luke 1:78,79).
Christ can do what Samson could not. He is the deliverer, the one who can cause us to be brought from darkness into light.
Some parents have endured endless false guilt about their children, tracing each of the child’s failures to their own failures. But there is not a one-for-one correspondence. Godly parents sometimes produce ungodly children. And sometimes (though not often) the reverse is also true: godly children have sometimes grown up in some rather ungodly homes.
He pursued a strange woman who sold him out.
Some dude named Solomon also wound up in similar trouble.
it took me awhile to realize that God can even use broken utensils.
The glory should be to God, not the mere utensil.
What? Samson "dedicated" and "committed"? He must be reading a different book of Judges than I do. The Samson in my bible is self centered, violates all of God's precepts, and contiues to trust a woman he caught three times trying to have him murdered. He was "committed" and "dedicated" to his own lusts. The only noble thing he did was the manner he chose to die.
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