Samson said to the servant . . . “Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them.” (Judg. 16:26)
A police officer stood before reporters and told about the death of a four-year-old girl. Her parents were charged with kidnapping, torture, and murder. Some details were so gruesome that he would not share them. He ended by saying, “In all my years in law enforcement this is the worst thing I have ever seen.”
Sin is an ugly thing. It leads to devastating lifestyles and practices. Sometimes we are taken aback by how bad people can be. But without God’s loving restraint, sin will decline into unthinkable evil.
Samson defied God by telling Delilah his secret. With his hair cut, the Philistines subdued him, gouged out his eyes, and put him to work in their prison. But that was not enough for them. They put Samson on display and made him entertain them in their sinful show. It may have been the worst thing the Israelites had seen.
It is easy for us to look around and see the devastating effects of sin. And in that moment, we can easily give up. In bleakness we can forget the goodness of God and the richness of his grace. And it would have been easy for Samson to give up in his situation. Instead of focusing on the bleakness of the moment Samson focused on God’s sovereign grace.
Don’t give up. God’s grace will be your strength.
Remember the richness of God’s grace and forget the poverty of sin.
Ken Dill is the associate vice president for spiritual life and university chaplain at Southern Wesleyan University. He loves his family and enjoys birding and NASCAR.
© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
