Bumble:
Good morning! It’s great to study the Word of God again with you today. Paul (aka Cau) is up here with me. For those who don’t know him, Paul is one of our favorite former gangsta-boys. He started coming to our college group at the end of 2000, and God worked through his life tremendously. Now, he‘s a 2nd year seminary student at Moody Bible Institute to prepare himself to be a pastor. This summer he’s back doing some internship at our church with the high schoolers and he will be here until mid- August.
I thought we will study the Word a little different this time with Paul. Instead of following the monologue format, which I would share with you what I learned from the Word; this time we will follow a dialogue format, where you will hear from both Paul and I. If you have your Bible, please turn to Judges 13. Paul, can you open our study with a prayer?
Paul: {Prayer}
Bumble:
We are at the high-point of summer with the Sport Festival (which has 18 Vietnamese churches in this region to compete in a variety of sport). So for these next two weekends we will be study the life of the greatest athlete in the Bible: the story of Samson. Most of the time, we only know about Samson and his story involved Delilah; but this time we will start even from his miraculous birth. Here’s the account of his birth…
{Paraphrasing Judges 13:2-14, 24}
Paul, wouldn’t you say that his birth was miraculous?
Paul:
The birth of Samson was a unique one. In the Bible when a person was born by a barren woman indicates the supernatural provision of God for a unique purpose. Sarah who was barren gave birth to Isaac, Samuel was conceived by Hannah who was barren, Elizabeth was barren and God gave her John the Baptist. They were all very extraordinary.
Samson not only was born by a barren woman, but the Angel of the Lord appears to announce his birth. The appearance of the Angel of the Lord always marks a very significant event in Israel’s history. The only other birth He announces was Isaac in the Old Testament; and in the New Testament, we only see the same thing happened to John the Baptist, and especially Jesus. This made Samson’s birth extremely special; he was ranked right up there with the other Men of Destiny. The coming of Samson was highly anticipated.
Bumble:
Talking about Men of Destiny, I think Samson was one of the few who knew for certain what he was destined to be since childhood. Verse 1 underscored the historical background that the Philistines were dominating Israel at the time. And verse 5b identified Samson “will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines”.
That’s an amazing privilege. Most of the time, we just want to know what our destiny would be. We often ask, “What’s God will for me?” As if it will solve all your problems. High School grads wondered if God’s will for them are in a certain majors, schools, or profession ("I wondered if God’s will is for me to finish Med school...") Lonely singles wondered if God’s will for them involved a certain persons as their future mates ("I wondered if God’s will that we would be married...")
Jesus knew God’s will explicitly from His birth ("you shall call Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins"). Jeremiah knew his prophetic destiny from his childhood; David was anointed King even a few decades before his actual coronation... Wouldn’t it be great if God let us know the blue print of our lives so that we wouldn’t be so restless about our future?
Here this guy knew it even before he was born. God told his parents explicitly what he would turn out to be. Paul, what do you make of his parents?
Paul:
His parents were godly parents. They seek the Lord’s will diligently for instruction in caring for him. They restrain from wine, strong drinks and food that are unclean. They were slavishly obedient in not cutting his hair. Samson was raised up by godly parents and he knew about his special calling for the Spirit of the Lord was with him.
Bumble:
Let me add a little bit about what it meant to be a Nazirite (v.5 “the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth”). The word itself means “consecrated” or “separated” and refers to anyone who set themselves apart for God for a period of time. In the case of Samson, or Samuel, and John the Baptist, this period of time is until their death. From the Nazirite code in Numbers 6:1-8, we know that the Nazirite observe 3 special things beyond the worship life of a normal Jewish person: 1) He would not drink alcohol, 2) he would not cut his hair; 3) He would not defile himself by touching dead corpses.
The Lord communicated clearly to Samson’s parents how to raise him up in accordance to the Nazirite’s vow, and I have no doubt that his parents tried their best to do their job. And he grew and grew into adulthood. Until one day he went down town and see a girl {paraphrasing 14:1-4}
Paul: {comment on his desire for “uncircumcised Philistine”}
Samson knows clearly what a extraordinary calling he has and what a great opportunity he has from God to be use to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistine. A Nazirite was separate to God for a special purpose. Even though Samson possess a special opportunity to serve the Lord, was raise up by godly parents and had a very extraordinary calling as a Nazirite. His lack of self-control to resist his desire for a Philistine woman shows his lack of appreciation of his calling and privilege. Mixed marriage were disastrous and was not preferred by God, especially when he was supposed to be God’s instrument to deliver the people of Israel out of the hand of the Philistine, but instead he wanted to partner with one of them in marriage.
Bumble:
Unfortunately that’s the same tragedy today. I have seen many Christian life crash and burn because of disastrous relationship and mixed marriages between a person who care about God and a person don’t care so much about God.
What’s next after that Paul?
Paul: {Paraphrase 14:5-9 - Kill the lion & eat the honey}
Bumble:
Ha – I guess he couldn’t keep the Nazirite commitment to stay away from dead corpses. Especially when he had these two contributing factors: 1) His parents weren’t there to stop him (how many of us just love to have the freedom from our parents to try the things that they prohibit us from?) 2) It looks like a miracle: often dead corpses produced maggots, not honey; (so beware, not all things that look like miracles were all from God).
I think the author put this detail here to let us see that Samson was really showing contempt of the things of God. He just does whatever he wanted to do without regard for anyone. Just like this next section here…
{Paraphrasing 14:10-14}
Paul, do you see that Samson was showing contempt again here, doing whatever he pleases?
Paul:
It was the Philistine’s custom to have a seven-day feast before the actual wedding. It was normative to drink wine during the feast in pagan culture. There is a very plausible indication of Samson drinking in these seven-day feasts, because of his past record of disobedience. If he can defile his parents by giving them honey from the corps of the lion, drinking would be something he would not even have to consider to break.
Bumble:
Yes, I think you are right. The way they gave riddle is so much like what a bunch of drunkards would interact with one another. After you break one vow, it’s not hard to break another.
Paul, can you tell us the next section too?
Paul: {Paraphrase 14:15-20 - girl whining, Samson disclosed; Samson lost the bet: kill 30: Upset and go home}
Bumble:
And so you thought that Samson would learn his lesson and stay away from the Philistines, right? You wish! His hormones got better of him. {Paraphrase 15:1-5 - He came back for his wife, burn the foxes}
Paul, given that it was harvest time, that was pretty clever of him to use the foxes to wreak havoc on the Philistines’ economy, don’t you think?
Paul:
He’s smart… We might ask what is wrong with this guy is he dumb or something, because shouldn’t he learned that marrying a Philistine was not a good idea, and the Philistine was dangerous and his wife was not good for him. Samson is not dumb at all. He was smart enough to not tell his parents of where the honey came from. He made up a riddle that perplex the Philistine so much that they threaten his wife to burn her and her father’s house if she doesn’t get the answer and now he just thought of an ingenious way to burn the Philistine’s crops with 300 foxes. Him returning back to his wife was not because he was stupid, but because of his lack of self-control to want to have sex with her.
Bumble:
But he’s not that smart! If he was smart enough, he wouldn’t have let the Philistines killed his wife and her family. Poor girl, she tried hard to avoid getting killed by her own people and they killed her anyway at the end.
Paul: {Paraphrasing 15:7-13 - Samson revenged; hiding; 3000 Judah turned him in}
Bumble: {Paraphrasing 15:14-15, 20: Samson killed 1000 with jawbone, God miraculously rescued him from dying of thirst; peace for the next 20 years}
(I didn’t see this before) The thirsty episode in his life show two things: 1) Samson was not a man void of any spirituality. He believed that he had a relationship with God (“you” and “your servant”) and so he called to God in despair. 2) This is also a warning shot from God to Samson: “Nobody would have withstood your strength, but I could withdraw it from you. Do you get it?”
But more importantly, what do you think is the main point of the story, Paul?
Paul:
God’s plan will never fail, despite our own failure… God is so awesome in His wisdom and sovereignty that he can use a person’s disobedience and unfaithfulness to accomplish His plan.
Bumble:
If that’s the case, should we follow this example and be contented in our own failures. After all, God will get what He planned any way?
Paul: {If God could use DISOBEDIENCE then He could use OBEDIENCE even more}
Of course not, because if God can use a person’s disobedience and unfaithfulness to accomplish His plan. How much more spectacularly can He use a person’s obedience and faithfulness to accomplish His plan? Even though God used Samson to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistine, Samson never completely eliminates the Philistine, but he had the potential to do so. Samson did not reach His full potential in life, because of his lack of appreciation which results in his disobedience and unfaithfulness to God.
Bumble: {But with the option of DISOBEDIENCE we are the one who get hurt in the process, not God}
Even God could use our disobedience for His purpose; it’s never a good idea to disobey Him, because we will be the one who get hurt in the process, not God.
Paul:
But what troubled me is fact that Samson’s desire for Philistines women “was from the Lord” as 14:4 said, “this was from the Lord, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines; for at that time they were ruling over Israel.” Didn’t God want Samson to be this way so that He can liberate the Israelite?
Bumble: {Our will vs. God’s will: We had total control of how we are RESPONDING to God’s initiations.}
I think that God has no choice but to use Samson’s weaknesses to accomplish His plan. The Philistines were enemies of God’s people, but Samson grew up without any goal to eliminate them according to his destiny as God called him to. (We see him hung out with the Philistines, and that was how he came to like the Philistines girl in the start of chapter 14). In most martial art you fight punch with punch, that’s one way. But in Judo, you would lean on the attack of the opponents to throw them down and break their necks, that’s another way. I think here Samson refused to be strong in God so God just use His weakness though.
Paul: {He invites us to full PARTICIPATION in His plan.}
I totally agree with you, because I believe God’s plan is never frustrate since nothing is outside of His sovereign control. That is why no matter what we do God’s plan will come to completion one way or another, but this wonderful God and Father of us wants us to participate in His plan and enjoy accomplishing His plan with Him. When we don’t we are the one who is frustrated and we don’t get to enjoy His plan for us, but I believe when we trust Him and obey Him, we will see His love for us in His plan and we will have more appreciation for Him, because God who is all wise and loving cares for us and have our best interest.
Bumble: {Even with knowing that we have been saved, we need to exercise SELF-CONTROL}
We need to wrap this up with some concrete applications.
For me, the lesson learned here is that we need to exercise self-control, even when we had already know what’s God’s purpose is for us. I think there’s always been a tension between the Sovereignty of God and the Free-will of Man. Some argued that if God was all powerful, He could do whatever He wanted to do, and it doesn’t matter if we do anything or not. On the other extreme, others would argue that God granted us Free-will, so everything is totally up to us.
In a mysterious way, I think that both are true, but both could not fully describe the dynamics of the way God chose to interact with us. The Bible said that God is fully in control, and the Bible also said that God also gave man some control. In my attempts to understand this, I think that God controls everything, but He also delegates His control to each one of us so we could choose to go along with Him or not. I would think that God’s control is a train heading somewhere, and our control is the movement of each passenger on that train. If we choose to keep on moving in the opposite direction of the train, eventually we would fall off the train, break our necks and die. Unfortunately, all of us have been poisoned and hallucinated by the original sin from our great ancestor, Adam and Eve, so we have this tendency of moving in the opposite direction all the time. Jesus Christ came so that we can be free from hallucination and can choose to move rightly.
This is why the Bible said that wee ought to “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling” because “God works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” [Phil. 2:12-13].
So, exercise your self-control according to God’s way, don’t just be like Samson and do whatever you want according to your way. In the New Testament, there’s another man like Samson, who know that God had called him for a special purpose: bring the good news of God to the nations. That man was Apostle Paul. And I believed that Paul learned the lesson from Samson well and exercised self-control because he know that it is possible for him to preach and to save others, while himself might perish if he’s not careful. Paul said, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.” [2.Cor.9:27, ESV]
That’s a reminder for all of us, including people who are actively serving God like me and you, Paul.
Do you see any other implications for our lives from this story, Paul?
Paul: {We need to APPRECIATE what God had given to us so that we will reach our potential.}
The apostle John said, “how great a love the Father has bestow on us that He would call us children of God and indeed we are, because Paul said in Ephesians that God the Father has blessed us with every Spiritual blessing in the Heavenly realm. We have a high calling as God’s children and fellow saints. Our potential is as great as the love that God has for us. We must not lack in appreciating our high calling and should pursue our full God given potential to get close to him and to serve Him. There are things controlling our life and is stopping us for getting to God. Last week I ate with an older couple from my sister’s church and they gave me a very good advice in letting go of the things that are controlling our life. They said instead of trying to let go and fighting it. Know that it is impossible for us to break free from it and confess to God of our inability and asking Him to help us and take control of our life. I encourage you to ask God to help you break free from your bondage, trust Him and take action in letting go, so you may fully appreciate His calling for your life.
Bumble:
Thank you Paul, That’s all the time we have. Before we end, let’s take a look at one special word in Judges 13:5 again. “You will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” That special word is “begin”. God begins a good work in you and me according to His plan. But how we finish it is entirely up to us. The game had been won for us. That victory had been won on the cross; what matter now is how we play the game.
Let’s pray.
