Judges 13:5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Seeds of Defeat or Victory
Take a look out your front window. Right now there are a whole bed of flowers and a whole slew of weeds in your front yard. You may say, “I don’t have anything like that. It’s almost winter. There is nothing out there besides gray, barren ground.” In fact, if you have planted any perennials, they are there in seed form right now, and they will come to fruition, along with the weeds, at the right time. When the earth warms again, both will grow, and whatever you cultivate will win. So it is with you. Chances are that the seeds for your greatest defeat and your greatest victory in life are already planted. You will choose today which to cultivate.
Think about Samson. Every element in Samson’s life both for his victory and defeat are found in the first few verses of the story of his life. Right off, the angel who announced Samson’s birth said, “No razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto the God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.” Later, the Bible says that “the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times.” This is the beginning of Samson’s story. Yet people will not going remember how you begin; they will remember how you finish. How you end depends on what you cultivate.
All the paradoxes of Samson’s life are here. Samson was the strongest man in the world physically, yet he was the weakest because he could not control his own passions. Three or four times early in his life the Bible says that the Spirit of God “came upon him,” “began to move him,” or “came mightily upon him.” Samson battled between flesh and spirit, between weakness and strength. He had a cavalier attitude toward his Nazarite vow and the authority of his parents.
Everything that led to defeat in Samson’s life later on is found in seed form here. Most notably was when he was to marry the women whom he had found in Timnath. Her people had made a bet with Samson concerning a riddle. They threatened his betrothed to entice him to find out the secret of the riddle. Later, the Bible says twice that his “wife wept before him.” She pressured him. These are the same tactics that Delilah would later use to defeat Samson later.
In short, the seeds for your greatest defeat and your greatest victory in life are already planted. That is why it is so important to decide which you are going to cultivate today, God’s Spirit or your flesh, God’s strength or your weakness, God’s Word or your own interests. May God give us the wisdom to cultivate what is right.