My title for this devotion is My Eyes vs His Eyes.

I’m reading in Judges these days. One huge cycle over and over. Sin. Taken captive. Live under oppression. Cry out to God for relief. God raises up a judge. Defeat of the enemy. All good while judge lives. Judge dies. Rinse and repeat cycle.

Of all the stories in Judges the story of Samson has always captivated me. His special birth which actually began with special instructions to his mother before he was born. Nazirite vow which had several “rules” (No wine or strong drink. No touching dead bodies. No cutting of hair. To name a few).  Maybe I was drawn to his story because of the “specialness” of his calling. Maybe it was his battle with the flesh.  Maybe it was his up and down life. Maybe it was his strength and feats of strength. Maybe it was his hair (of which I have none). 🙂 Maybe it was his failure to see God’s hand or to care. I don’t know.

His life reads like a Hollywood tabloid. From his first feat of strength brought on by the deception (shall I say nagging) of his wife; to catching foxes and releasing them; to taking a jawbone of a donkey and killing 1000 men; to sleeping with a Gaza prostitute only to escape by carrying the city gates up a hill; to his ordeal and eventual capture with Delilah; and his ultimate death while collapsing the temple and killing more at his death than while alive. Yep, Hollywood tabloid. Or tragic misdirection of life. 

Two statements bookend his life…least to my eyes. In Judges one statement seems to sum up his life: “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.” (14:3) That phrase is repeated in verse 7: “She was right in Samson’s eyes.” Those two phrases seem to tell the whole story of Samson from start to finish. He did what was right in his own eyes. How many of us can say, “Yep. That’s me” and raise a hand? I know I’m one. Far too many times I have been ruled by my flesh and done what was right “according to me.”

The other saying I’m saving until tomorrow.

One insight does need mentioned. After his first “Get her for me” in verse 3, an interesting interjection is found. “His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines.” (v.4) God did not lead Samson to sin, but He could use this for His purpose. And He did. Too bad Samson couldn’t see it. His vision, like mine, is often my eyes not His.

“Father, Samson strikes home so closely. Too closely. Blinded by his flesh, he fails to see with eyes of the Spirit. Forgive me when I have done what was right in my own eyes. Help me not to be enamored by sight, by the flesh, but to live and see and breathe through Your Spirit.”