LESSON 23

9/9/04

THEME SCRIPTURE: Judges.16: 17, Judges. 16: 28

YOU’RE THOUGHTS: What does the term mercy mean to you?

What does the term forgiveness mean to you?

What does it mean to be in the will of God?

MY THOUGHTS: In this lesson I would like to discuss with you a story that I'm sure is very familiar to a lot of people, especially the young ones. This story is written in the book of Judges and if you did some reading, you would guess that it was the story of Samson and Delilah. I must confess, this story was easy to research because it was our topic at our churches Vacation Bible School. My wife was the lovely but deceiving Delilah. Me, I was a klutz. My belt kept on falling off during the skit. In the process of fighting the Philistines I lost my long straggly looking hair and in order to keep the story authentic I had to be weak until I got my hair back on. How embarrassing. Although, I'm proud to say there was one time being a klutz was to my favor. This is when Delilah cut my hair and dragged me to the entrance of a hallway which was supposed to be the prison and I bumped my head on a low over hang. The pain went away when I heard the kids laughing but it came back when I saw the amused look on my wife’s face. She loved it.
           What do we know about Samson? In Judges Chapter 13, we are told that Samson’s mother was approached by an angel with a message from God, that even though she is barren and has no children she is to give birth to a son. This son will be born as a Nazi rite. Nasserites are known for their vows that were made to God. They were not to cut their hair and that they were to stay away from wine or strong drinks. Samson’s mother was to make this promise during the time that she carried him in her womb. Then Samson continued on trying to keep that vow throughout his life. We also are told that Samson was a very strong man physically and his strength was because of his long hair .The reason for his strength was that God promised his parents that their son was to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. Then there is the series of passages where Samson is being deceived by his wife Delilah.
            I can go on and on in summarizing this story and probably bore you. I'll let you read it for yourself. I would like to share at least two lessons that I learned from this story and I know Samson without a doubt learned them too. The first lesson is keeping your heart in the right place. What do I mean by that? I'll try to help you understand by asking you some questions and together we will answer them. Where was Samson’s heart before he got involved with Delilah? I believe that Samson was raised to respect God, to know his calling and that God would bless him if he stayed focused on that calling. I believe his heart was sincere because his actions, even though they were harsh at times, were with in Gods will. Where was Samson’s heart during the time that he was married to Delilah? At first he was sincere to God by not reveling the secret of the source of his strength by giving in to Delilah’s constant taunting. Then he made a big mistake. He started losing his focus on God and started focusing on Delilah’s charm. He started toying with Delilah, which I believe is what started clouding his mind so that he wasn't able to see the trickery or deceptions that Delilah was presenting to him. So his heart was directed toward Delilah instead of God and that led him to confessing his secret to Delilah. After his hair was cut and he was in prison for a period of time, where do you think his heart was then? That’s right, back to God. We know that because his hair started growing again and he had plenty of time to see his sins, so he can confess them to God. Samson repented in prison alone with God, and then when he was put between the columns he repented to God in public and asks God to give him one more chance to fulfill his calling. I believe that confirms, to me at least that his heart was in the right place.
           The second and last lesson in this study is Gods' forgiveness toward us even when we mess up. God did not have to allow the symbol of his strength, which was his hair to grow back and give him that strength he needed to destroy Israel’s enemy, the Philistines. He could have let Samson die in his sorrows but no, he gave Samson another chance and Samson changed his heart and died fulfilled. Samson’s body was destroyed with the Philistines, but His soul is happy and content with God.

In conclusion I would like to encourage you to keep your heart right with our Lord and Savior, remain steadfast to the end when your heart stops and you will see that your soul will soar victoriously into our Gods' loving arms. That in itself is the great reward that God promised us and we need to strive for it. That’s what life’s about. May God bless you, richly. Amen.

Scripture Ref. Judges.13-16, Ps.24:8, Jer.50:34, Joel.3:10, Rom.4:20, Is.40:31

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