The Price of Disobedience: Sampson

Image by Maicon Fonseca Zanco from Pixabay

Welcome back to Time in the Word. We began our devotional series on The Price of Disobedience, starting with the character Moses. You can catch the Moses devotional here. If you missed our recent devotional about David, you can read that here, https://www.mandyandmichele.com/the-price-of-disobedience/. While you are at it, visit our blog mandyandmichele.com. We have a variety of blogging articles that are sure to enlighten and entertain.

Today we begin our discussion with Sampson. Sampson can be a bit of a head-scratcher. Let me share a little bit about our Bible character Sampson. Before we begin today, you’ll need to read Sampson’s back story in Judges 13. If you are reading this digitally, you can catch the link here, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+13&version=NIV.

Let’s go back to where this all started

Sampson’s parents had no children. Sampson’s mother was visited by the angel of the Lord and was told that she would become pregnant and bear a son. This son would take the lead in delivering Israel from the Philistines.

Do the Philistines ring any bells for you? Moses and the Israelites journeyed to the promised land called Canaan. The Philistines were a vile, warring people who occupied the land of Canaan. God told the Israelites to destroy all of the Philistines.

Because they were disobedient (here we go again) and did NOT rid the land of the Philistines, God allowed the Philistines to have influence over the Israelites.

I just want to stop here and ask, “Do you see a pattern here?” Do you see this pattern in your own life? When have you disobeyed God’s commands or a special mission in your life? Have you felt the consequences?

Sometimes, I slap my forehead and say, “What foolish folk these Israelites are!” Then I hear God say, “Michele, you don’t hit the mark sometimes either.” So, we really struggle just like the Israelites do. Our advantage is we have their stories to learn from- if we choose to learn.

Back to the Philistines! This Philistine influence led Israel to Baal worship, along with pagan practices and the worship of many other gods. The people you hang around with influence your life. No matter how old you are, make good choices in the company you keep.

Sampson

We pick up our story in Judges 14. You can catch this digitally here, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+14&version=NIV.

Sampson is now a grown man. He finds a woman to marry out of the town of Timnah. This woman is a Philistine, and Sampson’s parents are very concerned. They question Sampson about his pick and ask if he would have a better wife with someone in his family line and heritage.

Something we should know was Sampson was a Nazarite from his mother’s womb. This sets him apart from the rest of the Jewish folk. Next week I will talk about what it meant to be a Nazarite, and then we can see how Sampson’s disobedience led to his fall.

Thank you for joining me in Time in the Word.