“The Woman Bare a Son, and Called His Name Samson”

 

Judges 13-16

 

This is a compilation of possible greatness of Samson and his failings.

Promises and Blessings	Sins
Samson was promised to begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines.	He killed his wife and his father in law.
The Lord promised Samson endless strength if he would agree to not cut his hair.	Samson went in unto an harlot.
Samson was given success over the Philistines, he slew a thousand men with a jawbone of a donkey.	Samson fell in love with a Philistine and lost sight of his purpose.
The Spirit was moved upon Samson.	He betrayed his secret and broke his promise to the Lord. This gave him away to his enemy.
	He killed when a Nazarite is promised not to.

 

Why do you think some people with so much potential make such bad decisions.

This is the hardest thing to watch as a friend, as a sibling, and as a parent. I think that maybe people with so much potential have great talents that they have never had to work for and they take them for granted. I think also probably that if you have that great potential the devil is working against you as hard as he can.

I think that sometimes these people are accepted widely by their peers and maybe thrive on that, and in order to continue being accepted by their peers they make bad decisions. I have seen people in high school in this position who just want to stand out, for good or for bad and so sometimes they go off of the deep end.

I think that in cases like Samson's he probably thought himself invincible and so he gave way to temptation. May these people don't want the pressure or just don't realize how great they can be- I think everyone is guilty of underestimating their potential.

 Judges 13:5; Numbers 6:1-9 & Institute Student Manual commentary for Judges 13:5,
 

“What Is a Nazarite?”

• A Nazarite makes a vow to seperate themselves unto the Lord.
• He seperates himself from strong drink and can never eat anything that is made from the vine tree.
• He can not cut his hair until the day when his vow has been fulfilled unto the Lord.
• He can not come at any dead body.
• He can not kill others and if he does he must shave his head.

 

  Which of His Vows did Samson Break?

• He enabled the Philistines to cut his hair and break his promise to the Lord.
• He killed men.
• He went unto dead men.

 How could you  avoid yielding to temptation in your own life?

 

I think that from the example of Samson something huge that we learn is that we need to stay as far AWAY from temptation and sin as possible.

He fell in love with Delilah and broke every promise to the Lord.

Something my mom always would tell me is that you will love who you date. If we stay away from temptation and sin and the line that seperates right and wrong we will make sure that we will not fall over on the wrong side.
Also always keeping our covenants and promises to the Lord will give us the strength that we need to overcome tempation IF we are keeping ourselves in holy places, praying always, and following the promptings of the Spirit.

We need to remember that none of us are the exception so we all need to follow the commandments and warnings, and to stay focused on the promises of the Lord, the potential He has given us, and our purpose on this earth.

In doing all of these things I think that we will be protected.