Joy

Samson had the power to do whatever he liked. I mean, are you really going to go up against a guy with superhuman strength? Nope. That didn’t keep his enemies from trying—but they paid dearly when they did.

Samson might have been a tough dude, but he lacked joy and wasn’t truly experiencing freedom in his soul because he suffered from three things: 1) he was disconnected, 2) he participated in depravity, and 3) he traveled the path of destruction.

Consider the first one: disconnection. Samson lived his life disconnected from others. He had no friends. In fact, when he went to get married, they had to rustle up thirty “friends” to celebrate with him (Judges 14:11). That’s exactly where the Evil One wants us, isn’t it? When we’re alone, we’re not being held accountable, which can keep us from suffering the other two things that Samson suffered. There’s nobody to say, “Hold on, big guy. You’re not acting right, and I have to warn you that you’re heading down a dark path.”

Samson was the judge over Israel for twenty years. But the Bible doesn’t list any of his accomplishments during those two decades. Instead, we see ol’ Samson showing up at the home of a prostitute (Judges 16:1). When we’re disconnected from the Almighty and from the friends who help us keep our eyes on Him, we open the door to depravity. I guarantee you Samson reckoned he was free to do whatever he wanted to please himself — most likely because he confused the momentary pleasure of a one-night stand with the lasting joy that can only be found in righteous living.

Samson’s misguided quest for joy set him on a path that led him to destruction and to the arms of his enemies. Literally. Samson ended up in bed with the Philistine seductress Delilah. I’ll let you see exactly how that worked out in Judges 16. But in short, Samson suffered the consequences in this tragic tale because he let sin reign in his life. He was so spiritually blinded to the fact that God had left him (Judges 16:20), that he set himself up to be a victim: his enemies gouged out his eyes and threw him in a dungeon.

Samson’s mistake was that he trusted in his own strength, both to get him out of a tight spot, and to fill the need we all have to experience joy in this life. If your joy cup is running low, don’t attempt to fill it with the wrong things. Bondage, not freedom, is around the corner. There’s a better way. As the psalmist says, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices” (Psalm 28:7).

Taken from The Duck Commander Faith and Family Bible