DCLM Daily Manna 20 January 2022
Topic: Divine Armaments
TEXT: JUDGES 15:1-8
KEY VERSE: “And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam” (JUDGES 15:8).
Some people are so presumptuous that they think they can second-guess God, especially as it has to do with His punishment for sin. They minimise the sinfulness of sin and the consequent judgment. Sometimes, this is done in the vain hope that God will dance to their tune.
God allowed the Philistines to oppress and rule over Israel for failing to drive them out of Canaan. This continued until God, in His mercy, started sending judges to lead and deliver them. One of them was Samson who was endowed with supernatural strength. The divinely orchestrated way used here by Samson in prosecuting war against the Philistines may look strange to the casual observer but “the wisdom and knowledge of God… and his ways [are] past finding out!” (Romans 11:33). When Samson told his parents he wanted to get married to a woman of the Philistines, they had no idea that “it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines” (Judges 14:4).
After contracting the marriage, Samson was separated for a while from his wife following a disagreement. When he returned months later, he was told his father-in-law had given his wife to another man, the so-called friend who had helped Samson arrange the marriage. This became an occasion for God to vent His judgment on the Philistines. He roused Samson who destroyed the Philistines “with a great slaughter”.
While Christians are not associated with and do not advocate violence, it should be noted that God’s judgment against evildoers is real. Although it may be slow in coming but certainly, it will come!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: God has more armaments in His arsenal than all the weapons in the world.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: ACTS 13-14
