Tuesday, April 28, 2009

If you had not plowed with my heifer...

I have always loved the story of Samson. When I was little I loved it because he was like a superhero. I love it now because of the message I see in it. Samson was a Nazirite and so had many restrictions placed upon the way he lived his life. He eventually broke all of them. He was arrogant, rebellious, and vengeful. Everything you look for in a good family film as well as a children's bible story, right? He was married, but his wife was soon given to another man. He stayed with a prostitute and then he lived with another woman, the famous Delilah. Samson is most well known for his incredible feats of strength when the Spirit of God would come upon him. My favorite, of course, slaying 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey. He also brought down an entire temple as his last act. This man was, as the kids say these days, ballin'. All of these things are no longer my favorite pieces of this story. The greatest thing that I see in this story is that God was willing to work through this disobedient, unruly man. Samson did just about everything wrong that he could, but God did not look at him and say, "Well, this is a lost cause. I might as well move on." God had a plan to fight the Philistines and human stubbornness and stupidity couldn't even come close to stopping it. That's a very comforting thing to remember when I look around me today at all the craziness and malice in the world. Samson was a failure most of his life, but when he earnestly cried out to his God, God answered.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Joshua stopped the sun, why can't I?

Well, as some of you may have predicted, I have fallen severely behind schedule. Life is just plain busy. That does not absolve me from being behind schedule but it is one of the main factors leading to my slacking. I did finish Numbers today. I've been imagining what it would have been like to listen to Moses give speeches about the Law. I don't know if I could have done it. I find it hard enough to read, but imagining listening to this man who many believe had a stutter ramble on...it boggles my mind. This may be slightly sacrilegious, but it's how I feel. Deuteronomy is going to be a little more exciting, but what I am really looking forward to is Judges. I know I have a ways to go to get there, but there are some pretty great stories there. I'm especially looking forward to rereading the story of Samson (my second favorite figure from the Old Testament). You can expect a post devoted to his story (I know you're just brimming with excitement at that thought). He might be one of the few men in history who compared his wife to livestock and survived. Well, I realize this post hasn't been very interesting, but I promised updates so there ya go.