This is the 7th in a short series focusing what Israel’s earliest leaders, the judges, have to teach us. Today’s leadership lesson comes from one of Israel’s more well-known judges, Samson . . .
“The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done . . . . Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.” (Judg 14:6-9)
Samson was a Nazarite. His parents were devote Jewish people. They were bound by Jewish law not to even touch that which was unclean, especially if that which was unclean was dead (“Or if a person touches anything ceremonially unclean – whether the carcasses of unclean wild animals or of unclean livestock or of unclean creatures that move along the ground – even though he is unaware of it, he has become unclean and is guilty.” Lev 5:2). But it seems like this didn’t matter to Samson. When the occasion arose and “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power”, he didn’t stop to argue that he was a Nazarite and that this lion was unclean. He simply “tore the lion apart with his bard hands”.
Isn’t it curious that the Spirit of the Lord would come over Sampson and cause him to do something that was forbidden by law? The only explanation is that God’s Spirit is not bound by ceremonial law, even when that law was given by God Himself. He is only bound by God’s voice. This story is one of the first indications in the Bible that the ceremonial laws were but forerunners to Jesus!
But the story doesn’t end here. Sampson later went back by this way with his parents. When he came close to where he had slew the lion, he went over to take a closer look, and there, in the carcass of the lion, was a swarm of bees and some honey!
How can something so good grow in something so bad?
Because that’s the way God works! God is the specialist at making good things come out of bad situations, of making good people grow in bad environments, of bringing good out of bad churches, even using crooked “evangelists” to bring about healings and other miracles! God knows how to make ALL things work together for good, even to the point of making honey in the carcass of an unclean animal!
Friends, don’t deny yourself the good, just because it comes in an “untouchable” package! Remember Sampson! Allow God’s Spirit to guide you, and if you do, you will enjoy the blessings of God, no matter what their source!
“God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28-29)
Please see next Tuesday’s edition of The Nugget for the last lesson in leadership, also brought to us by Samson . . .
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Moderator, The Nugget, Scriptural Nuggets ( www.scripturalnuggets.org ), Answers2Prayer Ministries, www.Answers2Prayer.org
(To access the entire “Lessons in Leadership” mini-series, please click here.)