Dear Ones:
I am sure that you have heard the expression, “…(he) has won his spurs.” In part, the phrase means that the individual has experienced, and accomplished, his personal victory. We do not know the age of Samson when he met the lion. What we do know is that a young lion roared against him, “…and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent (tore) him as he would have rent (torn) a kid…(a young goat).” (Judges 14:5-6) Scripture tells us that “…the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times…,” and this was one of those times. Samson proved individually, and alone, the faithfulness of God to meet him, and to give him the victory. We might say, that in some respects, he “won his spurs” by his experience with the lion.
When David was anointed by Samuel, Scripture tells us, “…the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward (onward)…” David later left his father, to bring provisions to his brothers, who were in the army fighting the Philistines. He volunteered to fight Goliath, the giant of a man who was challenging Israel, and thus, the God of Israel. In David’s declaration to Saul the king, concerning his qualifications to fight this enemy alone, he said: “….Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth…I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.” (1 Sam. 17:34-35) David like Samson, learned a lesson from his lion, that he killed by himself and alone…and it was this: All things are possible in the will of God by the Spirit…the same Spirit that came upon Samson, and who gave David the courage and capacity to kill his lion.
There is another great lesson here, and it is that there is NO substitute for personal knowledge of this victory of ours that is IN Christ. Samson and David both would be faced with far greater challenges later on in their lives after their meeting with the lion, Samson with a thousand Philistines, David with his giant Philistine. Both would be victorious in part because of their experience in facing, and conquering their own, respective lions.
So, let us remember that, first of all, none of us are Samson or David. But let us not forget that at Pentecost, the Spirit of God was poured out, and from that point on, Christ by His Spirit LIVES IN the heart of the believer. As Wesley put: “All things are possible to Christ, to Christ the power of God in me…”
One last thought. Samson’s greatest victory came at the end of his life, when he put his hands on the pillars of the Philistines house of worship to destroy it. He would ask God for strength, “only this once.” Samson would destroy more of the Philistines in his death than in his life. The pinnacle of the victories of Samson’s life had their humble beginnings with a lion…a lesson from the lion. It is in the simple and personal victories where God meets us that prepare us for the greater revelation of His manifest victory in the eyes of a lost and dying world.
Love, Dad