Strong Faith

Twenty years passed, and the Philistines still hated Samson. At this point, he was doing well as a judge, until one day he traveled to the city of Gaza. Read Judges 16:1 Now Samson went to Gaza, and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. This account is another example of how Samson’s eyes got him into trouble—“He saw a prostitute.” As a man set apart for God, it was bad enough for Samson to go to a prostitute, but to do so, he entered enemy territory. This act was Samson’s way of taunting his enemies that he was better, smarter, and stronger. This is an example of impulse behavior and following his fleshly desires in the moment. Samson was still haunted by what happened with his wife, and his choices with women continued to spiral downward. Discuss: How can something that haunted you from your past affect your present choices with men? Read Judges 16:2-3 When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” And Samson lay low till midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. We should not be surprised that Samson left after having sex with the prostitute and not after spending the entire night. His enemies shouldn’t have been surprised, either. After all, these were men, and they should have known better than to think Samson would spend all night with her and wake to cook her breakfast in the morning. Samson sinned, but God did not forget him, nor does He forget us. Samson escaped Gaza with his life, but would he learn his lesson? He left at midnight, and, when he exited Gaza, he tore out the city guard gate, posts, and bar and carried all of it to the top of the hill at Hebron, about 36 miles away. The Philistine gate at Gaza was at least ten feet high and ten feet wide. The gate would have consisted of two thick doors that could be shut to protect the city with heavy bars, and the side posts were solid and reinforced with metal. The weight of this gate was said to be between five and ten tons. Samson pulled up the guard gate and side posts, which were still attached, as easily as if he’d pulled up a weed. This was no ordinary human feat of strength. This biblical account is another example of Samson’s physical strength, emotional weaknesses, and temptations towards foreign women. This also depicts the frequency at which he wasted his God-given gift of strength in foolish ways. Individual Reflection Time Day 2 Let’s Relate... Let me start at the beginning. Being 5’3” (really 5’2”, but I like to round up, except for my weight— then I round down), I was in for a challenge when I became pregnant. I felt like my bottom was falling out and had every ache, pain, and ‘oid in the book. Obviously, I was not a good pregnant woman. I couldn’t wait for labor. Little did I know that I wouldn’t be a good labor woman, either! During my 40th week of pregnancy, my family and I attended a graduation ceremony at a large convention center. My father and I got locked in the stairwell while he was trying to help me locate a restroom. Had I listened to the attendant who told us not to go that way, we wouldn’t have been in that predicament. There was no place to go but down. Having gained a whopping amount of weight, I considered four flights of stairs overwhelming. The challenging part was to step down each step when I couldn’t see (or even imagine) where my feet were! Let’s Explore... Take a few minutes and list areas where you believe God has gifted you. Remember that your gifts–your time, talent, and treasures–can be shared in many ways. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pray about what you listed and how you can begin to use the gifts God has given you in the coming months. Write a plan of action, starting with the first step towards that goal. Pray, and re-visit this plan regularly. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Read James 1:17 Dear Lord, please show me in the coming weeks what my gifts are and how You want to use them. I give You my time and talents so You can work to use me to impact others. Help me not focus on just myself and my needs. I don’t want to miss where You are working. I love you, Abba Father. Amen.