…and to your right, you will see that I no longer have a chatterbox. If you want to drop your twenty-five cents worth, then gosh darn it, you’ll have to do it the old fashioned way: comments.
Now, for the actual post…
I’ve been thinking about several disparate things lately and I’ve been trying to gather them all together so they can fit under an umbrella. I’ve noticed that the things that I dwell on, whether abstract or not, usually belong in several clusters and from there, I can trace it to an unique event, idea, or thought.
In my quest to finish the Bible front-to-back, I recently finished the book of Judges. (Am currently in the middle of 1 Samuel, for those who are curious.) There are several things in this book that really gave me some fodder for thinking. Two main things, actually: self-worth with complete fulfillment of the self and the behavior of the Israelites as a whole and how it’s painting an eerie analogy to us today.
Before I start, though, I need to first explain the background of the book. Judges follows the book of Joshua. Joshua was the last leader of an united Israel that just conquered different nations in order to create a Promised Land where Israel would settle. One of the stipulations that God gave Israel for the privilege of occupying the Promised Land was to completely eliminate all of the previous occupants and not allow anyone to intermingle with Israel. The reason for this thinking was that the nations that Israel routed practiced pagan idol worship, the occult, child sacrifice, sexual orgies, and a host of pagan teachings. If any of the people who used to live in the Land that Israel was now occupying, they would poison Israel with ideas and values that were not from God.
As the book of Judges opens, we learn that Israel failed to obey God completely and had allowed several tribes of the pagan nations to stay. Through intermarriage and false teachings, Israel turned away from God and began to do whatever they felt like doing. During this time, God didn’t completely abandon Israel, but instead raised periodic leaders, also called judges, who led with what they could.
One of the judges was Samson. Most of you know who Samson is, so who he is needs no explanation. What I knew as a child made for a heroic story: strong man, killed a lion with his bare hands, was seduced and betrayed, had his strength removed, asked for redemption and took revenge by taking down a temple with all the Philistines and himself in it. However, what I read as a 25-year-old adult made for a tragedy. Samson was a man who had a seriously unfulfilled destiny.
Samson was the only judge in the book to have his upcoming birth announced by an angel of God. He was to be specifically set aside as a Nazirite, a class of priests who took their duties seriously: No wine, cannot be around a dead body, nor cut their hair. They were completely devoted to God. This guy was meant for great things! Can you imagine the excitement his parents had when the angel left them? What great son they were going to have!
When Samson became an adult, he fell in love with a Philistine woman and married her against his parents’ wishes. This was a major no-no. The Philistines were not Godly people. They didn’t practice the same religion. He didn’t seem to care about this. His wife and his in-laws betrayed him on their wedding night and this resulted in a thousand Philistine deaths.
And yet, Samson didn’t learn his lesson. Judges records that he slept with a prostitute. Who knows if it was just once or many other prostitutes? After this, comes along Delilah, the story we are all so familiar with. What really struck me was that Samson still slept with her numerous times even though he knew she was trying to betray him. Why would you do that? Any sane person would have realized what was going on and left, but not him. I think he was addicted to women and sex. He was stuck in the sin of lust and couldn’t get out.
God eventually gave him his chance at redemption, but it still remains: What a seriously unfulfilled destiny. He was meant for great things and then stumbled…and stumbled…and stumbled even more. After reading Samson’s story through adult eyes, I couldn’t help but think about how most of us are failing to reach what we all are capable of because of sin and the powerlessness that comes with not letting go of things.
Every once in a while on the news, they will highlight people who are doing great works in the community, but what dominates the news? Murder, theft, countless stories of people who have gone astray. What’s not covered in the news are people who are apathetic about their lives, people who are simply content with just existing.
Imagine the power that would arise if everyone woke up, shook off their sin that they’ve been struggling with, shook free of their apathy, let go of the things that were dragging them down, and started fulfilling their potential as human beings! If the self was completely fulfilled!
I know it’s a real struggle. Many of the people I subscribe to on Xanga are writing about their struggles. I am struggling with it, too. I have the hope that most of us can avoid Samson’s tragedy and start doing something real and authentic and GREAT with our lives while we’re blessed with days here on earth. What power and what reformation and what greatness will come out of the human race then?
Chew on this for a couple of days. I’ll be back with the second part of my thinking.
labc7164 says:
Excellant!
knup728 says:
I think its kind of crazy that you would write about the Judges, because I was just wondering if God was going to place more people like the judges here on earth during this century. I was reading a book for my ethics class that mentioned that “bad times are meant for good people and good people are meant for bad times.” What he meant was basically that people like the judges are meant for the bad times to lead them into better times. He noticed that this century was supposed to be the “best century yet” and would be free of war and everyone would get along and yada yada yada. But, instead this century had two of the biggest wars recorded in history.
So basically, with a lot less words than the previous part of the comment, wouldn’t it be cool if one of us was meant to be like the judges? There have been a lot of times lately that I’ve felt like I’m being shaped and pruned into somebody that God will have great plans for. I also see this pruning in a lot of my friends lives, including your own. So it just makes me wonder, will we be the next judges? Hmmm, this too is something to ponder.
P.S. I haven’t talked to or seen you in a while. How are you doing? I think we should get another group of us together and go out again for ice cream or miniture golf or something. What do you think?
Rebelgirly82 says:
Interesting thoughts Matt. Thanks for sharing them. And thanks for you comment as well. I think I am going to talk to my dad’s pastor about the situation. Because this is not an isolated incident, it’s a common occurence. If he doesn’t respect us enough to listen to what we have to say, maybe he’ll listen to the pastor.