samson

Relentless Day 13 Relentless Chase

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Relentless Day 13 Relentless Chase

Audra Darville

September 25, 2019

Faithfulness,Gift,God,Humility,Love,Pursue,Relentless,Strength,Wisdom

Read His Words Before Ours!

Judges 13-16
1 John 1:5-10
Jeremiah 1:4-10 (ESV)


 

When I think of God’s relentless pursuit of His people there are so many stories that come to mind. The story of Samson wasn’t one of them until recently.

About a year ago in Bible study, we were talking about Samson’s story. We noted how his life was unique in the sense that he was so very clearly called by God yet he chose to live in ways that were directly opposing to that call. We even said wow, we never want to be like Samson! But by the end of the conversation someone said, “aren’t we all like Samson?”. Truthfully, none of us could say no.

We blatantly disobey God’s word.
We make His call on our lives about us.
We flirt with the enemy.
We allow the enemy to capture and blind us.

Every single person has acted, will act, or does act just like Samson.
The good part about Samson’s story, and ours, is how God’s love brilliantly colors the mess of lives.

From the womb, God’s love was on full display in Samson’s life.
“Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’” Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.”

 In Judges 13:6-8, God had set Samson apart before he was even in his mother’s womb.
Likewise, in Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV) it says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” 

God also sent His power upon Samson, even in the midst of his disobedience regarding God’s laws. (Judges 14:19, Judges 15:14)

 Samson disobedience and disrespect for God permeated his life….
He touched a corpse, slept with a prostitute, pursued a woman that wasn’t a Nazarite, and told her the secret source of his strength.
Samson’s sins were many, but his biggest mistakes that eventually lead to his downfall, were in his heart.

Samson took for granted his gift of strength while also taking his life into his own hands; he felt his own ways and wisdom were better than God’s.
He knew what God said,
he knew God had an intentioned, set apart purpose for his life,
but he wanted creative control on how those plans came about.
He dethroned God and enthroned himself.

Here’s the reality, we all do that.
We ask God to follow us, instead of us following Him.
We invert the gospel, asking God bless our plans, desires, and will.
In reality, the gospel is us our full surrender to the Lordship of God.

What would it take for us to realize our lives are not our own and the
best and safest place to be is under the lordship of the triune God?
For Samson, it took the destruction of his life….
He was captured by the enemy, beaten, and abused. Samson hit rock bottom before he finally looked up and surrendered total control, giving God lordship over his life.

For the first time in his life, Samson asks God to fill him with the strength God gave to him so long ago, after it had been taken from him. (Judges 16:28)
He finally recognized it was not his strength but God’s strength through him.

Samson’s humble surrender, opened the door for God to do what He always does.
He showed off His character of tender love and grace.
He is faithful and just to forgive our sins,
no matter how bad they may seem.
(1 John 1:9)

Samson’s life reminds me so much of my own.
No matter how far I take my life into my own hands, He is faithful to work on my behalf, faithfully continuing to relentlessly chase my heart.
He shows up even when I’m trying to act out of my own strength,
but at the end of the day His heart is for me to turn and make the humble ask for Him to work through me.

His heart for people is that we would dethroned ourselves and enthrone Him in every aspect of our everyday lives. Our call is total surrender to His lordship as we trust His plans, desires, and will for our lives over our own.

Stop chasing yourself, Sister, and let His chase catch you!

Tags :
chase,disobedience,full display,full surrender,heart,samson,set apart
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Sketched IV Day 6 Samson

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Judges 13:1-5
Numbers 6:1-8
Judges 16:1-31
Jeremiah 9:23-24
2 Corinthians 12:2-10

Sketched IV, Day 6

As I am led out into the temple, the noise of the crowd is overwhelming. It sounds like there are thousands of them there, mocking and jeering as I approach.

Though I am unable to see, as my eyes were gouged out by my enemy’s jealous, fearful hands, my ears work perfectly. Their drunken shouts assault my senses, and I can easily imagine their scornful faces.
To them I am a joke, an object of ridicule.

As they praise their god for giving them victory over me, I rest my hands against the temple pillars, and I wonder:
How did it come to this?

I had such a promising start…
I was marked out even from before my birth as someone special, dedicated to God as a Nazirite. My name, Samson, means “like the sun,” and my future looked bright.

Of course, the Nazirite vow meant restrictions, but this was a high calling as judge and deliverer. I would be the one to finally begin freeing my people, the Israelites, from the Philistines, our relentless oppressors for 40 years.

Then there was the gift of my strength, which was beyond anything people had seen before.  When a lion attacked me, I was able to rip its jaws apart with my bare hands.  I fought off the Philistines barehanded on several occasions.  When they attempted to ambush me at Gaza, I simply picked up the city gates and carried them away.

Outwardly I was strong, invincible even,
but inwardly I was weak.

I failed to keep my Nazirite vow by eating honey from a lion’s carcass, rendering myself unclean.  My pride and stubbornness over a foolish riddle led to the deaths of several people, including my new wife.  At times my anger was out of control; a fiery rage ready to devour anyone or anything that crossed my path.

On top of that, I couldn’t resist a beautiful woman, no matter how unsuitable she was or how many vows I broke in the process. The Philistine woman I insisted on marrying despite my parents’ protests, the prostitute I spent the night with…

…And then there was Delilah.
Beautiful, charming, intoxicating, and highly dangerous.

I should have realised the truth about her when she was so insistent on discovering the secret of my strength, but again, as was my habit, I gave in to my weakness. My self-reliance.

Three times I lied to her about how I could be defeated.  Tying me up with seven new bowstrings would do it, or using new ropes, or weaving my hair into the fabric on her weaving loom and tightening the shuttle. She wanted my secret, no, she wanted my allegiance, but I had vowed it to Yahweh. I flirted with telling her, but I always felt I could stop when I wanted to.

Three times Delilah betrayed me, trapping me and then calling the Philistines to attack, but it didn’t matter. I had the strength to fight them off. Something in me still protected my Nazarite vow.

Delilah was determined.  I’m not sure why I finally told her the truth.  She said that if I really loved her I would share my secret, and eventually her constant nagging wore me down.  I think by this point I believed I was invincible, that my strength would always be enough, but that was the beginning of the end.
My weakness…
it never left, eventually it overtook me and I gave in, only to lose everything.

I confided in Delilah that if my hair were ever cut, I would become as weak as any other man. Before long, my head was shaved as I slept in her lap; the pounding of the Philistines’ awakened me.
Arrogantly, I believed I could free myself just as I always had,
but this time my strength had gone. 

The Philistines chained me up, gouged out my eyes, and forced me to work as a slave, grinding grain.  It was a great triumph for them: victory over the mighty Israelite hero.

But as I stand here, blinded,
for the first time I truly see.

My strength was never my own.
It came from God.

How foolish I was to think my victories were due to my own merit.  I remember my words to God after one of the battles against the Philistines and I cringe:
“You have accomplished this great victory through your servant.”  (Judges 15:18)

How arrogant!
As if He needed me!

Yet, despite it all, He was gracious, continuing to give me strength and empowering me to defeat the Philistines again and again.

At last I see the truth: I am weak; He is strong.
My only power comes from Him.
True strength is found in submission to His ways.

Could it be that God can still fulfil His purpose even in our weaknesses and failures?  Could He use me to defeat the Philistines even now, in this weakened state?

With a prayer for strength, I push against the pillars,
and as I feel them move I know that God has answered.

Arms outstretched, I stand, as the rubble begins to fall, and the temple comes crashing in. I knew death was waiting for me, along with the countless deaths of my enemies drinking to their false god.
But I would die knowing truth: it was my weakness Yahweh wanted most. My weakness as I depended on Him alone!

You can read Samson’s full story in Judges 13-16.  Although he had many faults, he is included in Hebrews 11:32 in a list of examples of people who had faith and were used by God.  His story is a proof that God can work through us, even with our weaknesses and failures, but it also challenges us to remember the futility of self-reliance while holding tight to the importance of trusting in God rather than ourselves.

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In this series, we are stepping into the shoes of various characters throughout history. Some are biblical, some are well-known in modern day times, and some are people our writers know personally. We do our best to research the culture and times surrounding these individuals to give an accurate representation of their first-person perspectives on life and the world, but we can’t be 100% accurate. “Sketched” is our best interpretation of how these characters view(ed) God, themselves, and the world around them. Our hope is that by stepping into their everyday, we will see our own lives a little differently!
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