Samson Story

This week we're on Bible stories about Samson. As we reviewed the whole story today, I noticed a couple of things.

Samson's first wife was threatened by her people to find out the answer to the riddle. If she didn't, her countrymen were going to burn up her and her father and her father's house. After acquiescing and betraying her husband, later in the story (when her countrymen found out that Samson had burned up their fields because his wife had been given in marriage to his best man after the groom left) his wife and her father were burned up by their countrymen anyway.

When Delilah was pressing Samson for the secret of his strength, one of the fibs he told her was that he would be weakened if they bound him with new ropes. Thing is, many years earlier, when his own countrymen were tracking him down to turn him over to the Philistines, the men of Judah bound Samson with new ropes. But somehow, when they turned their judge/leader over to the enemy, those new ropes didn't hold him so well, did they?

As pastor talked about these stories all week, the thing I found most comforting was that God did what He wanted to do, accomplished His goals, and worked for His people's salvation, no matter how totally screwed up and sinful was the man He had set in place as the judge. Even though it was not right for Samson to eat the unclean food, or be enticed by women, or desire vengeance for the sake of his own anger, nevertheless, God worked His purposes out, even using the sin of people.