Genuine faith

Shalom!

The Israel trip has surely started off with a bang! One of the first places we went to was Bet Shemesh, where we hiked up onto a hill overlooking the Soraq valley. This is where we sat down and Matt Lantz had us turn to Judges 13-16. “Samson! Wow, one of my favorite stories.” I thought to myself as I got my Bible flipped open. Little did I know, I was about to learn a ton of new lessons and get a much deeper insight into a story I thought I was so familiar with.

We talked about the theme of the book of Judges - “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” - and how this theme directly applies into Samson’s life. I underlined over and over in the text where it was stated that Samson saw something or that something was seen as right in his own eyes (Judges 14:1-7 has several examples). We talked about the Nazarite vow that was made with Samson at his birth and how there are three parts to that vow - you can’t drink, you can’t cut your hair, and you can’t touch a dead body or animal (Numbers 6). It wasn’t long into the story before Samson had already broken two out of three of these. And yet up until Samson’s capture, you only see him call out to God once (when he very thirsty in Judges 15:18).

Everything really comes together toward the end of the story though. Samson gives away his secret and tells Delilah that if his head is shaved, he will lose his strength. The common misconception here is that Samson’s strength came from his hair, but we know it didn’t. Samson’s strength came from the Lord. Him cutting his hair was just the final straw of him fully breaking his vow. At this point, Samson is not following the Lord at all. He has completely gone his own way. You see it happening throughout his whole life, but this seems to be the final culmination. What’s really chilling though is that you see that Samson went his whole life doing what was right in his own eyes and in the end he has his eyes gouged out. It was at that point that Samson could no longer do what was right in his own eyes. Ironically, it was not until he lost his sight that he could finally truly see. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we are to live by faith and not by sight. When we walk by sight, we miss our opportunity for faith. In the end, Samson’s faith wins out (Judges 16:28) and he is even included in the hall of faith in Hebrews 11, but it is only after he was humbled and had his sight taken from him.

At the beginning, when Matt talked about the theme of Judges and how there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in his own eyes, I remember my reaction to that verse being “may that not be my life,” but slowly as we went through the story, I realized “wow, in a lot of ways this is me.” I’ve gone the past year or two really feeling like I’ve been in a dry season or a desert spiritually. Last year was just a really hard first year out of college and I had my faith challenged a lot. I’ve found myself in a rough period of not feeling God and not hearing from him, and being plagued with various doubts and questions.

Tears started streaming down my face as we got on the bus and pulled away. I felt God speaking to me in that moment and making me realize that I desire for there to be as little faith as possible. I want to rely on sight. I want to be able to see and fully understand and explain everything. In many ways I’m like Samson and am quick to go my own way and do what’s right in my own eyes. I’m like the Israelites or the disciples - so fickle and quick to forget everything God’s done in my life the moment I don’t feel him. The Lord’s been stripping away my sight this past year or so that I might stop relying on it and have a true opportunity for my faith to show. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says that we face trials so that our faith will be tested for how genuine it really is. Through trial, faith is either shown to be lacking or unauthentic by falling away, or it is shown to be real and genuine through perseverance. Genuine faith is described as “more precious than gold” and resulting “in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” I pray that this my faith would prove to be genuine. Just like we talked about today while overlooking the Elah valley where David fought Goliath, I pray that, like David, I would believe God more that what I see.

Andrew