Like Any Other Man

One of the great tragedies of the Bible is found in Judges 13-16, the story of Samson. As I've read it over the last two days part of me wonders why God's blessing was on him for so long. In many ways the leader is living like the people, and because of the part of me wonders why God used him at all. But in one way Samson remained set apart to God, and God was with him.

Samson was a Nazarite, "Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son. 4 Now therefore, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines." (Judges 13.3b-5). Samson was to be set apart from God from birth. But it's a vow he doesn't keep.

A dead body was unclean, and we see twice in his life Samson touches dead bodies. In Judges 14 he collects honey from the body of a lion he killed previously, and in chapter 15 he picks up a donkey's jaw bone to defeat 1,000 Philistines. Along with that Samson marries a foreign woman, spends at least one evening with a harlot, and is involved in a relationship with another foreign woman named Delilah. He lies to Delilah on several occasions, and then finally allows his vow to be broken by telling her the secret of his strength and she shaves his head.

His birth was miraculous. His mother is one of seven (that I'm aware of) women who gave birth and wasn't supposed to. (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, the wife of Menoah [Samson's mother], Hannah, Elizabeth, and Mary). His strength was unchallenged. He killed a lion with his bare hands, killed 1,000 men at once, and pulled out the gates of a city and carried them to the top of a mountain. God did great things through Him. The Bible says that God allows Samson's marriage as an opportunity to strike at the Philistines. Both of the above accounts of Samson killing says that the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. I don't fully understand why, but as long as his hair was uncut, in spite of the rest of his lifestyle, God was with him.

Samson made enemies, and they sought to get rid of him. And so they use Delilah to learn the secret of his strength. After several failed attempts Samson tells her the truth and as he said, "I will become weak and be like any other man." As long as Samson remained set apart for God he was different. God was with him and he was powerful. But as soon as his hair was cut, the Spirit of God left him, and he became like any other man.

God's people are called to be holy as God is holy. We are called to be set apart. When we do, God is with us, God empowers us because He is able to. We've given Him our lives, and we're living our lives in a way that pleases Him. We live for Him not for ourselves. But when we disobey, the Spirit of God departs from us, and we become like any other man. God is what sets us apart, because with God we have real life, real meaning. But apart from Him, without Him, we are the same as the rest of the world.

Samson's story ends with him returning to God. In his final moments he calls upon God, he returns to Him, and God gives him strength and uses him in one last mighty way. When Samson stops living for himself, and gives himself fully to God, as Judges 16.30 says, "Let me die with the Philistines!", God accomplishes His greatest work in Samson's life. With his death he kills 3,000 Philistines, more than he killed in His life (Judges 16.30).

I have to wonder, what could God have done with Samson if he had lived his whole life like his final moments? If Samson's whole life had been lived fully to serve God, fully obedient to what God had said, what would God have been able to do in Israel under Samson's leadership?

We must ask that about our own lives, if we live fully set apart to God, fully obedient, what can God do in us and through us? If we give ourselves fully to the service of God, allowing ourselves to die to self-ambitions and security, what could God do?

Do you want to be a person on whom the Spirit of God comes mightily upon, or do you want to be weak like any other man?

To God alone be the Glory!

Peace be with you