14 One day when Samson was in Timnah, one of the Philistine women caught his eye. 2 When he returned home, he told his father and mother, “A young Philistine woman in Timnah caught my eye. I want to marry her. Get her for me.”
3 His father and mother objected. “Isn’t there even one woman in our tribe or among all the Israelites you could marry?” they asked. “Why must you go to the pagan Philistines to find a wife?”
But Samson told his father, “Get her for me! She looks good to me.” 4 His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.
5 As Samson and his parents were going down to Timnah, a young lion suddenly attacked Samson near the vineyards of Timnah. 6 At that moment the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him, and he ripped the lion’s jaws apart with his bare hands. He did it as easily as if it were a young goat. But he didn’t tell his father or mother about it. 7 When Samson arrived in Timnah, he talked with the woman and was very pleased with her.
8 Later, when he returned to Timnah for the wedding, he turned off the path to look at the carcass of the lion. And he found that a swarm of bees had made some honey in the carcass. 9 He scooped some of the honey into his hands and ate it along the way. He also gave some to his father and mother, and they ate it. But he didn’t tell them he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.
10 As his father was making final arrangements for the marriage, Samson threw a party at Timnah, as was the custom for elite young men. 11 When the bride’s parents saw him, they selected thirty young men from the town to be his companions.
12 Samson said to them, “Let me tell you a riddle. If you solve my riddle during these seven days of the celebration, I will give you thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing. 13 But if you can’t solve it, then you must give me thirty fine linen robes and thirty sets of festive clothing.”
“All right,” they agreed, “let’s hear your riddle.”
14 So he said:
“Out of the one who eats came something to eat;
out of the strong came something sweet.”
Three days later they were still trying to figure it out. 15 On the fourth[b] day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle for us, or we will burn down your father’s house with you in it. Did you invite us to this party just to make us poor?”
16 So Samson’s wife came to him in tears and said, “You don’t love me; you hate me! You have given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”
“I haven’t even given the answer to my father or mother,” he replied. “Why should I tell you?” 17 So she cried whenever she was with him and kept it up for the rest of the celebration. At last, on the seventh day he told her the answer because she was tormenting him with her nagging. Then she explained the riddle to the young men.
18 So before sunset of the seventh day, the men of the town came to Samson with their answer:
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
Samson replied, “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle!”
19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him. He went down to the town of Ashkelon, killed thirty men, took their belongings, and gave their clothing to the men who had solved his riddle. But Samson was furious about what had happened, and he went back home to live with his father and mother. 20 So his wife was given in marriage to the man who had been Samson’s best man at the wedding.
Judges 14
Dear God, I find the Samson story interesting because it shows me that you sometimes do things that are completely counterintuitive to me. How could you use this profane, ungodly man? How could you condone so much pure awfulness in a leader? How could you select him? What are you doing? I like this description of his parents in verse 4 because it would have to be said of me a lot of times, including today: 4His father and mother didn’t realize the Lord was at work in this, creating an opportunity to work against the Philistines, who ruled over Israel at that time.
There’s a Rich Mullins song called “Who God is Gonna Use.”
At the beginning of this video, Rich talks about how you used Balaam’s donkey to save him (Numbers 22:21-35), and that story inspired the rest of the song. You use all kinds of people and all kinds of things. And not necessarily the holy ones. And not necessarily to do holy things. You used Pilate and Herod to kill Jesus. But what the disciples couldn’t see at the time is that it was taking one step back to take five steps forward. They killed Stephen, which seemed like a huge setback, but you used it to spread the church throughout the world (Acts 8). Stephen’s death is one of the reasons I am here today.
I have a friend who lost her father last week, and then was in an unfortunate accident yesterday that sent her to the ER. She loves you. She worships you. It seems like awful timing. Why would this happen? Why would you let this happen? Well, maybe there are just things I cannot see. Please be with her and her mother today as she recovers and they mourn the loss of a great, godly man.
As I type this email this morning, we now know who won the election yesterday for POTUS. There are some Christians who are delighted. Some are devastated. If the winner had been different, the roles would have been reversed. I talked with both sides over the last few weeks, and I told them, “Whoever wins, I will not let it be my idol. I am not putting my faith in either candidate. I am putting my faith in God and the things he is doing that I cannot see. So the day after the election, regardless of who wins, I will wake up, worship God, pray, and then go about loving everyone I can that day.”
Father, use President-elect Trump to do your will in this world whether he even knows your doing it or not, and regardless of what your will is for our country or this world. And my prayer would be the same if Kamala Harris won. I don’t know what you have for our country. I don’t know what you have for the people within it and around the world. I don’t know what you have for me. I know that I have no demands on you. I know that I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task you’ve given me–the task of testifying to the gospel of your grace through Jesus. So help me to live into that today. For those who will be impacted materially by policies of a new administration, both foreign and domestic, I pray. Find your remnant and strongly support them. Use everything going on this world to draw us closer to you. I pray that the American church my find true faith in you and turn loose of the idols we look to for our certainty. I pray that I will do the same. I am here to offer you my worship, my life, and my service. Use me as you will.
I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,
Amen
Emails to God 