0195. Samson Wrought Some Great Victories for God
Samson Wrought Some Great Victories for God
"He shall begin to deliver Israel" (Jdg_13:5).
"A young lion roared against him * * and he rent him as he would have rent a kid" (Jdg_14:5-6).
"And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter" (Jdg_15:8).
"Heaps upon heaps, with the jaw bone of an ass have I slain a thousand men" (Jdg_15:16).
1. Samson did some great feats, and in these feats he began to deliver Israel. We only regret that he "began," and never did complete the task. He might have done far better, but no one can doubt but that he did well, in many things, and, that he possessed a fearlessness that should mark every servant of the Lord.
Many saints have done great works for God. Time would fail us to relate the mighty acts of men who were filled with the Spirit. Eternity alone will reveal the triumphs of the faith. Think of Paul going into a city and being reputed by the citizens, as one who had "turned the world upside down."
Do mighty works follow us, demonstrating that we, too, are filled with God? Can the things God is working through us be called, "the works of God"? Christ said: "Greater works than these, shall ye do." Have we, clothed with the Holy Spirit of God, fulfilled the possibilities of our discipleship?
2. Samson did his great feats in no strength of his own. The Philistines marveled at his power and at his prowess. There were no outward signs that marked him as a man of sufficient strength to carry off the gates of a city; or, single handed, to slay a thousand men. Samson was not a giant. He did not possess any great strength, within himself alone.
His strength lay in his God, and the secret of his strength lay in the long hair, that marked his Nazarite vow of separation unto the Lord.
What we need today, is a power that is Divine. We are sent to work a work that will startle men, and cause them to wonder; a work that cannot be accounted for, upon any human basis.
It is almost amusing to hear men discuss the secret of the strength of Spurgeon, or, of Moody, or, of some other greatly used child of God. How few really know that the power is not in the men, at all. "Power belongeth unto God."
3. Some have thought that Samson’s slaying the lion is a type of the saints’ victory over the devil; and that Samson’s slaying the Philistines, is a type of the saints’ victory over the world. Perhaps this is true, perhaps it is not. But it is true that God does give power over the devil and over the world, to all who look to Him.
God has placed in our hands the shield of faith, whereby we can quench every fiery dart of the devil; and "this is that which overcometh the world, even our faith." Victory is assured. We are led in the train of His triumphs; we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR