missed

There are few sadder accounts than the one of Samson. It is the story of a man of God who traded confidence in God for confidence in himself. His ability came from God with specific instructions about how to live and how to use his gift. All the vows of a Nazarene lifestyle-not cutting the hair, not touching dead things, not drinking alcohol-were purposeful in making Samson's life pure, free from a lot of the trouble other people deal with. God could have left Samson at any time as Samson began to break these vows. One by one Samson broke his vows, filling up with foolish pride, and began to misuse his gift. Instead of being about God's business, he was consumed with the politics of self. Somewhere along the way, he lost the vision of God's idea, God's plan for his existence and the reasons why those vows were necessary. Like a child, Samson wanted to enjoy the gift and toss the responsibility.

That is a picture of many who come to Christ. We are convinced of His love for us and are comforted and attracted by that-we call it the "relational" side of God. We think that as long as we don't do the big sins, like adultery, grand theft auto, or murder, that we're in good standing with "the Big Guy." We use our gifts selfishly and feel good about it when its done "for God," as in a church setting or some other religious venue. What we forget is that as much as we would like to appear (normal) like other people (non-Christians), we are not as other people by the order of God's design. We are different merely by the fact that we have come into relationship with God and have begun to follow after His idea for our lives. We cannot begin to do that until we understand the responsibility of relationship. We are covered by the grace and mercy God extends to us, yes. But that is not a license to be selfish, rebellious, or to continuously carry around past wounds and bitterness.

God stayed with Samson and even continued to meet his needs (the spring at Lehi for his thirst, after he killed a thousand Philistines) long after Samson broke his vows. He must have mistook God's patience for permission to continue in his selfishness. But every relationship has limits, or else it has no integrity, no true respect. God had to leave Samson. Samson did not even slow down as he smashed through every vow, every protective barrier of guidance God set in place for his life. And when he finally and foolishly revealed his secret to Delilah, he was confident God would be there for him in the morning.

If we are going to push the limits of a relationship with our loving and gracious God, we had best understand that at some point He will remove Himself from our situation. He must do this for 2 reasons:
1. He respects Himself.
He is no one's lapdog. If He continued on in a situation like this, beyond the limits He set, then He would not be God.
2. For our Good.
Once we push through all the barriers God uses for our protection, we obviously have a monumental breakdown in understanding relationship. If we will not turn around after hitting one hard spot after another, we finally have to have a little taste of what we deserve.

"Samson shook himself and did not know that God had left him." -the saddest words in the Bible. But this is also the point at which Samson began to know God in a new way. It was his turning point. In the end God came back to Samson. But, it was too late. Samson missed God's original purpose for him. Because Samson allowed his mission to be sabotaged by selfishness, instead of being the man that completely freed his people from Philistine oppression, he was only successful in raising their morale. And he had to die to do that.