But he did not know that the Lord had left him.
Judges 16:20 ESV
Disobedience. Prostitutes. Dishonoring his parents. Lies. Anger. Finally abandonment. Samson was ordained from birth to start the deliverance process of Israel from the Philistines. Selected by God before his birth. God's chosen one. Yet so human.
In Judges chapter 14-16 Samson alternates from being a powerful man of God to being a rutting college frat boy.
13:24 And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him.
14:3 But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
14:6 Then the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat.
14:19 In hot anger he went back to his father's house. (This was after murdering 30 men.)
The list could go on. Spirit-filled triumph followed by human-directed sin. It is interesting in our sanitized children's story versions of Samson the lion, Delilah, and the crashing temple take center stage. And perhaps for children that is all one needs. But at the end of the day Samson was a study in opposites. Strong/Weak. Virile/Impotent. Chosen/Abandoned.
This story is both encouraging and cautionary. For those of who have fallen far from God's design for our lives, this is a story of redemption and of second, third, and fourth chances. For those who have been placed by God in a position of authority and leadership--beware. The higher the office, the farther the fall caused by sin.
Each day we should renew our vows to God and ask for the strength to do what is right in His eyes, not our own.
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