Judges 16: God cannot be mocked, but God will not forsake

“God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7

“…the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deut 31:6

For some, it is hard to reconcile these two verses and the concepts of wisdom and grace that they represent. Samson is a great picture of what it looks like when God’s grace seems to be in conflict with wisdom and justice. God had set clearly before Samson what it meant for him to be faithful to God. Beyond the hair thing, his life resembles nothing of what a spiritual leader ought to look like. It is a mess of self-absorption, like a grown-up rich middle school boy, knowing no constraints and no consequences for his actions.

Samson’s life was the pushing and testing of God’s boundaries the entire way, seeing what he could get away with. From breaking his Nazirite vow, to vengeance, engaging prostitutes and then marrying another daughter of the enemy, his life is a picture of the folly and lawlessness that Israel had descended into without a spiritual leader. In many ways, the marriage he had for himself, the life of constant conflict and the final manipulation to have his hair cut is evidence that God cannot be mocked. But for these reasons had God forsaken Samson and Israel?

If you or someone you know has dug themselves into a hole because of their folly or disobedience. It is easy to confuse the law of sowing and reaping and the promise of God’s faithfulness. Blinded, humiliated and on display in an idol’s temple, he summoned the faith to call to God one last time, “O Sovereign Lord, remember me.” God remember and answered his prayer. No matter how unfaithful we are, God will recognize and help us take that step back towards him. Grace doesn’t cancel out the law of sowing and reaping. But the law of sowing and reaping doesn’t cancel out grace either. Even in Samson’s unfaithfulness, God did not cancel his promise to be with Israel.

You may think that unfaithfulness requires you to earn your credibility back with God. You will never do enough to earn credibility with God on your own. That is what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

“Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.” 2 Corinthians 3:4-5