Judges 14:15-18 “Fool Me Once”

Judges 14:15-18 “Fool Me Once”

I am doing pre-marriage counseling with a couple. The woman has been married 3 times. I asked her what had happened to the other 3 marriages. She said the first divorce she was sure was his fault, the second divorce she thought she might have some responsibility. After the third divorce she came to realize she might be doing something wrong. Her fourth marriage didn’t last a month.

We like to think we are different than other people, stronger, smarter, the traps that catch other people’s lives will not catch us. We can text and drive and still be safe because we know what we are doing.

Sampson is playing a dangerous game. Samson is getting married to a Philistine. Her clan does not seem to be fighting the Israelites but they are surrounded by those who are. Oh mom those rules about marriage don’t apply to me because I’m Samson. Then he starts playing with them, with his little riddle game.

Unknown to Samson is the fact the forces of evil are working behind the scenes to get at him. They threaten his wife’s family to win the game.

1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV2011)
³³  Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

Proverbs 6:27 (NIV2011)
²⁷  Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?

 

Matthew 6:22-24 (NIV2011)
²²  “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. ²³  But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
²⁴  “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

 

1 Peter 5:8 (NIV2011)
⁸  Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

In the 1950’s we started a game with the Soviet Union, each of us building and refining nuclear weapons with the philosophy of deterrent. Assured destruction would prevent war. But it did not. Even worse is that no one ever conceived what would happen if those weapons where to fall into the hands of people who were willing to blow themselves up for their cause. Also no one ever considered that once these weapons were created there would be no way to truly destroy them.

We will see that Sampson will not stop playing his deadly games with the Philistines and it will bring him more pain than loosing a bet. Oh is Samson would have had someone he would listen to tell him to stop playing with fire.

The Good news is that Jesus has made it possible to stop playing the game. What ever the trap whatever the game we can choose to stop, turn around before any more damage gets done.

This is the good news for you, for your family and for the people you meet, Jesus makes something different possible. Jesus offers all of us and all of them, a new way and a new life. This is Jesus’ message to the world and your message to the world as well.