A Lesson from Samson the Great (How love conquered)

We have over the years, heard about the story of Samson. The most popular story I can even remember is the one which Samson tore the lions mouth. We have also perceived Samson to be the man who was gifted by GOD with strength and yet did not bring people to the reverence of God. Rather he indulged himself in womanizing and taking of strong wine. This we see as acts that aren’t God glorifying and we may even be courageous enough to say Samson’s gift proved a waste in his hands and we would have been able to list people who would have proved more worthy of a gift like this.

However, what we are failing to see is that there is nothing done without the knowledge and approval of God. He allows for things to happen and not necessarily carrying out the actions by Himself. In the case of Samson, the bible records (Judges 14:1-4) how God had always been with him even from the time he was conceived.

We know the story of Samson and Delilah, and how she had connived with the philistine leaders to reveal the secret of Samson’s strength for an exchange of silver (Judges 16:5). We also know that Samson was later caught (Judges 16:20) and perhaps we feel that he could had avoided that.

There is something I would like to draw our attention to and that is how Love played a major role throughout the relationship pan of Samson and Delilah. From the bible, we see that Israel had been delivered unto the Philistines for 40 years (Judges 13:1) and thus, the Israelites were being oppressed by the Philistines and this lead to the birth of Samson, who was to deliver them from their long time oppressors. We also saw that Samson grew into a great treat to the philistines because he was able to overcome their every plan but from another perspective it was also hard for the Israelite’s to hit where matters with the Philistine – the leadership.

Although Samson was defeating the soldiers, he was yet to reach the leaders. Then comes Love, when Samson fell in love with Delilah, it became easy to reach the leaders because they became interested in the relationship. The leaders knew that by Samson falling in love with one of them (Philistines) Samson would become trusting and reveal all his secret. From the other side (God’s) there has been a way to get into the inner chambers of the Philistines. At the time of Samson’s death, we see that Samson killed more philistines (including the ruling class) than ever before (Judges 16:30).

How do we see love in this story?

the concluding part of this post – A lesson from Samson the Great 2 (How Loved played out)

Thomas Osume.

A lesson from Samson the Great (How Loved played out) 2

Hope you are ready for this concluding part? Make sure you read carefully so you don’t miss any line because I guarantee this read will be lovable. 

 

                         

So we aligned how love was used through Samson to conquer the Israelites greatest enemy at that time the philistines and all their Lords and high officials.

God conquers by using his personality – Love. For God to conquer a man he uses Love. In the case of Samson, we see how because of his love for Delilah he was able to conquer the philistines although unknowing to him and Us (the later readers of his story), that the main reason God allowed for Samson love to grow for Delilah, was because that was the only way he could conquer them.

Today, we haven’t still understood this concept. For God so loved the world (john 3:16) – that we gave our life to God. Let’s see how this worked. Like earlier stated in the preceding article (Click here to Read), we saw how Samson got into the presence of Lord’s and Upper class personalities of the philistines and although they brought him to be mocked at, God had another plan for them. At the point of death, Samson asked of God to give him strength to kill everyone inside the building of which God Obliged him.

Although Love may seem innocent and sometimes make you look weak, it is a great offence weapon whenever it is used. In our present day, if you show concern and love for even a strong hearted person, the person will sooner or later reciprocate your action towards him. Hence Jesus admonishes us to Love our neighbors (Mat 22:39). Think of what made you become a believer, why you decided to give God the control of your life, think this and you will end up seeing that love brought you here. The same way Love brought Samson to Gaza (belonged to the Philistine’s at that time) and it’s this way we are expected to spread the gospel to everyone around Us by using Love – because love works.

So whatever you do, whoever you are, wherever you are, always share the Gospel of Love because it’s the only way we can conquer the world and still fulfil the mandate that God has given to us (Mark 16:16). Remember Love conquers all.

Blessings.
Thomas Osume