September 24, 2013

It is good to be up and at ‘um on this Tuesday as my work week begins. I had a very good day yesterday, accomplishing many things on my checklist and ending up on the patio sitting by my fire, made with wood I cut from trees I planted in Kentucky.

Today I have much pastoral work to do, including staff prayer time, worship planning team, St. Paul/Wesley adoption conversations, a friend in distress, and my shift with the apple pie operation, operating a peeler at 4:30! I love being a pastor. These last few weeks I have experienced a level of comfort/fulfillment on Sundays and through the weeks, seemingly on a different level than in the past. I am not sure the reason or source of this new sense of being.

Judges 16
Sampson, who judged Israel for 20 years, visits a prostitute in Gaza, and pulls down the city gates at midnight, avoiding an ambush by the Philistines. He falls in love (lust) with Delilah, who is paid to discover the source of his strength. When he tells her that his hair has never been cut because of the Nazarite vow of his parents, she has his hair cut, and the Lord left him, along with his strength. He was captured, his eyes gouged out, and he was put to grinding grain in prison. The Philistines had a large festival to celebrate their god Dagon and his victory over Sampson. Sampson’s strength had returned as his hair grew out, he prayed, and God gave him victory in collapsing the building and thousands of Philistines died, along with Sampson. His family came to recover his body.

There is so much in this story to interpret. It seems the key element is that Sampson was motivated by sex above his desire to please God. This became his downfall. His strength was a rare gift from God, which was wasted in many ways. In the end he used it for God’s purposes and died along with his enemies. Guide me today, most holy Lord to use the strength and other gifts you have given me to accomplish your purposes in this generation. Guard me from anything which would be a distraction.