Real People, Real Faith Series
Samson: Wild and Crazy Faith
Ron Fast
[email protected] Copyright 2007 by Ron Fast
Intro
Imagine that you had a secret. Something that no one else knew about . . . ummmmm. . . I guess that’s why it’s called a secret. Anyway, this wasn’t an ordinary secret. It was one that was so special that it was something only you had. It was a gift that no one else knew about. It was something that you alone possessed. God gave you this special gift and told you that you weren’t to tell anyone else about it but you had to use it for good. You couldn’t use it for anything else. If you used it for something other than good, God would take it away from you.
So I suppose you want to know what this secret is. Well. . . Let’s see. . . Um . . . Okay!! But it’s a secret so you can’t tell anyone, all right? I’ll have to whisper so no one else can hear, so you have to come close. I’ll whisper it in your ear. . . Come closer. . . I don’t bite. . . Closer. . . Yikes, did you know you have lots of ear wax in your ear? Yuck!! Oh well!! Okay, you are going to have to listen really hard because I am going to whisper. Okay, here’s the secret. You have three ears. Yup!! I’m not kidding!! But no one knows you have it because it’s in your armpit. Yeah, no kidding! So next time you are putting your underarm deodorant on, take a look-see. It looks kind of weird but it’s there waiting to be used. Good thing it’s not a nose. Can you imagine what it would be like smelling your pits all of the time? Gross. You’d have to plug it somehow when you were sweating lots. Back to the story. See, God put it there so no one else would know about it. Don’t you feel special? Well, there’s no one else around so I can speak up a bit. My back is killing me bending over like this whispering in your ear. Okay, that’s better. Can you hear me better now? Cool!!
So here’s the deal. You have this extra ear, so what are you supposed to do with it? First, before I tell you what it’s to be used for, you need to understand that it’s no ordinary ear. It’s called a “sonic ear”. It allows you to hear other people’s thoughts. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. “Cool. I can listen in on my friends’ private thoughts. I can learn all of their dirty little secrets.” Well, along with this special ear comes a huge responsibility. God didn’t say it would be easy. The two things that God wants you to use this ear for is, one, listen for those who are hurting, and two, keeping your friends accountable when they are thinking about playing with fire (we’ll talk about this later). See, God knows that people don’t listen enough to others. They are too busy or concerned about their own lives that they only want to be heard. But the problem is that there are too many hurting people in this world and there are very few who are doing anything about it. There are some people who go through life with no one listening to them. People just don’t seem to care. There are even people in your youth group who don’t have anyone to talk to and that’s so sad. Every youth group needs to be a place where everyone can come and have someone who will listen to them.
To help fix this problem, God gave you this extra ear so that you could find out who is hurting and needs a friend. The only drawback is that in order to use the ear you have to raise your arm straight up in the air. I know, I know. It looks kinda dumb but it works. You just need to be creative when your friends ask you, “What in the world are you doing?” You can say things like, “Wow, did you see that cool bird up there that almost unloaded on you?” or “ooo, oooooo, pick me, I want to be your bestest, coolest friend!” or “AAAAAHHH!!! I just shaved my pit and it stings when I put on my deodorant.” Of course, the guys can’t use that one or at least not admit it if they do.
Okay, now you know how to use it and what to use it for but, like I said, there is a catch to it. God will take it away from you if you tell anyone about it or if you use it against people. Since you will be able to hear their thoughts, you have a chance to hurt people. With this gift comes a huge responsibility. Not only do you have to keep this mondo secret to yourself, you will also be able to hear other people's feelings and hurts. You will know just who is hurting and who is not. It will be up to you whether to help them or not. But imagine that one of your friends or someone who you just bumped into is hurting real bad. And what if they are too afraid to talk to someone about it? What if they were thinking of sinning big time and there was no one who knew about it? This will help you grow in character and also in being less concerned about your own problems and more concerned about how others are feeling.
Okay, this was a bizarre story but imagine that God had given you a special something that no one else had. When God gives us talents and gifts, He expects us to use them for His glory and also to help those around us. We are going to take a look-see at a man who was given such a gift. God wanted him to use it. . . Umm. . . Well. . . I don’t want to give anything away. We are going to dig into Samson’s life and see what made him “tick”. We are going to look at what his secret was and why God gave it to him. Maybe he was more than just another super-hero, man-of-steel, able-to-leap-tall-rocks-in-a-single-bound, faster-than-a-speeding-bullet (did they have bullets back then? I don’t think so!!) Dude. There are lots that we can learn from Samson, so let’s get to it.
Monday
Samson—the Man of Steel
Let’s see what you know about this Old Testament dude of faith.
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the name “Samson”?
In what book of the Bible can we find the story of Samson?
What was his secret?
To whom did Samson tell his “secret”?
What happened to Samson when he told his secret?