The last of the Judges to be chronicled in the book of Judges is the wildest and most unruly of them all. Samson was a man of unbridled passions, uncontrolled temperament and self-destructive nature. He let his passions override his obedience to God as is evident here in his marriage to a Philistine woman. (Intermarriage with the Canaanites was forbidden.) Contrast with this the fact that he was set apart from birth as a Nazirite (a person dedicated for special service to God), that he was blessed by the LORD and that the Spirit of God was upon him (13:24,25). He is even included in the list of heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. All this gives us a perplexing mixture of the holy and carnal in one person. It doesn’t seem right. But this is what God does. As the cliché goes: God can use a crooked stick to make a straight hit. Samson would have to be one of the most crooked sticks God has ever used. This is no licence to be like Samson, for Samson would indeed reap the consequences of his unruly behaviour. It is, however, a good reminder that our capacity to serve God does not depend on our personal worthiness. It is obvious that God chose Samson, and it is equally obvious that he didn’t choose Samson because of Samson’s worthiness. You are not worthy of God’s choice, but this is not the point. God has bound himself to you in love and he wants to use you to save his people.
Commit yourself to serve God.
Read Judges 14
