11/21/2012. Judges 15:1-20. SAMSON HAD THE WILL TO FIGHT-my devotional

Key Verse: 15:14                     Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

“As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.”

Dear Lord, thank you for recuperating me from a long string of shifts at work. Parts of me were aching but thank you for rest and peace in my heart. Help me to seek you and serve you today. Help to take the fruitful path. I pray that the Thanksgiving Eve program at KBC may draw us closer to you. Open our eyes to see how much of your grace is being shown to us. Fill our hearts with thanksgiving. Help us to overcome our differences and come together in the love of Christ. Grant me one word of God to hold onto. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Vengeance Breeds Vengeance (1-8).

Verses 1-8, “Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room.” But her father would not let him go in. ² “I was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.” ³ Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.” ⁴ So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, ⁵ lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves. ⁶ When the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. ⁷ Samson said to them, “Since you’ve acted like this, I swear that I won’t stop until I get my revenge on you.” ⁸ He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.”

Samson returned to get his wife and discovered she had been given away. Her sister was offered in her stead. He was furious and used his God given strength to gather 300 foxes. With them, he burned a huge acreage of enemy grain. In retaliation, the Philistines burned his wife and her father. Vengeance breeds more vengeance. It is hard to see God’s purpose, but God was bringing everything to a head.

There is a very simple lesson here, vengeance breeds vengeance. We can not just keep getting revenge on others. It makes things escalate. Things get worse. And do you know who suffers the most…you do. People cannot live with a lack of forgiveness and vengeance in their hearts. It will rob you of peace and fill your heart with anxiety. You will relive “the moment” in your mind. over and over again.

We need to learn how to forgive one another. We need to learn how to forgive and forget and move on with our lives. There is power in forgiveness. There is only more destruction in veagence. Jesus teaches us the power of forgiveness. He tells us in the Lord’s Prayer to forgive our debtors. He teaches us torn the other cheek. He teaches us to forgiven extremely, by actually loving our enemies. Why does he say this? It is because it is the best way and most fruitful way.

Forgiving others reveals the heart of God. God is full of forgiveness. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his One and Only Son that whoever believe in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Through Jesus, God forgives us completely and gives us eternal life with him forever in his kingdom. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. (Jn 1:29) Forgiveness is God’s way. It is the way to peace and life. I wish that Samson could learn that. I need to always remember that too.

I need to learn how to completely forgive others. I can partially forgive. I can bear with others who were like enemies to me in the past. I can overcome enough to be cordial but there is always something that remains in my heart. There are grudges that people take with them to the grave. I am always amazed how some senior citizens hold grudges for something that happened 60 years previous. They need to forgive. The people they hold grudges against are not the same people. Nobody remembers the reason for the grudge.

Forgiveness also heals nations. I will never forget the great strides thatSouth Africamade with the bringing down of Apartheid.  It was done so with less violence mostly because of the Truth and Reconciliation heeded up by Archbishop Desmond TuTu of the Anglican Church. People would step forward and confess their sins and have it recorded for history and then society would forgive the perpetrators. There is also Truth and Reconciliation going on with issues that went on with the Aboriginal people inCanada. Forgiveness works. It is the best way. Samson should have learned about forgiveness.

Our lack of forgiveness leaves us in a cave. Look at verse 8b, “…Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.” Samson was driven to be alone in a cave and alienated from his people. We may think that we are justified to not forgive. It may bring us some pleasure. But in the end, who are we hurting? We only hurt ourselves and drive us into isolation from others. It is time to forgive and come out of our isolation.

But, despite of Samson’s lack of forgiveness, God, who is greater than all of our sin, was still working through him to free his people from Philistine oppression. God is amazing! He can work through a person even if that person is resisting the truth of God. Nothing can stop God from working and fulfilling his purpose. Praise the Lord!

Part 2: Samson Alone Had the Spirit to Fight (9-20).

Verses 9-20, “The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. ¹⁰ The people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?” “We have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.” ¹¹ Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?” He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.” ¹² They said to him, “We’ve come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said, “Swear to me that you won’t kill me yourselves.” ¹³ “Agreed,” they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. ¹⁴ As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. ¹⁵ Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. ¹⁶ Then Samson said, “With a donkey’s jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey’s jawbone I have killed a thousand men.” ¹⁷ When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.¹⁸ Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore,and it is still there in Lehi. ²⁰ Samson ledIsrael for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Samson was held up in a cave. Three thousand of his own people came to plead with him to turn himself in. Samson, not wanting his own people to kill him, let himself be brought to the enemy. There he snapped his ropes and killed 1,000 people with a donkey’s jawbone. All of God’s people were cringing under the power of fear, content to remain under oppression. Samson was great because he maintained the spirit to fight and was not willing to acquiesce. He won a great victory and ledIsraelfor 20 years.

I can see here, that even though Samson had his problems, he alone, among all the leaders ofIsrael, had the will to fight. 3,000 men, who were strong warriors, gave up the fight. But Samson did not.

We are tempted to give up the spiritual battle. We don’t see any outer fruit. We see endless sacrifices. We see get tired. We loose sight of what we are fighting for. We fall into despair stop fighting spiritually. In the past 1 ½ years I have been loosing the will to fight spiritually. It came because of depression and despair. But God has recently done a miracle in my life and freed me from the chains that bound me. He gave me a new lease on life through the power of the Gospel. I have a renewed spirit and vigor to fight the spiritual battle. Praise the Lord!

An important thing is that we need to know what to fight for. If we are Christians that build up things that are not gospel centered, nor the will of God, then we are fighting for the wrong things. We need to be careful to fight for the right things, that are the will of God. I want to fight to be a servant of the Gospel and expand thekingdomofGodin ways that truly glorify Jesus and bear good fruit. I don’t want to fight to build up a religious system or a structure that that does not glorify Jesus. I don’t want to fight to build up my own dream of family or ministry that is not in keeping with the will of God.

I pray that I may be filled with a “fighting spirit” and not just lay down and wither away. My God guide me in this matter.

But despite our own plans, sometimes misguided plans, God is bigger than all of our sins and mistakes. Samson had the will to fight. But he wasn’t too concerned about the glory of God. But God worked through him. We need a passion to do something and just do it. God will work out the details.

Prayer: Lord, there are times that I want to give up my spiritual struggle and give into the world, but fill me with a desire to fight spiritually and work through me despite of my foolishness.

One Word: Personally maintain a fighting spirit