April 2024 – Deeperlook

WELCOMING ADDRESS

Hello and welcome here.

Again

This is the third part and we explore futher on the major themes the character of Samson shows us.

Let’s ride in…

CANON BALL

Some time had passed and Samson decided to visit his bride. His plan was to spend time intimately with her since he had left in anger the previous time.

When he arrived and requested for his wife, her father told him that she was now someone else’s wife and it was no other person than the man that had been his bestman. Instead her father offered her younger sister and this infuriated Samson.

He caught three hundred foxes and tied their tails before torching it with fire and setting them loose into the plantations of the Philistines.

When they realised the damage that had been done and connected the dots to Samson’s ex father-in-law, they retaliated by killing the man and his daughter. Then they searched for Samson to also kill him.

Samson had begun his journey back home when he met his people who told him that he was being looked for. Samson agreed to surrender as long as they did not hurt him themselves.

However, when he was confronted by the aggravated Philistines, he had an unexplainable rush of might come on him and using the jawbone of a donkey, he killed about a thousand men.

He was thirsty and tired by the time the fight wss over and he cried out in desperation “God will you allow me to do after this great victory?”

God then created water from the ground around Samson from which he drank from.

He named the place Enhakkore.

He judged Israel for 20 years.

(Story culled from Judges 15. Read chapter for more context).

FIREBALL AND THE JAWBONE

At this point, Samson could be termed as the man with unbridled passion. He had strength but it was not under control.

Power should come with control.

God is God because only He can control the power He holds and that is where His character of being just comes in.

Samson was oblivious. He was a passionate man but lacked wisdom to guide his passion. The wife he had left had been given out and in his passionate fury he turned on the same people who had insisted on coats.

Passion without wisdom will yield haphazard results

He had not thought of the consequences of his actions and this led to the demise of the woman he had wanted to marry.

Another interesting thing to note is that despite being a leader of his people, yet they could not identify or associate with the display of strength he showed. Samson was unable to connect with his people in a way that could direct their focus on the source of his strength.

Using the bone of a dead animal under the supernatural strenght endowed from God, he prevailed over a thousand men.

With God, we will always have victory.

Sometimes, like Samson we are able to trust God for big things but not for simple things. If God was able to deliver Samson with a jaw bone then was it water he could not provide?

Sometimes, what kills our faith in God are the seemingly small things

Samson was a superficial man with a great gift. He knew the purpose of his gift but it was mainly directed towards his personal goals.

Our depth with God will always depend on our ability to take responsibility.

We should take responsibility for the position, and gift God gives us. Only then can we maximize them.

God will do His part, will you do yours?

SUMMARY

LIFE APPLICATION

Knowing what to do with our lives is a big question that we are faced with answering because it determines the decisions we take and affects our life long path.

Purpose is discovered daily but what we do with these discoveries matter more than knowing them.

Abuse is inevitable if we do not understand a purpose of a thing.