that scandal

Judges 14

One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye.  When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”  His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?  But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.”  His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.

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. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother about it.  When Samson arrived in Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her.

Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass.  He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.

As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom for elite young men.  When the bride’s parents saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town to be his companions.  Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.  But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.”  “All right,” they agreed, “let’s hear your riddle.”

So he said:

“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;
    out of the strong came something sweet.”

Three days later they were still trying to figure it out.  On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?”

So Samson’s wife came to him in tears and said, “You don’t love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer."  “I haven’t even given the answer to my father or mother,” he replied. “Why should I tell you?”  So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day he told her the answer because she was tormenting him with her nagging. Then she explained the riddle to the young men.

So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer:

“What is sweeter than honey?
    What is stronger than a lion?”

Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!”

Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother.  So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.

I think this is the most scandalous chapter in the whole Bible.  

Samson was born with a name that meant "bright sun" and was set apart by God to do great things.  But, in his selfish and sinful nature, he chose his own desires over that which God created him to fulfill.  

He lusted after a woman he should have never even looked at, and that lust turned into greed, turned into manipulation over his parents, turned into other temptations he fell for, turned into destruction, turned into lies, turned into deceit, turned into murder, turned into complete loss of everything he started with.  He used the gifts God gave him for selfish purposes, gross.

It was that very first choice he made that led to all of the destruction that came after.  If that choice would have honored God, then so many other lives around him would have not suffered too.  When we make choices, they don't just affect ourselves, but countless others that we can't even see at the time (like the 30 men he killed), bet you they didn't see that coming.  

I don't like to think about all the bad choices I made in my past, but I do love to talk about how Jesus redeemed all of them and made my whole heart, mind, soul, and body a new creation.  

Samson's story is not over after this, there is so much that God did after that one bad decision......stay tuned for it.

I rode around downtown Jackson yesterday looking for my friend Jonathon.  He made a bad choice just like Samson did, and is seeing the ripple effect of that play out in his life, as are we that love him.  After riding around for a while, I spotted him standing in the parking lot of our corner store.  I whipped in, didn't even turn my car off, and ran up to him.  After I told him I was so glad I found him, I gave him a good hand on my hips, finger shaking in the air, hard truth talking too.  He just kept saying, "I got you" and I wanted to shake him and make him really GET it!  But Jesus always reminds me, that's not my job, that's His.  

Over the last week, Jonathon has been loved on by many people, reminded of the truth that God created him to be more than what he was choosing, and that the last year has not been wasted and it was not to late - that nasty lie the enemy wants us to believe.  

Before yesterday was over, he had gotten a hot shower, a safe and clean place to sleep, and another chance to see Jesus redeem him.  That bad choice he made hurt a lot of people, but he has turned it into a beautiful choice now, and we get to see what restoration looks like, again.

Samson's scandal, Jonathon's scandal, my scandal.........nothing different about them, because Jesus came to set all of us free, so they are both the same as me.