14^th May

“As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah. At that moment the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands…..”

Judges 14:5-6b

Against their wishes, Samson’s parents reluctantly travelled with him to the city of Timnah to meet the Philistine woman he had fallen in love with. As they were heading to the city, a lion jumped out to attack Samson. He ripped the lions jaws apart with his bare hands as if, the bible tells us, “it were a young goat.” Verse 6 of chapter 14 also tells us that his parents were not aware of this incident, so most likely Samson got separated from them en-route to Timnah.

Yet what is most interesting to note is that Samson’s supernatural strength came from God and not from himself. God gave him the power to defeat this lion…

Samson and his family returned to Timnah for the wedding feast. On the way there he purposefully left the path to look for the carcass of the lion that he had previously killed. In doing so, Samson the Nazarite, defiled himself by coming into contact with a deceased body (see Numbers 6). Yet not only did he come in contact with the body, he also found a bee’s nest in the carcass, scooped out their honey and shared it with his innocent parents. Not only did he personally sin but caused his parents to sin too as he didn’t tell them “he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.”

Even in the midst of God’s blessings we can also act like Samson. Samson, even at this early age, seemed to be abusing the grace of God and abusing the gift that God had given him to defeat the Philistines. However, unlike Samson, we should take a stand against defiling ourselves, against disobeying God and against abusing the grace He so freely gives us. We must not let our hearts become so deceitful that we become insensitive to our sin and abuse the grace of God. Strength to withstand temptation is only found in relying on God and not in our strength.