Thurs.’s Devo - The Best is Yet to Come

Read: Judges 15:1-16:31; John 2:1-25; Psalm 103:1-22; Proverbs 14:17-19
After Samson got over his anger of being tricked at his wedding he went to get his wife only to find they had dishonored him again and given his wife to his best man. Now, he felt justified for revenge and caught 300 foxes and tied their tails together in pairs, lit their tails and set them free in the middle of the Philistines wheat fields. The stalks of wheat burned quickly and luckily for Samson there was no animal protection agency in place.
Samson fled to a cave at the Etam Rock. He had put his whole nation in peril so his own people asked him to surrender to the Philistines. He did, but only to kill a thousand more with the jawbone of an ass. For the first time, we see Samson cry out to the Lord for some water. Samson does give God the credit for his strength and Samson does know that he is part of God’s family. But…Samson lives a life of being a slave to his passions and being very selfish. He doesn’t fight the Philistines for his nation but for revenge for himself. God uses his weaknesses for His purposes even though Samson is not a good role model in his personal life or the motives of his heart.
He is brought down by a woman named Delilah, which means “weak”. She was his weakness and her power of persuasion caused him to lose his power of strength. He was blinded to her wiles and ended up blinded and weak.
The good news is that the Philistines didn’t watch over what they had gotten and Samson’s hair began to grow. He must have felt his power being renewed because he asked to be taken to the columns that supported the building. Once again his motive was for revenge for his two eyes, but God used it to bring down 3,000 more enemies.
Samson is mentioned in the “hall of faith” in Hebrews because he believed in the gift God had given him and used it. He did recognized it came from God and never shrunk back in fear.
In John, it is important that we know the timing. It is right before the Passover feast, three years before Jesus will become the Passover lamb. He and his family is invited to a wedding. They run out of wine and when his mother wants him to do something about it, he replies that his time is not yet come. What he is saying is that it is not time for him to die and pour out his blood so that the Holy Spirit can turn it to wine. Jesus was saving the best wine for last and he would have to die to bring that wine. That wine will be poured in clay vessels (us) and through the power of salvation, be turned to wine for all to drink.
Jesus went to the temple and cleansed the temple because it was the feast of Unleavened Bread. That is what the people do in that feast. They get all the leaven out of their house…all the sin out of their lives. Jesus was cleansing all the leaven out of his Fathers’ house. Jesus did many things that no-one understood until after he had died, then it all made sense.
It is the same in our lives. We go through things that don’t make sense to us why God is letting things happen the way they do, but afterwards, we can look back and see it from a different perspective. God is working everything for our good.
Lord, thank you for your wisdom and interaction in our lives. Your ways are always best.