Samson's Lost Legacy

Read Judges 13-16
 
BEGINNING with our last lesson, we are reviewing Samson’s disobedient life as an illustration of Israel’s relationship with God. The first point is that Samson and Israel, both set apart for God’s purpose, rejected their call.
    The second example focuses on Samson rejecting his parents’ faith legacy. Samson’s parents were devout Israelites, who sought the Lord. They give us a good model to follow in their devotion and prayer life. How simple and faithful is this prayer: “Teach us what we shall do unto the child” (Judges 13:8). Samson’s father was persistent to seek the Lord’s directive. Judges 13:12 So Manoah asked him, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?” This is a petition we should all make before God for our family and ourselves.
    Samson, though, defied his parents. Against their wisdom, Judges 14:3b “Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She's the right one for me.”  Samson “went down” – physically and spiritually – to seek a wife among the Philistines, the people God had purposed for him to destroy. He also rejected the legacy of God’s law in Exodus 34:16, forbidding Israel to marry foreign women. His disobedience continued with his rejection of the fifth commandment, dishonoring his parents. How tragic to witness God’s chosen servant so severely abuse God’s righteous legacy.
    Israel, too, rejected their heavenly Father’s legacy of the life he had set before them. He called them up to the throne of blessing, and their desire was to go down to the pit of despair. How sad to see God’s bounteous love offering become Israel’s pervasive bitterness.
    How, then, are you living into the faith legacy set down before you? The Bible is God’s story of his love coming to you through the law, the prophets, the gospel and the epistles. Hebrews 11 is a brilliant reminder of the faithful witnesses who have gone before us. Church leaders, martyrs, scholars, teachers, preachers and prayerfully parents have been God’s tools to prepare you for a faithful life.
    As we look to Samson’s and Israel’s neglect, let’s rejoice, too, in all who have been faithful. Let’s then be committed to faithfully move the gospel to the next generations.  
 
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.