What a man

Another interesting aspect of looking at the book of Judges is the people it centers on, especially those that God used to rescue the Israelites from their enemies. Of all the people God uses throughout the book, I find Samsom to be one of the most interesting.

Samson is a man who embodies nearly everything we find distasteful. He's brash, he's rude, he's lead by his passions and hungers, he has a blinding temper, he listens to God when it suits his purposes. We probably would not have liked Samson if we'd met him; yet the very problem is that we see too much of himself in ourselves.

I suppose it is easy to come down on Samson; after all, what would my own life look like if it were condensed into a few pages of scripture? Would people see a man who sought to do the will of God and struggled to attain holiness, or would they see a lazy sinner who followed God when it was convenient and easy?

But the absolutely amazing thing is that despite all of Samson's flaws, God used him. In fact, God often took advantage of those very flaws! What an amazing concept! How often do we convince ourselves that we are of no use to God because we have some sin bogging down our lives, that we're just not holy enough? Samson should be proof that God is willing to use his followers at all levels of maturity and holiness in order to accomplish his purposes. True enough, God doesn't want to leave us immature and unsanctified, but he certainly won't forgo letting us serve him just because we haven't reached perfection yet.