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I speak like this at the commencement of this chapter in this study of the life of Samson, because I wish to express that this has been my attitude as I have approached verses 1 to 8 of Judges chapter 15. I ask myself is there any difference between the actions of Samson in these verses than his actions in Judges 14 and indeed in the verses that follow in Judges 15? I also ask, is there any difference between the consequences of his actions here, than in other places? In asking these questions, I have to say that I believe there is. It is because of this that this part of Samson's life is given to us as a warning, that we may avoid similar mistakes.

Let us remind ourselves of the history as it is told in Judges 15:1 to 8. Samson, for some reason or other, suddenly thinks of his wife after having neglected here for some months. Was this an example of Satan's insinuations in his life? Anyway, he takes a young goat, presumably as a gift, and goes to his father-in-law's home. He arrives at the house, and informs his father-in-law of his intention to go to his wife's room. The indication is plain that he is seeking conjugal relations. His father-in-law is embarrassed, and has to tell Samson that he has given his wife to another man, and offers his younger daughter to Samson in her place.

Samson is plainly incensed at what he hears. He feels that he has been treated extremely badly, and that he has a right to express his anger and seek retribution by punishing the Philistines. Why he feels the Philistine nation is to blame and not just his father-in-law and his family is not made clear. I may have been that Samson simply wanted to relieve his pain and anger in some positive way.

Samson's action is bizarre to us, though perhaps would not have been seen in this light in his day. He catches three hundred foxes, ties them in pairs by their tails, fixes a blazing torch to each pair, and sets them loose in the fields of the Philistines. The foxes in their panic reek much damage, burning the corn and vineyards and olive groves of the Philistines. No doubt Samson felt somewhat relieved in his pain and anguish of finding his wife in the arms of another man after this action.

The Philistines naturally enquire who has perpetrate this act of vandalism against them, and they are told it is Samson, and the reason he has acted in this way. Samson seems to have made plain to any who would listen, why he had done what he had done.

The Philistine action is quite barbaric, but perhaps has natural justice on its side. They see Samson's wife and her father-in-law as the source of the problem, and go and kill them cruelly by burning them to death. No doubt they set fire to the house they were in. When Samson acted so impulsively with the foxes, he probably gave no thought to the consequences, nor did he expect this result. His anger now knows no bounds. "I won't stop until I get revenge" is his response. He then attacks the Philistines viciously and slaughters many of them. Notice that although his strength is remarkable, it has nothing of the miraculous quality as we see elsewhere.

After this action, Samson's seems to show some fear of retribution, because he does not go home, but stays in, or hides in, a cave in the rock of Etam.

Now we need to notice the various features of this part of his life which are different to incidents before and after. Notice the less spectacular strength demonstrated. Notice that he hides rather than going home to his parents. There are, also, two very significant differences in this incident than in others where God blessed him.

Firstly, we are not told here that Samson acted under the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We are not told that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power. Indeed there is no mention of the Spirit of God, or that Samson considered God in anyway during this episode. Far from God being prominent in the narrative, rather it is Samson and his wishes that stand out. In verse 3 Samson says, "This time I have the right, etc." Again in verse 7 Samson says, "I won't stop until I get my revenge on you." What is prominent is the word 'I'. It is Samson's wishes that are being expressed and motivating his action, and not God's. Samson seems to be governed entirely by his own thoughts and emotions.

Then secondly, in this action of Samson we see the Philistines retaliating, whereas we observe no such response after Samson's action in Judges 14, nor in his action later in Judges 15. In both these cases Samson, we are told, acted under the inspiration and power of the Holy Spirit, and no adverse reaction from the Philistines followed.

What we have in Judges 15:1-8 is action prompted by Samson's own desire and reactions. From the very start he seems to have only consulted his own wishes. The child of God should never do this. Whatever we do, our actions need to come from a life in constant communion with God and subjection to his will.

Should Samson have gone back to visit his wife, even though his action in reconciliation seems a very gracious one? Did he consult the Lord before he decided to go or was his action simply an expression of his own desires? The narrative would suggests that he was acting under his own volition alone. Could it not be possible that the Lord never had any purpose that this marriage should continue beyond its purpose of providing a means for Samson to begin his action against the Philistines?

Further to this, whatever good motives Samson may have had in returning to his wife, his reaction to his father-in-law after he had been told by him that his wife had been given to another man, seems to be governed solely by personal feeling, without any concern for God's will. No doubt Samson had a justifiable grievance. He had been treated very badly. His anger was a natural reaction, but his action does not seem to be governed by any other motive than from the sense of wrong he felt, and the desire to retaliate. In verse 7 it is revenge Samson desires, and his action is marked by the emphasis on 'I' in the decision to act. The action of the Philistines in murdering Samson's wife and father-in-law was vile, and justice was on Samson's side, but the fact is that Samson does not consult God, and is governed by his own will and passion, seeking retribution.

All these considerations surely lead us to conclude that Samson was acting in all this, not by the prompting of God, but from his own will and wishes. Samson had great reason to react as he did. His wrongs were very grievous, yet it is plain he did not consider God's will in the matter, nor is he seeking to do God's will. If he had been, perhaps he would have never gone back to his wife, and then none of the results of his going would have occurred.

What are the lessons we may learn from this personal action of Samson?

Firstly, we may learn that when we seek to do things in our own strength and wisdom, and for personal reasons, rather than seeking to walk in God's will, then there are problems.

In this case Samson found that his actions to gain justice and relieve his feelings produced an escalation of the problem. His action produced a counter action from the Philistines, which then brought further action from Samson, and so on. It is the situation we see so vividly in the various conflicts in the world. It is the syndrome in Northern Ireland. It is the syndrome in Bosnia. We see it happening all the time. Human action prompted by human wisdom invariably brings such results.

Then there is this marked difference between the result of Samson's action here and when he is working under the influence and prompting of the Spirit of God. When Samson acted after the Spirit of God came upon him, his action brought no retaliation from the Philistines, and the Philistines were subdued. Here the Philistines were not subdued, but took action in retaliation for what Samson had done against them.

Also, in this situation, we find the Israelites, whom Samson was seeking to help, turning against him. When Samson was in God's will his actions brought relief and blessing upon Israel, and they were blessed. Here, when Samson acted on his own, they found that suffering was brought their way, and danger threatened so they turned against Samson.

Samson, acting in his own will, found that he was all alone with insoluble problems facing him. Each solution he thinks up simply makes things worse. So it always tends to be when the Christian, or the Church, do things in their own strength and by their own wisdom., and are not being guided by God. There is a lack of blessing. The way seems difficult. Problems arise. Solutions which are applied don't seem to sort out the difficulties, but rather things get worse.

Secondly, we learn that we can be walking and acting outside God's will even though our actions or ideas may, from a moral or intellectual point of view, be good and right.

It was not wrong for Samson to visit his wife. If he had neglected her, then to return to her and make reparation would be a natural, good and right thing to do. This would be normal human advice. It would produce commendation and respect. Further the way Samson went, graciously with a gift, was also very praiseworthy on its own. The way he was treated by his father-in-law was very bad, and Samson had right on his side. But the real question, and the question which Samson should have asked right at the outset, was whether God's will was being expressed in these actions. It plainly was not, because of the results that followed, and from the absence of any thought of God in Samson's thinking and acting. Thus we can see that things good in and of themselves can be the wrong thing to do in a given situation, simply because they do not express the will of God in that situation.

This is a very difficult and sensitive area, not least in the work of God in his church, and the decisions Christians may make in their service for God. Why not have a mission? A mission is a good thing. It is seeking to evangelize and save soul's for God. But how often when a church has proposed a mission, spent much time, money, thought and prayer on it, that the results are disappointing. There is not the blessing that had been hoped. Afterwards the church is exhausted and irritable. Other things have been neglected and this has brought its own problems. Sometimes the action of the mission has brought offence amongst the people to whom it was designed to bring blessing. Why is this? Is it not because the mission was not God's will at that time, or the way it was conducted was not in his guidance, and so his blessing did not accompany the ministry.

This lesson is very relevant when we attend conferences and hear about the work of God in other places and the action that the church there engaged in at the time. We go to these conferences seeking inspiration. We long to have the blessing which we hear has happened elsewhere. We get all excited by the story of the strategy and action which was the means, under God, for the blessing we are being told about. We quickly seek to do the same thing where we are. We are then discouraged at how hard everything seems to be in our patch, and with the lack of blessing resulting. Just because God has blessed and guided in that way in one place, does not mean that it is his wise purpose in another.

People who relate what God has done in their area need also to be wise and humble, also very careful, as they relate the work of God. They must never give the idea that the technique they employed is a panacea for blessing, and that to follow that pattern, however good, will bring blessing elsewhere. The blessing was from God, and the blessing came because it was his will in that place. The way things were done in that other parish may be very good, but if it is not God's will in another situation, then it will bring problems and not blessing.

Thirdly, let us be comforted and encouraged by the fact that God does overrule action, such as Samson engaged in, that is not by his direction; and that his overall purpose is not thwarted by them. Indeed, in his overall purpose, God has taken all these mistakes into consideration and woven them into his sovereign plan. God in fact in the end brings good out of our misguided conduct. Even though Samson had been going his own way in visiting his wife and in the results that followed, God eventually delivers him and makes it all an occasion of working his purposes of salvation and deliverance, not only for Samson but for Israel.

God came to save Samson. God sent his Spirit on him in power that brought great and permanent results. God did step in to save at the critical time. God also taught Samson what he perhaps would not have learnt in any other way, and it all in the end promoted God's purpose to fit Samson to be a judge in Israel.

We learn from our mistakes. We learn, in the consequences of our folly, things which we would never learn simply by instruction. Instruction is alright as far as it goes, but it cannot replace experience. Samson learnt two things. He learnt by his failure the weakness of his flesh and his human wisdom, and his impotence to control his passions. In this experience God taught him, firstly, to have no confidence in the flesh, and secondly, to put his whole confidence and trust in God.

This is the lessons we all must learn. It is the very foundation of Christian maturity. It is in this condition of mind and heart that God can use us and bless us. It is a lesson we find so hard to master, and which we have to continually learn throughout our Christian life. Samson learnt more of these two essential factors of Christian living through his failure and mistakes, than he would have ever learnt by constant instruction. God used Samson's failures to work his sanctifying grace in his life. Let us be encouraged by this fact illustrated in Samson's experience.

Lastly, let us learn the lesson that good ideas and zeal in God's service are not sufficient. Good ideas and zeal under our own will and action are a recipe for disaster. These must be under the control of the sovereign hand of God, and channelled into and by his will. Indeed we must guard against the danger of having good ideas, and then coming to God and seeking his blessing upon them. That way is putting the cart before the horse. We must always receive our good ideas from God, and seek that they may be given to us by God as we wait upon him for his direction and guidance. Only then will they be right, because they come from God. We must always be ready, after we may have proposed an idea, to be humble enough to give it up or not press it, when in the decision making of the church there is no acceptance of it. We need to be humble Christians. If our good idea is of God, God will bring about its implementation in his good time. Let us learn from Samson, thinking his own thoughts and actions, that even though they were good of themselves, the doing of them brought disaster because they had not come from God.

In living the Christian life, we can only avoid the problems of acting in our own will, when in holy fear and distrust of ourselves we constantly seek God's will in prayer and through his Word.