Judges 13:24-25 "And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. (25) And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol."
It behoves us to include Samson in our list of the judges of Israel. As I begin this writing, I'm reminded of the words of Balaam when he was asked to place a curse on the nation of Israel. "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!" (Numbers 23:10) Samson went through many trials and temptations, but he wanted his death to be "the death of the righteous." When I think of Samson, I think of the words of someone concerning the effects of sin. I'm sorry, but I don't know who to give credit for these words. "Sin will take you farther than you wanted to go. It will keep you longer than you wanted to stay. And it will cost you more than you wanted to pay." These words surely apply to Samson.
Our text today tells us that "the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at
times." This tells me that God was going to use Samson in a very
particular way in order to defeat the Philistines. But Samson had a weakness.
We read in Judges 14:1, "And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman
in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines." He wanted to marry this
woman even though his parents tried their best to dissuade him from doing so.
He did marry her but it caused great distress in his life. I won't go into all
the details, but Samson had a weakness for women which eventually led to his
own destruction. The Philistines took Samson hostage and blinded him. Even
though he had this weakness, we read throughout his lifetime that "... the
Spirit of the LORD came upon him." Though we might say that God had every
right to do so, He never took His hands off Samson.
This is where I think of the words of Balaam, "Let me die the death of the
righteous, and let my last end be like his!" The Philistines began to
boast about taking Samson captive: "Our god hath delivered Samson our
enemy into our hand." They began to give credit to Dagon, their god.
Samson was blind, but he desired to do that which he had been called to do:
Defeat the enemy! Though he had done things contrary to the Lord, he did
remember that his strength came from God. Samson cried out when he was tied
between the pillars of their temple, "O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray
thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at
once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes." He pulled the pillar
down and "So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which
he slew in his life." My concluding thoughts are this: How much more could
Samson have done if he had remained faithful to God in all his lifetime? I'm
asking myself the question: "How many times have I squandered
opportunities to serve the Lord?"
1 Time is filled with swift transition, naught of earth unmoved can stand;
Build your hopes on things eternal, hold to God’s unchanging hand!
Refrain:
Hold to God’s unchanging hand!
Hold to God’s unchanging hand!
Build your hopes on things eternal,
hold to God’s unchanging hand!
2 Trust in Him who will not leave you, whatsoever years may bring;
If by earthly friends forsaken, still more closely to Him cling. [Refrain]