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What can we learn from flawed leaders?
It’s tough to navigate through the book of Judges, and Samson’s story specifically, because the concepts seem so foreign to us. The stories are puzzling. Why would God choose Samson to fulfill His plan? How could such a selfish and carnal individual be the judge (savior) for Israel? It really seems as if this entire time period is so radically different than today. But is it really?
I’ve often said that if we were not able to experience ________, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate ________. This is the case with grace. Without experiencing sin, grace doesn’t make sense. For those who have experienced rock bottom, grace means so much more. This would be the case with Israel and Samson.
Take a moment and consider the bigger picture. Joshua unified Israel and led them to the promised land where they backslid and began to once again abandon God. The next “phase” of their journey is here in Judges where God leads particular men and women as judges to save Israel despite their wicked behavior. God used flawed heroes of faith such as Gideon, Jephthah, and here, Samson, to deliver Israel in hopes they would turn back to Him.
After Judges, we move into the age of kings, where Israel thought that having a king over them would keep them on the straight and narrow. It wouldn’t work. It would be years later when King Jesus finally came that sin would finally be destroyed for those who put their faith in Him.
My point is this; through Samson’s life we can acknowledge how utter depraved we are as humanity. We can appreciate and relish in the grace of Jesus even more. We can see how even a little faith despite a life of horrible choices can bring glory to God’s plan. The beauty of these stories shows itself in the bigger picture of Scripture. How depressing it is for someone to only read Judges and never venture through the Bible to understand how this one chapter leads us to the praise and worship of our Creator?