- Joined
- Apr 25, 2006
- Messages
- 17,520
14 December 2007
Word on the Web
Judges 15 v 1-8
At the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, taking a young goat with him. He said "I'm going to my wife's room" But her father would not let him go in. He said to Samson, "I thought you really hated your wife, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more beautiful. Take her instead." But Samson said to them, "This time no one will blame me for hurting the Philistines!" So Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. He took two foxes at a time, tied their tails together and then tied a torch to each pair of foxes. After he lit the torches, he let the foxes loose in the grain fields of the Philistines so that he burned up their standing grain, the piles of grain, their vineyards and their olive trees. The philistines asked, "who did this?" someone told them, "Samson, the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, did this because his father-in-law gave his wife to his best man." So the Philistines burned Samson's wife and her father to death. Then Samson said to the Philistines, "Since you did this, I won't stop until I pay you back." Samson attacked the Philistines and killed many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
Lessons from the Past
Years ago a girl often called at our house. She came to play with our daughter. Sometimes they both played nicely together for hours at a time. But, eventually and inevitably there was an argument and our daughter would usually come home upset and crying.
Samson became involved in a similar kind of cycle. Whenever he went into Philistine territory - you've guessed it - there were problems. But the writer of Judges tells us clearly he kept going back!
So the lessons from the past were staring Samson in the face - but Samson never learned!
We all make mistakes. The important thing is do we learn from them and do we move on from them by avoiding the same mistakes again? Or, do we like Samson go back repeatedly to make the same mistakes over and over?
Overcoming lions and catching foxes makes for interesting reading. Samson is a lively and interesting character. But his judgements are often bad.
Maybe Samson just kept forgetting what he was like? James warns us about forgetting about how we appear to God when we allow his word to show us what we are really like, as if we look into a spiritual mirror ... 'They see their faces and then go away and quickly forget what they look like.' James 1:24.
Heavenly Father, help me to learn from the past by not making the same mistakes over and over. Amen.
Written by Gary Roberts
Word on the Web
Judges 15 v 1-8
At the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, taking a young goat with him. He said "I'm going to my wife's room" But her father would not let him go in. He said to Samson, "I thought you really hated your wife, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more beautiful. Take her instead." But Samson said to them, "This time no one will blame me for hurting the Philistines!" So Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. He took two foxes at a time, tied their tails together and then tied a torch to each pair of foxes. After he lit the torches, he let the foxes loose in the grain fields of the Philistines so that he burned up their standing grain, the piles of grain, their vineyards and their olive trees. The philistines asked, "who did this?" someone told them, "Samson, the son-in-law of the man from Timnah, did this because his father-in-law gave his wife to his best man." So the Philistines burned Samson's wife and her father to death. Then Samson said to the Philistines, "Since you did this, I won't stop until I pay you back." Samson attacked the Philistines and killed many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
Lessons from the Past
Years ago a girl often called at our house. She came to play with our daughter. Sometimes they both played nicely together for hours at a time. But, eventually and inevitably there was an argument and our daughter would usually come home upset and crying.
Samson became involved in a similar kind of cycle. Whenever he went into Philistine territory - you've guessed it - there were problems. But the writer of Judges tells us clearly he kept going back!
So the lessons from the past were staring Samson in the face - but Samson never learned!
We all make mistakes. The important thing is do we learn from them and do we move on from them by avoiding the same mistakes again? Or, do we like Samson go back repeatedly to make the same mistakes over and over?
Overcoming lions and catching foxes makes for interesting reading. Samson is a lively and interesting character. But his judgements are often bad.
Maybe Samson just kept forgetting what he was like? James warns us about forgetting about how we appear to God when we allow his word to show us what we are really like, as if we look into a spiritual mirror ... 'They see their faces and then go away and quickly forget what they look like.' James 1:24.
Heavenly Father, help me to learn from the past by not making the same mistakes over and over. Amen.
Written by Gary Roberts
