Yet Not I

Re:Verse passage – Judges 16:15-21 (day four)

Samson is a truly unique character. We know that the Lord is with him, but he seems to have an ego and a careless attitude. You almost don’t want to root for him. If nothing else, though, he’s relatable. I’ve always gotten a chuckle out of v. 16, “his soul was annoyed to death.” We’ve all been there!

But his biggest mistake is even more relatable: he didn’t take the holiness of God seriously. Samson made a vow with the God, but he broke that vow over and over again. Here in his exchange with Delilah, he put his trust in his own wit and his own strength, forgetting that God was the source of his strength all along. It didn’t go well for him. How often do we do the same? When we rely on our own strength, we always come up short.

Contrast this with the apostle Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

Let us commit to this way of living: “Yet not I, but through Christ in me.”