Trivial Pursuit
Judges 13:24-25; 16:4-5, 15-17, 19-20, 28-30
The people of Israel had strayed away from the Lord again, and God allowed the Philistines to conquer and oppress them for 40 years. One day, God sent an angel to a barren woman to tell her she was going to have a son who was to be a Nazirite. He was not to drink wine, never cut his hair, and eat only kosher food. God was going to use him to rescue Israel. When the baby was born, they named him Samson. The Lord was with him and blessed him as he grew.
Samson ruled over Israel for 20 years, even though the Philistines still controlled Israel. Samson had great potential, but he did some seemingly foolish things. He saw a Philistine girl he liked and he told his parents he wanted to marry her. They tried to talk him out of it, not realizing that the Lord was working through Samson to set a trap for the Philistines.
Later, Samson fell in love with Delilah. The Philistine leaders went to her and demanded that she find out the source of his strength, promising to reward her handsomely. She begged Samson to tell her the secret of his strength. Three times he gave her false information, but she did not give up. Finally, she wore him down and he told her that he was a Nazirite to God from before his birth and if his hair was cut he would be as weak as any other man. She lulled him to sleep and called for the Philistines to come and cut his hair. Then she cried out to him that the Philistines were there to capture him. He awoke and thought he would do as he had done before, but he didn’t realize that the Lord was no longer with him.
The Philistines celebrated Samson’s capture and offered sacrifices to their god. They carried Samson to the temple so they could taunt him. He stood in the center of the temple between two columns that supported the roof. Samson asked the young man with him to place his (Samson’s) hands on the columns. He prayed that the Lord would give him strength one more time so he could repay the Philistines for what they had done to him. The Lord gave him strength, and he killed more Philistines in his death than he had killed in his lifetime.
We should not get so caught up in worldly pursuits that we stray away from the Lord and find out too late that He is no longer working through us. At times, God may call on us to do something that may seem foolish to others, but we need to be submissive and obedient to Him, being careful that we are doing His will and not following our own foolish desires.
Johnston– Lessons in the ETB series for the summer quarter are being written by Virginia Johnston, a member of First Baptist Church, North Charleston, where her husband Dan is pastor.