20 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. 21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison.
The story is told of Thomas Edison, the great inventor, had done 50,000 experiments before he developed the storage battery. Inevitably after one of his failures he would come to the table and say with enthusiasm “I had good results today. Now I know one more way it cannot be done. “
How do you handle failure? Is it with the persistence and determination of Thomas Edison, or with the response of defeat and resignation of so many others? Most importantly how do you handle spiritual failure?
This week we conclude the series on Samson. We have seen the heights of potential and the depths of reality. Sampson, a man who was defeated by his own lusts, passions, and pride is now in a dark hole, led by a little boy, going around and around all day, day in and day out, chained to a millstone grinding wheat. He was being laughed at, being spit upon, being kicked and hit with sticks, made to perform for sport. Quite a change for a man who no group of men could bind, was bound by a woman. A man whose eyes had been blinded now lived in darkness. A man who could capture a city single-handedly, could not withstand slave masters.
The worse consequence of his sin was the Lord left him and he didn’t even recognize it. That is how we concluded last week. This week we discover the glorious grace of God challenges us to return to Him. For God does vindicate and accept and restore those who handle their spiritual failures according to His commands. There are prices involved for our sins and disobedience. Let’s not pretend otherwise.
The Apostle Paul shares this important truth in Galatians 6: 7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” When our boys were little, we warned them that certain actions of misbehavior would result in some form of punishment. Sure enough, when they crossed the line they paid the price, depending on the action. Sometimes it was loss of a privilege, sometimes it was spending time alone in their room, sometimes it was extra chores and sometimes it was a spanking.
It is the subject of prices for our sins that I want to look at this week in my concluding Nuggets on Samson
Application: Pray and meditate on this, throughout the Bible we see God warns then eventually disciplines His children. The purpose, ultimately, is for restoration.
Prayer: Lord, may these lessons from Your Word have spiritual value so that I can learn from and respond differently with the warning and thus bring about restoration to my soul and life.
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