Repost: Samson, Success or Failure?

I'm wrapping up "We Fall Down, We Get Up" for now...

I taught our youth Sunday school class about Samson a few months ago. I learned quite a few things as I prepared the lesson. Some of the commentaries I read made me question my opinion of Samson.

The story of Samson is found in Judges, chapters 13-16. I'll admit, I usually think of Samson as a failure. Although he did many great things, defeating the Philistines repeatedly, he certainly didn't live up to his potential and he loved Philistine women! I've wondered what they looked like compared the Jewish girls he knew. I think it was a lot like what happens in local church - the girls are godly and beautiful, but some boy thinks a worldly girl is much better.

We do not know how old Samson was when he began to judge Israel, but it was at the end of his 20 years of judging that he ran into the harlot of Gaza and Delilah. In other words, he was old enough to know better.

What made Samson so strong was the Spirit of the Lord. Several times the phrase "the Spirit of the Lord came upon him" is found. It is in each of those instances that Samson did a great thing.

So why, when Delilah asked "Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee" did Samson finally reply "There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man."
His strength came from God – his hair was an outward sign of the Spirit of God and his devotion to God. If he had told Delilah, "There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb, but my strength comes from God almighty and no man can take it away,” the Philistines could not have defeated him. As soon as Samson believed his strength came from his hair and not his God, it became true. Somewhere along the way Samson forgot where his strength came from.

But that is not the end of Samson. After the Philistines put his eyes out, he spent time grinding in the prison house. We don't know how long this went on, but Samson must have had plenty of time to think. Think about the prophecy before he was born. Think about the many victories. The Philistine women. His failures.

"Let's call for Samson to celebrate how our god, Dagon, delivered him into our hand!" What a mistake those Philistines made that day. Samson, broken and humbled, did what he should have done all along "And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. " (Judges 16:28-30)

The final assessment of Samson's life is found in one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. Hebrews chapter 11, that great chapter of faith. After Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and others, we find verse 32: "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:"

Samson, mentioned in the same sentence as David and Samuel. Samson, who got it right in the end, found the strength to get back up by calling on the Lord. Not such a failure after all.

Repost: David, A Man After God's Own Heart

What a life that David lived. A shepherd boy. Giant killer. Man on the run from King Saul. The great Psalmist. Finally, King of Israel. He brought the Ark of God back to Israel, rejoicing every step of the way.

But David was not immune to sin and its pull. When he should have gone forth to battle with his army, David stayed in Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 11 records David's adultery, his effort to cover it up, and finally his hand in the murder of Uriah. What a spectacular fall. The final verse of that chapter says, "But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD."

The very next chapter brings the man of God to David. "Thou art the man," Nathan rebukes David.

2 Samuel 12:13 shows us exactly why David was a man after God's heart. When he was confronted with his sin, he didn't deny, he didn't point fingers at anyone else. David said, "I have sinned against the Lord."

A fallen man has a choice. He can stay down, denying he is even fallen, or he can confess. Because "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

One of David's most beautiful Psalms was written "To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba."

Psalm 51

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

David's affair with Bathsheba was not the end of his reign, the best timeline I could find has it right in the middle of his 40 year reign. But he repented, God forgave him, and David got back up again.

Recovery Time

My Garmin running watch died a while back so I replaced it.  My new watch is the Suunto Ambit2 and I really like it.  It has a few extra features that are pretty cool.  One is at the end of a run when I'm reviewing all my data.  It is called "Recovery Time."  It looks at what I just did and suggests how many hours it will take to recover from that effort.

I think the suggested recovery time is pretty accurate.  One day last week I ran a very hilly route.  My suggested recovery time was 32 hours.  I got up to run the next morning and was very sore.  Yesterday morning I ran 10 miles.  My suggested recovery time was 53 hours.  I decided today was a good day for a rest day!

We all need recovery time.  We live in a busy world.  It seems we never slow down.  Jesus told his disciples in Mark 6:31, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat."  They weren't busy with soccer practice or shopping the latest sales, they had just returned from an evangelistic endeavor, having gone out in twos.  Their enthusiasm was high, but they still needed recovery time.

It is easy to fall into the "Martha Trap" - always doing, doing, doing.  There was nothing wrong with what she was doing, but Jesus told her "one thing is needful."  A huge clue that we are in need of some recovery time is when we start looking around and complaining about what others aren't doing. 

Your house may not be spotless everyday, someone else may need to teach that Sunday school class for a month, you might not blog for a week or two...  and you will probably feel guilty about it!  But know that you will be better after recovery time.  And there is no greater recovery time than when we sit at Jesus feet.

Samson, Success or Failure?

I'm wrapping up "We Fall Down, We Get Up" for now...

I taught our youth Sunday school class about Samson a few months ago. I learned quite a few things as I prepared the lesson. Some of the commentaries I read made me question my opinion of Samson.

The story of Samson is found in Judges, chapters 13-16. I'll admit, I usually think of Samson as a failure. Although he did many great things, defeating the Philistines repeatedly, he certainly didn't live up to his potential and he loved Philistine women! I've wondered what they looked like compared the Jewish girls he knew. I think it was a lot like what happens in local church - the girls are godly and beautiful, but some boy thinks a worldly girl is much better.

We do not know how old Samson was when he began to judge Israel, but it was at the end of his 20 years of judging that he ran into the harlot of Gaza and Delilah. In other words, he was old enough to know better.

What made Samson so strong was the Spirit of the Lord. Several times the phrase "the Spirit of the Lord came upon him" is found. It is in each of those instances that Samson did a great thing.

So why, when Delilah asked "Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee" did Samson finally reply "There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man."

His strength came from God – his hair was an outward sign of the Spirit of God and his devotion to God. If he had told Delilah, "There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb, but my strength comes from God almighty and no man can take it away,” the Philistines could not have defeated him. As soon as Samson believed his strength came from his hair and not his God, it became true. Somewhere along the way Samson forgot where his strength came from.

But that is not the end of Samson. After the Philistines put his eyes out, he spent time grinding in the prison house. We don't know how long this went on, but Samson must have had plenty of time to think. Think about the prophecy before he was born. Think about the many victories. The Philistine women. His failures.

"Let's call for Samson to celebrate how our god, Dagon, delivered him into our hand!" What a mistake those Philistines made that day. Samson, broken and humbled, did what he should have done all along "And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. " (Judges 16:28-30)

The final assessment of Samson's life is found in one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. Hebrews chapter 11, that great chapter of faith. After Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and others, we find verse 32: "And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:"

Samson, mentioned in the same sentence as David and Samuel. Samson, who got it right in the end, found the strength to get back up by calling on the Lord. Not such a failure after all.

David, A Man After God's Own Heart

What a life that David lived. A shepherd boy. Giant killer. Man on the run from King Saul. The great Psalmist. Finally, King of Israel. He brought the Ark of God back to Israel, rejoicing every step of the way.

But David was not immune to sin and its pull. When he should have gone forth to battle with his army, David stayed in Jerusalem. 2 Samuel 11 records David's adultery, his effort to cover it up, and finally his hand in the murder of Uriah. What a spectacular fall. The final verse of that chapter says, "But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD."

The very next chapter brings the man of God to David. "Thou art the man" Nathan rebukes David.

2 Samuel 12:13 shows us exactly why David was a man after God's heart. When he was confronted with his sin, he didn't deny, he didn't point fingers at anyone else. David said, "I have sinned against the Lord."

A fallen man has a choice. He can stay down, denying he is even fallen, or he can confess. Because "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

One of David's most beautiful Psalms was written "To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bath-sheba."

Psalm 51

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
16 For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

David's affair with Bathsheba was not the end of his reign, the best timeline I could find has it right in the middle of his 40 year reign. But he repented, God forgave him, and David got back up again.

Revival and Restoration

During the revival our church is having our evangelist has mentioned restoration many times. It seems it is God's theme for this time in our church. Last night was one of those services that is hard to explain. The glory of God filled the place. God is at work in Victory Tabernacle and we are rejoicing in that!

Webster defines restoration as:

1 : an act of restoring or the condition of being restored: as a : a bringing back to a former position or condition : reinstatement b : restitution c : a restoring to an unimpaired or improved condition d : the replacing of missing teeth or crowns
2 : something that is restored; especially : a representation or reconstruction of the original form (as of a fossil or a building)

I believe God is restoring to an unimpaired or improved condition! When God restores, you don't see any cracks or deficiencies. It just like when God healed Les of Muscular Dystrophy - Les hasn't spent the rest of his life walking with a limp, still showing signs of the disease that had attacked him. He was made completely whole! His health was restored 100%.

Restoration of the soul is a work that only God can do. I love these verses in Joel chapter 2:

21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.
22 Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
23 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
26 And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
27 And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.

"Restore to you the YEARS..." it doesn't matter how far or how long we drift, God is fully capable of restoring.