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.