I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. --Galatians 2:20I have been meditating quite a bit on several words and concepts this week. One is pride. Another is humility. "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5). Who among us doesn't want more grace? But we despise being broken. We prefer pride. We are taught to take pride in our work, meaning to do our very best. But if someone else gets the credit, we feel like we have been robbed. The hardest thing to do, at least for me, is to give my very best and then give God the glory.
The past few weeks I have been studying the life of Samson. Everyone knows of Samson's great strength. Yet few know of his sin. Many may know of his relationship with Delilah, but few know that he accomplished more when he died than he ever did while he was alive.
Samson was set apart by God. He was to be a Nazirite from birth. The Bible speaks of three prominent Nazirites--Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist. Each was born at a special time, in a special place. Each one was used mightily by God. Of the three, however, only Samson failed to live up to his potential.
Let's look at John for a moment. He was set apart for God's service before he was even born. When the angel told the priest Zechariah that he would have a son, the angel told him, "He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth." (Luke 1:14-15). We know that John grew up to be like Elijah in his own generation, preparing the way of the Lord. Because of his obedience to God from birth, many came to repentance. His message was all about humility:
John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children of Abraham." --Luke 3:7-8The crowds asked him, "What shall we do then?" John told them to share the wealth: if you have two coats, give one to someone who has none. If you have plenty to eat, give some food to the hungry. Tax collectors, he said, should not overcharge or collect more than they are required to collect. Soldiers should not extort money or accuse people falsely to collect bribes--they should be content with their pay. The people thought that because of his message, John might be the promised Messiah. He denied that he was. "I baptize you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." (Luke 3:16). What a humble person!
Next let's look at Samuel. His mother promised God before Samuel was even conceived that she would set him apart for God's service. 1 Samuel 1:11 says, "And she made a vow, saying, 'O Lord Almighty, if you will only look upon your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the Lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.' " Samuel was born, and true to her word, Hannah presented him to the Temple as soon as he was weaned. He served the Lord as a prophet (1 Samuel 3:19), as an intercessor, praying for the entire nation of Israel (1 Samuel 7:5), and as a king-maker--he anointed both Saul (Israel's first king), and David (Israel's greatest king, and ancestor of Jesus the King). Samuel served the Lord in a transition period between the time of the judges and the time of the kings of Israel. Yet he himself did not dwell in the courts of the palace. He did not appoint himself as Regent, or as Prime Minister to Saul or to David. He humbly did what God told him to do, only approaching the king with the message that God had given to him.
John had a give of communication, of attracting large crowds with his preaching. Samuel had the give of prophecy, hearing the very words of God and giving them to the people, as well as to King Saul and to King David. Samson, as we know, had the gift of great strength. Like John, Samson's birth was foretold by an angel. Like Samuel, Samson was consecrated to God before he was even conceived. But unlike the other two Nazirites in the Bible, Samson was not humble.
When the angel told Samson's parents that he was to be a Nazirite from birth, they both knew what the angel meant. Numbers chapter six talks about three rules for those who take a Nazirite vow; and two of them we have already talked about. First, he or she must abstain from wine or strong drink. "If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the Lord as a Nazarite, he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or from other fermented drink. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins." (Numbers 6:2-4). Second, he must not cut his hair. "During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the Lord is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long." (Number 6:5). Third, he must not touch a dead body. "Throughout the period of his separation to the Lord he must not go near a dead body. Even if his own father or mother or brother or sister dies, he must not make himself ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of his separation to God is on his head." (Numbers 6:6-7).
Samson's great strength was a testament to God's power in his life. His long hair was a symbol of his consecration to God. Yet Samson was anything but godly. His great strength gave him great pride. One by one, he broke the vows of the Nazirites. We see God's grace after the first two vows were broken. We see Samson's humility after the third and final vow took away his great strength. It was only after Samson humbled himself that God used him in a way He had never been able to use him in his life.
Samson lived during a period of Philistine occupation and oppression over Israel. How God could have used him to gather an army and throw off the oppressors. He could have set Israel free, and led them back to their one true God. Yet because of his pride, everything that was done to the Philistines he had to do himself. His first encounter with the Philistines was in Timnah, where he saw a young woman. Samson demanded that his father pay the dowry for the young woman, and to get her for him as his wife. His father argued that he should marry an Israelite woman, but who can argue with the world's strongest man? "(His parents did not know that this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines.)" --Judges 14:4.
While he was taking his parents to meet his fiancee, Samson killed a lion. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him in strength, and he was able to do this with his bare hands. Later, Samson saw the dead lion carcass with a bee hive inside it. He scooped out some honey, oblivious to the bee stings. This was the first breaking of the vow--he should not have gone near the carcass of the lion. Remember, he was not to touch anything dead, or go near anything that would make him ceremonially unclean. But because of his pride, he disregarded that law. Yet God showed him grace, in that His Spirit did not leave Samson, and he retained his great strength.
The second breaking of the Nazirite vow, I think, happened when he went to marry this woman. Judges 14:10 says, "Now his father went down to see the woman. And Samson made a feast there, as was customary for bridegrooms." I believe it was customary to serve wine at these wedding feasts. Remember Jesus' first miracle in John chapter 2? Whether Samson drank the wine, or just the juice, or ate the grapes we don't know. But any of those things would have been available at a wedding feast, and all of them were forbidden to Samson as a Nazirite. Yet God showed more grace to Samson, in that His Spirit did not leave him, nor did God take his strength.
I will let you read how the unnamed young woman died, and how Samson took revenge upon his father-in-law who had given her to another man, and how he burned the crops of the Philistines using foxes and torches. Judges chapter 15 is an exciting read. We finally meet Delilah in chapter 16, but only after Samson went in to a prostitute. Funny how being sexually promiscuous was not a part of the Nazirite vows; although we would think it would make him unclean, it is not specifically mentioned in Numbers 6. So Delilah tricks Samson into telling her the final vow that gave him his strength. She cuts his hair, and then wakes him up with a shout: "Samson, the Philistines are upon you." Now, you would think he would have known that his hair had been cut. After what might have been two decades of growth, the difference in the weight of his head would have been a clue. Perhaps the wind touching his bald head. Whether he realized it or not, he had to know that Delilah would betray him, because three times before he had told her lies about binding him up, and three times she had tried it on him. He had to know that she would cut his hair when he told her about it.
Yet in his arrogant pride, he thought the strength was still his. He did not credit God with giving him physical power. After Delilah had lulled him to sleep (perhaps with alcohol--how else would he have been in such a deep sleep that he could not hear the Philistines in the same house?), she woke him up.
Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free.: But he did not know that the Lord had left him. --Judges 16:20When you rely on your own strength, you are sure to fall. But if you rely on God's strength, He will fight for you. You remember the rest of the story. The Philistines poked Samson's eyes out. They held a feast for their god Dagon, whom they credited with giving Samson into their hands. They called for Samson to be brought out before them, to entertain them. Perhaps they wanted to ridicule him, for having once been so strong but now being so weak. Perhaps he was still strong in human terms--maybe he could bend iron bars or lift huge weights, but he was no longer supernaturally strong enough to overcome the soldiers that guarded him.
For the first time in the story, Samson prayed. "Then Samson prayed to the Lord, 'O, Soveriegn Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." (Number 16:28) God did strengthen him, and he was able to topple the pillars that held up the structure. "Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived." (Number 16:30b).
Here's the point. While Samson was living for himself, he missed God's purpose for him. Pride made him sin against God and believe in his heart that there were no consequences. Only when he humbled himself and prayed, and sought God's face, and turned from his wicked ways did God hear from heaven and forgive his sins and use him mightily. As I said before, we can only imagine what God could have done with Samson had he humbled himself sooner. He could have delivered Israel from their oppressors. He could have set himself up as a Judge and a Ruler over them. Yet even in his sinful conduct, God was able to work out His will through Samson. What did Paul say? "And we know that in ALL things God works together with thos who love him to bring about what is good--with those who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28).
When we live for ourselves, we cannot possibly live to our potential. But if we humble ourselves--if we allow ourselves to be broken by Him, if we crucify our own fleshly desires--then we can truly know what God can do for our good and His glory. A diamond can only be made when a lump of coal is placed under extreme presure. A crystal can only be seen in all its glory when it is broken in two, and the colors are visible in the light. Brokenness is not what we want, but it is what He wants. Only then can we be used mightily by Him.
One day a plain village woman
Driven by love for her Lord
Recklessly poured out a valuable essence
Disregarding the scorn
And once it was broken and spilled out
A fragrance filled all the room
Like a prisoner released from his shackles
Like a spirit set free from the tomb
Broken and spilled out
Just for love of You, Jesus
My most precious treasure
Lavished on thee
Broken and spilled out
And poured at Your feet
In sweet abandon, let me be spilled out
And used up for Thee
Lord, You were God's precious treasure
His loved and His own perfect Son
Sent here to show me the love of the Father
Just for love it was done
And though You were perfect and holy
You gave up Yourself willingly
You spared no expense for my pardon
You were used up and wasted for me
Broken and spilled out
Just for love of me, Jesus
God's most precious treasure
Lavished on me
Broken and spilled out
And poured at my feet, in sweet abandon
Lord, You were spilled out
And used up for me
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