Judges 14 POTENTIAL VS REALITY Samson had everything in his favor at home. His background was strong because he had two faithful parents and had a good start with the promises of God to support him. There are obligations that go along with blessings. "To whom much is given, much is required." What we do with what God gives us is really up to us. With all of our privileges, if we are not careful, we can find ourselves squandering all God has given us. We can live way below our potential if we do not discipline ourselves and commit ourselves to the Lord unreservedly. Godly parents and a godly home life do not guarantee godly children or a godly life. Many Christians children waste their potential because they are attracted to a worldly "Philistine" life.
Samson had great potential for blessing for Israel, which was controlled by the Philistines. But Israel was compromised by intermarriage and cultural integration. The people were being assimilated into the ways of the Philistines. When the Lord's people live complacent and apathetic lives, we need to take care that we don't leave the wrong impression on our children. If they think we are rejecting divine authority, they will be inclined to reject ours. Parents who practice self discipline and family discipline may find that to be practiced by their children - at least to a certain extent. Believing parents don't guarantee believing children. Under God, Samson had great potential. He had a godly home life. He had a miraculous birth. He had a unique life-style. He had a special ministry of the Holy Spirit who mightily came upon his to kill the young lion and later thirty men were defeated. God has given us great resources: the new birth, the Holy Spirit, God Himself in Christ.
However, we cannot make our children be who they are not. For some reason Samson was controlled by his passions and was the kind of person who did what he wanted in spite of his godly parents. One person described Samson's flaw with the words, "He was a he-man with a she weakness." He allowed the betrayal of his call and direct disobedience to the Word of God. He rejected authority - of God's word and of his parents. He was "doing what was right in his own eyes." This is the same with many today. He refused to practice self-discipline; he was controlled by his passions; he was satisfied with ritual obedience (legalist at heart) but lived in license. If I do not discipline my life, I quickly lose my power. Almost anything can begin to take the place of the Lord. Even things that are good and beautiful in their own place can be the cause of great damage. Self-discipline is submitting to the will and timing of God.
We may warn and instruct our young people as to the fact that "the world, the flesh and the devil" are our enemies, and they may still ignore what we teach. The Philistines were Israel's greatest enemies and yet Samson was attracted to them and their lifestyle. Christendom has gone so far that even real believers are attracted to the present-day forms of religion as long as there is entertainment and pleasure to go along with it. But God, by authority and power in His divine providence works to bring about His purposes. Samson had good parents, great strength and yet he wasted his potential greatness. Great strength in one area of life doesn't make up for great weakness in other areas. Samson never got what he wanted but the greater tragedy was he never became the man God wanted. He used his special gifts for his own selfish purposes.
He had everything in his favor at home but didn't appreciate the godliness that would have kept him from failure. Despite Samson's disobedience, God was still going to carry out His purpose. We are responsible for our failures and cannot excuse sin, but in God's providence, His purposes will be carried out. Samson's sin started him on a downward path his parents would have nothing to do with. Once the blessings that have come to us from the cross-work of Christ lose their attraction for us, then we are getting away from God and the world claims our attention. The four downward steps in Samson's spiritual journey began with the violation of his vow. Then there was contact with a dead carcass. Perhaps he was consciously guilty at the drunken party because as one who had the vow of the Nazarite on him, he was not to drink strong drink. The riddle he gave was not the proposal of a Spirit-filled man. That went farther to the downfall of compromise. There were two bitter lessons he had to learn. When you marry a woman you marry her relatives, and it is hard to resist the tears of a woman. He lost his honor, his bet, and his wife. He was a great contrast from the Nazarite - Samuel who changed the course of the nation.
Eight times in the account of Samson's life as recorded in the book of Judges we read of "going down." He went down first and then saw what he wanted. When we first remove from the place God has placed us and from the people of God, then our affections are in danger of being attracted to the wrong person and wrong objectives. The whole process of departure doesn't happen in an instant. The tribe of Dan had failed to take their inheritance in the valley and so the Philistines claimed both it and the city of Timnath. One failure leads to another. The first downward journey of Samson was to that city and he saw what he wanted because it appealed to the "lust of the flesh." He first "saw her," then "Talked with her," and "she pleased him." The first thing to go when we get away from God is our spiritual eyesight. Then our character suffers and our freedom goes.
The closer Samson got to the Philistines the farther away he got from his godly parents. He demanded of them, "get her for me." He found his pleasure in her instead of what was righteous. When we forget who the enemy is, then we start fraternizing with the world, start catering to the flesh and find ourselves under attack by the devil who comes as a roaring lion. One thing follows another and we find ourselves where we shouldn't be, doing things we shouldn't do, and getting involved in that which is none of our business. Then we are defiled, and because we are defiled that makes a difference in our fellowship with God and His people. That difference creates a division and the division produces deception. However, we need to remember that failures and weakness does not stop God from working His will.
On two occasions in this chapter we read that "the Spirit of the Lord" came upon Samson. In spite of his failures and wrong view of things, and the Nazarite vow that was binding on him for life, the Lord was in control. "It was of the Lord" in that God allowed the beginning of deliverance for Israel. He was down by the vineyards where he was close to that which was forbidden to him. While he was there the young lion came out against him which he killed with his hands. Later he touched the dead carcass which he should not have done. And yet, in spite of his faithlessness on those occasions of failure, God was faithful to him. A guilty conscience and shame, causes us to hide those things that are wrong. In that kind of a setting we may charge others with being deceitful and at the same time are deceitful ourselves.
So-called Christianity can adapt a non-confrontational approach to the Gospel and even fundamental doctrines until it realizes it cannot win the battle of the mind for the souls of people. When God is working, He can use the basest of men and the darkest of circumstances to produce the results His sovereign will has designed. A woman in Timnath, a harlot in Gaza and a woman in the valley of Sorek cannot stop the work of God - even when they use tears to bring about the designs of evil against a child of God.
The riddle, the reward and the threat were all used by the Lord to begin to deliver the children of Israel. There are downward steps in the spiritual journey that begins with carelessness on the part of one who comes near the border of the world. The men of Ashkelon were the first fatalities in the Lord's plan to set His people free. This world under its "god" is never in favor with being compatible with godly people who follow the scriptures, serve God and want to please Him with all their hearts. It may take on a pleasing cloak to cover dark designs, but God knows what we do not know.