Samson # 2

A lesson in how the purposes of God prevail in our lives despite our failures 

Firstly, let’s be clear in our mind about the purposes of God in our lives 

God’s general purpose for every believer is to, Deuteronomy 6: 5 ‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.’ 

Matthew 22: 37-38  

But in addition to that, God has a specific purpose for every believer, Ephesians 2: 10b ‘which He planned in advance for us to live our lives doing’ 

As Jesus said, John 17: 4 ‘I brought glory to You here on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.’ 

So, what is God’s specific purpose for your life!? 

Now, let’s go back to our Samson narrative 

What was God’s specific purpose for Samson? 

Judges 13: 5b ‘He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.’ 

Like Samson, we can do God’s purpose for our life the easy way and, Ephesians 6: 6b ‘do the will of God with all our heart.’ or we can do it the hard way  

Samson did it the hard way by falling into failure after failure until eventually the Lord left him 

In the beginning, the Lord was with Samson to bless him, Judges 13: 24 ‘When her son was born, she named him Samson. And the Lord blessed him as he grew up.’ But in the end the Lord left him, Judges 16: 20b ‘the Lord had left him.’ 

When I was thinking about the title of this Message Series, I was thinking about calling it ‘How To Do A Really Good Job Of Ruining Your Life’ but as I thought about it more, I thought that would dishonor the Lord Who considered Samson to be a great hero of the Faith, Hebrews 11: 32 ‘I could say even more about other people who trusted God. But there is not enough time to talk about all of them. I could tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and all the prophets.’ ^EASY 

Yes, Samson was listed among the great heroes of Faith; however, it’s important to remember this, it wasn’t Samson that made himself into a great hero of Faith, it was the Lord - Despite Samson’s failures the purposes of God prevailed in his life, and that gives us all great hope doesn’t it!? 

Over his short lifetime Samson accumulated an impressive list of failures: 

1/ Despite Samson’s recklessness the purposes of God prevailed in his life 

To be reckless means to be so careless that it leads to self-destruction - and that certainly describes Samson’s life 

From time to time, we all do things that are reckless and end up harming ourselves 

Illustration: One day I had a really good idea about how to get up onto the roof of our single level home 

I didn’t have a ladder long enough to get onto the roof, so I put the short ladder I had on top of the green wheelie bin, I got on the wheelie bin and started to climb the ladder, but I soon found out that was not a good idea and from that moment I became a true believer in gravity 

From time to time, we all do things like that, but Samson took recklessness to a whole new level  

You will remember from the Introductory Message in this Series I was saying that Samson was a prominent Christ Type whose likeness to Christ was quite remarkable 

One of those likenesses was that Samson was set apart by God to live a holy life 

Manoah’s wife who was Samson’s mother was visited by the Angel of the Lord - an Old Testament appearance of the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ 

Judges 13: 3, 9, 13-18 

(In theological terms this is called a theophany) 

Later the Angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah and when the Angel left, Manoah declared, Judges 13: 22b ‘we have seen God!’ 

The Angel of the Lord told Samson’s mother that her child was to be set apart to God and live a holy life 

Judges 13: 5 ‘You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.’ 

According to the Nazarite vow Samson 

Numbers 6: 1-8

Numbers 6: 3a ‘must give up wine and other alcoholic drinks’ 

Numbers 6: 5a ‘must never cut their hair’ 

Numbers 6: 6a ‘must not go near a dead body’ 

In his recklessness Samson violated all 3 conditions of the Nazarite vow 

• Samson touched the dead body of a lion and the jawbone of a donkey 

Judges 14: 8-9; Judges 15: 14-17  

• Samson drank wine at his own wedding 

(The Hebrew word translated ‘party’ or ‘feast’ in Judges 14: 10 refers to a weeklong drinking party that was held at the home of the bride’s parents.) 

Judges 14: 10-11   

• Samson allowed his hair to be cut 

Judges 16: 15-19

Please notice that the narrative says, ‘she began to bring him down.’ 

How many of you here have been to Spain and seen a bullfight? 

In this illustration, Delilah represents the bullfighter and Samson represents the bull  

During the battle to kill the bull, the matador has a red cape that he uses to tire the bull by getting it to charge the cape 

And during the battle the matador plunges short spears into the bull to weaken it further until the bull has no power to resist the final thrust of the matador’s sword that was hidden behind the red cape 

With every reckless violation of His Nazarite vow to God, Samson was weakened and with the final thrust of the blade that cut off his hair, Samson was brought down 

Judges 16: 17-21

But despite Samson’s recklessness the purposes of God prevailed in his life 

Dear friends as we come to the end of this Message, let's be reminded by the Word of God that says, Proverbs 14: 16 ‘A wise person is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless.’ ^{NOG ESV Combo} 

Let’s pray, “Heavenly Father, help us to pursue the purpose for which You have called us, so that we may say WITH Jesus, John 17: 4 ‘I brought glory to You here on earth by completing the work You gave Me to do.’” - AMEN