Samson in the Wilderness - Part 3

This is the third part to a series on Samson.  You can start at the beginning here.

I mentioned in my opening paragraph of Samson- a Faithful Example, that there seems to be a time when Samson fell into a spiritual wilderness, devoid of the power and authority of the Holy Spirit.

Judges Chapter 16 seems to start in this way.  We see Samson visiting a harlot in Gaza.  At this time, Samson was a most wanted man for all the destruction he had caused the Philistines.  The men of the city planned to kill him in the morning.  Samson escaped by leaving in the middle of the night, but there is no indication he did this with the power of the Holy Spirit.  Verse 3 says, “he arose and took hold of the doors of the city’s gate and the two posts, and pulling them up, bar and all, he put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is before Hebron.”

Usually passages showing great strength like this begins with, “And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him.”  This is not the case in Chapter 16.  What this tells me is that Samson is naturally a very strong man.  There is a way that God’s people can walk separate from the Holy Spirit, and in our own strength.  I believe this is what Samson was doing.  The practice of walking separate from God leads us into a spiritual wilderness.  We learned from the Israelites' experience in the physical wilderness that God still provides and is near during this time, but He uses this (very difficult) experience to discipline us and prove our faith (to ourselves).

I’m going to take a slight detour in order to explain the idea of a spiritual wilderness, or the practice of walking separate from God.  In today’s language, we like to make a distinction between religion and relationship.  I have heard it explained that religion is following a set of instructions for holy living without relationship.  God’s people (including us!) have fallen in this category consistently since the fall of man in Genesis. 

After spending much time in the Old Testament Law, I began to understand that there is no distinction between religion and relationship from God’s perspective.  In essence, there is no difference in the Old Testament Covenant and the New.  Today as always, it is God’s intention that true love for Him would be so evident in our lives that we would naturally be concerned with obeying divine instructions pertaining to Holy Living.  It is our flesh which weakens this Covenant, and our human tendency is to separate duty from oneness with God.  Another way of explaining this is to say that we have the tendency to walk independently of God’s Spirit.  It is the sin in our flesh, which we all carry, that has made the distinction and created enmity between us and God.  God made the correction through sending Jesus into the flesh to crucify sin and make it possible for us to walk in Him, or to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and be one with God.  It is through this kind of relationship that the law is fulfilled in us.  As detailed as the law was in the Israelites' lives is how detailed God is with us.  He wants to work, play, rest, love, exercise, clean, organize, serve, lead, and so forth, with us.  (The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence is a gem of a book that can help encourage this.)

So how does this work?  It is only through a true humbling and surrendering to God that we can abide in Him.  It is consistently laying down our own desires and allowing the Spirit to have His way.  It is a lifestyle of obeying the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  It is through the Spirit in us that God’s law (way) is written on our hearts.  Sometimes this means coming to the end of ourselves, which can be a very painful process as we will see in Samson’s life.

It’s not hard to see that many of us aren’t tapping into this kind of living.  Even those of us who are called by God to serve in His Church find ourselves, like Samson, operating in our own strength.  Our flesh has weakness, and has limits.  This can be why so many of us experience burn-out, or a dry season.  Operating in this way leads to destruction, as many of us have seen in our lives and in the church.  Samson experienced this destruction.  But have faith, God uses our destruction to lead us into His Presence and to teach us to walk in His way.  God’s story is that of salvation, restoration, and glory.  Good stuff.

More to come. . .  click here.