Galatians 2:18 – For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

Judges 14:8 – And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.

Hello readers, new blog time today. It’s a thought from Samson’s life today and the topic will be “Going down the same path again”. We look at Samson’s life and we think waste, failure, potential, strength, what could have been… and the story throws up whys and if onlys. God records all these stories in the Bible, events, happenings, to teach us about himself, what he requires of us and shows us good and bad so we can learn… to love the good, and know to refuse the evil… as Jesus did.

Samson was moved by God “at times” the Bible says at the end of Judges 13. He was this special child born to a couple of faithful parents who really sought to obey God in his raising. But despite the vow on his life, the dedication of his parents, his upbringing… Samson… as we do… had a sinful nature. It can be a bit dangerous protecting your children in the sense of them being isolated from realities of life, in terms of living in this fake innocence which hasn’t been tested or proven. You can get a false gauge on a child’s spirituality. Because one day Samson came home and said I want that Philistine woman to his parents.

Samson kept secrets, and how powerful secrets are. Usually we do things in secret because they are wrong, hence the need for secrecy. Samson didn’t tell his parents about his incident with a lion on his way to the Philistine vineyards. Considering his vow and purpose in life, the entire story is one of rebellion against God. Maybe he started out with a noble idea, scout my enemy, but the least he expected was to rock up in Philistine quarters, and hey, there was a really really good looking girl down there. Disarmed. A girl can make a guy lose his compass, radar, direction and more… very easily.

Samson went down the wrong path the first time. Yet God delivered him. While he was on his way, a lion roared at him. Samson was in a very tight spot. A lion is no light business, and he had nothing in his hand the Bible says. Big big trouble. Who can identify with this. How big a mess we can get ourselves into of our own accord. Sometimes we get a sense of how much we’ve stuffed everything up, how wicked we are… ask ourselves, how did I end up here. I’m sure the prodigal son when things dawned on him, the Spirit of God moving on the deep of his heart, what am I doing here in a pig pen. The whole span of his selfish, destructive pleasure seeking life, all the waste and darkness and sin came washing back on his soul.

Samson got delivered by a miracle. And God has delivered us all so many times. We were in places we shouldn’t have been, doing things we shouldn’t have been doing, going a direction we shouldn’t have been heading… yet God delivered us from the mouth of the lion. Yet God’s merciful deliverance didn’t change Samson’s course. And this is what we need to learn from. Why doesn’t God’s mercy, his grace, his deliverance… alter our course? Have we become that dark? Jesus Christ said, if the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! Samson kept the deliverance of God a secret, because he knew if he told his parents they’d have the perception to realize what had happened, and the path Samson was down. Often children will omit truth or truths to twist stories to gain parental permission or in order for parents to look the other way or lead them to false conclusions. The thing is, even if parents don’t know, God knows, and you know, so you can fool a lot of people, but just like Samson knew deep down, you know that you’re in the wrong, you know that you’re deep in sin, choosing sin, choosing the darkness.

God saved Samson, yet he would go down that same old path again. And on the same path he would defile himself, and break his vow. It is important to see Satan’s role in this, because the Bible says he is a roaring lion that goeth about seeking whom he may devour. When we are in rebellion, going down the wrong road, we literally walk straight into his clutches. Samson found honey in the carcase of the lion. And we find honey in the carcase of the lion. What does that mean? Many people find honey in the lion’s carcase today. It is one of Satan’s best ways to get us to defile ourselves. He offers something good, be it pleasure, happiness, the lure of whatever it may be that you are after, that gives you joy, honey to your heart and soul… but he gives it to you out of a rotting carcase. To give you an example, Satan gives many people honey in the carcase in fornication and adultery. There is pleasure in sex and intimacy, but it’s in the rotting carcase of disobedience to God’s commandment, it’s outside of marriage or in violation of your marriage vows. It’s like a worm on a hook, all you see is the juicy worm, but you don’t realize in taking the mouthful, you get the hook as well… such is all sin. Look at Samson’s life and learn that the Bible doesn’t record his exploits with Philistine women of things we should go and do, but things we should NOT do.

But to really get to the main point of this blog. Going down the same path again. Samson went down a wrong path, and God saved him once.  Surely he should’ve not gone down that path again. He knew he was in the wrong, even if he concealed it from his parents, and he knew the grace and mercy of God that had enabled it. Yet, just verses later we see him going down that same path again. How often we retread the old paths of our sin. And in the top of this blog page, the quote is from Galatians about rebuilding the things I destroyed. God delivers us from all kinds of vices, things that have dominion over us… yet we can go right back. And in 2 Peter that’s called the dog returning to his vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing the mire. God delivered Samson not that he could go and sin again, but he delivered Samson because he was merciful. We can often mistake the goodness of God for a license to sin.

We say… Hey look, I can sin and get by with it. I was doing all this and yet God delivered me, yet God spared me. I curse God’s name and yet get by with! I can sleep around and nothing happens. That’s turning God’s grace into lasciviousness. But don’t think you’re getting by. Because you’re not. Consider these verses … Ecclesiastes 8:11,12,13 – Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him: But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God. We can do a lot of things that are wrong and get by with it. It doesn’t mean God delivered you as he did with Samson, but just in general it looks like we can, and the world indeed, gets by doing whatever they want. That’s what those in Noah’s day were like. They kept going about, Noah was preaching against their sin, yet hey Noah, you’re an idiot… years and years went by and nothing happened. God waits and waits, he gives people space to repent, to prove themselves, opportunity to repent, but just as sure as God exists, so final judgement and accountability is coming like a steam train to all of us alike.

If we really look back at our path in life, we see the goodness, indeed, the glory of God. Moses saw the back parts of God, and in looking back, we can account as the Bible says… that the longsuffering of God is salvation. yet instead of that bringing about repentance, a changing of our mind, a changing of our ways. We go right back down the same paths that God saved us from, that God delivered us out of. God saves us, and we interpret that as hey, I can sin and Jesus loves me. God’s not saving you because it is ok, because it is not, he is saving you because he loves you and is full of grace and mercy. But it is failure to realize that God is holy, just, good, righteous and we also will reap what we sow, and as Samson found out, abusing that grace of God, there was a time God departed from him. And then it was all over. I’m sure when the Philistine men pinned him down and gouged his eyes out he was calling upon God’s name, and realizing what have I done, I’ve gone too far. It’d be better if we never arrive at that point, why not instead of going down that same path, the path to destruction, the path to hell, why not, if God has saved you, if God has been merciful to you, if God has delivered to you… why wouldn’t you turn?

Balaam’s ass turned him away from destruction, and he wanted to kill his ass. Is that your attitude to someone who is trying to help you, who tells you the truth? Ezekiel 33:19 – But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. The Bible says in Proverbs that righteousness delivereth form death. That applies both practically and eternally. We know that Jesus Christ is the only righteous one, but we who are saved by grace through faith in him, who he is and what he has done, we know that God says be ye holy for I am holy, we know that if we live in sin, that that is abiding in death. If God helped you stop drinking, why go back? If God got you off drugs, why go back? If God delivered you from sexual sin, why go back? Don’t make any provision for the flesh the Bible says. Burn the bridges. What did Elisha do when Elijah called him? He burnt the instruments of the oxen, he severed his way back to his old life as a ploughboy. Finally, Jesus said, no man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. We need to learn from Samson’s life today, and not retread that old sin cursed path.

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