Today's Favorite Verse: Judges 14:4, 19

Today's Favorite Verse: Judges 14:4, 19
But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house."

The story of Samson is very interesting. As a child I thought of him with his great physical strength as a powerful bible story. Reading his story this time I find it all rather sad. The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and were handed over to the Philistines for forty years. Now it was time for the Lord to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines, and he did so with Samson.  He gave Samson great potential including physical strength if he was obedient to one thing, not cutting his hair.

Throughout this chapter I see how Samson made choices because it pleased him, not because they were right or the spirit told him. The only time the spirit came upon him was to make him physically strong. He appears to be lead by his temptations. I am sure the Lord knew all about what Samson would do in these different situations. That is exactly why he would be a means to punish the Philistines. It made me wonder what a leader Samson could have been if he had put all his strength into serving the Lord, and doing good. Samson never lost his agency to choose. I just think he chose poorly. Yet, I can likely this to leaders that we have in our time. The Lord has them in place for a purpose. Just because someone has been put there as our leader doesn't mean it is necessarily to do good. They may be a means to punish the people that have forgotten the Lord.


Day 800