Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Can God Use A Sinner Like Me? | Historical Books | Judges 16:23-31

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

God draws straight lines with crooked sticks. This is good news for us because we are messy people. Does your sin ever paralyze you as if God can't use you? In today's episode, Keith shares how Judges 16:23-31 reminds us that God can use messy people and encourages us to resist sin. We love to hear from you all! If you're listening on Spotify, drop a comment below and tell us your biggest takeaway from today's episode. Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Judges 16:23-31

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. God draws straight lines with crooked sticks. That saying has been attributed to many people over the centuries, and I'm not sure who said it first. Although we might not know who said it, its meaning is clear. God uses imperfect people to accomplish his perfect will. God uses messy, broken, sinful people to further his kingdom.

That's encouraging because we are messy, broken, sinful, and imperfect people. We've been through all kinds of troubles and difficulties, most of which we've made for ourselves. We've been through rehab and divorces and bankruptcies. We're aware how we don't live up to our own standards, much less God's standards. If God is looking for good people or perfect people or people who have it all together, then he's not going to look for us. But God's pattern in the Bible is to use. broken people. Think about Abraham. He protected himself by lying twice about his relationship with

Sarah, and each time he put his wife's safety in jeopardy. But God used Abraham to be the father of the nation of Israel. Or consider Noah. He was a drunk, but God used him to build an ark to save his people. Tamar pretended to be a prostitute to get her father-in-law to sleep with her. In spite of her deception, in spite of her sin, God worked through her child to give us the Messiah. Moses killed the man. Moses argued with the Lord, and he grew so discouraged that he asked God to kill him. But God used Moses to lead the people out of Egypt through the sea and into the promised land. King David sinfully committed adultery by coercing Bathsheba into sleeping with him,

and then had her husband, Uriah, murdered, to cover up his own sinful behavior. and David took more than one wife, contrary to the teaching of the law. He took an unlawful census to boast in his own power. Despite all that, God used King David to lead the nation and to write some of the most well-known Psalms in the Bible. King Solomon practiced polygamy and had dozens and dozens of concubine. Yet God used him to lead Israel and also to write significant parts of the Bible. Jonah ran from God because he didn't want God's forgiving grace to be extended.

to his own enemies. Yet God used Jonah to spur revival in Nineveh. Elijah had mental health issues. After a great spiritual victory, he gave into fear and anxiety and depression and asked God to take his life. But after getting right with God, he was reinstated as a prophet. Jeremiah was depressed. He even considered self-harm. But God used him to write the book of Jeremiah. He was a prophet in Israel. and James and John were known as the Sons of Thunder because they suggested a Samaritan city be destroyed with fire, but God used James and John to preach the good news of the gospel. Peter was impulsive, and he said many really dumb or inappropriate things, but God used Peter to plant churches and to write the letters of first and second Peter that you can find in your New Testament.

If God used these broken people, maybe, just maybe God will use us. Well, all this serves as an introduction to the death of Samson at the end of Judges 16. Samson dies in the process of defeating Israel's enemy. This, along with Samson being mentioned in Hebrews 11, has caused some people to try to make Samson into a hero. In fact, if you look at a lot of children's books, Samson is presented as a spiritual example, someone that we should imitate. But there's nothing in judges that makes you think Samson is anything but a self-absorbed

narcissist. Remember that when we pick up the story, Samson's strength is gone, and the Philistines have captured him. We'll start in Judges 1623. Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their God, and to celebrate, saying, Our God has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands. When the people saw him, they praised their God, Dagon, saying, our God has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain. So the Philistines, they made this battle between their god Dagon and the God of Israel. Dagon was the god of the grain harvest, and they give credit to Dagon for the capture of Samson.

So it's now not Philistines versus the Israelites. No, now it's Dagon versus Yahweh. And of course, the Philistines have this completely wrong, because they don't know that it is really Yahweh who gave Samson into their hands. By deserting Samson at the cutting of his hair, Yahweh permitted the Philistines to confirm their belief that Samson's strength is just kind of a magical thing. Like, it's just about the hair. It could be manipulated at will by human beings. Verse 25. While they, the Philistines, were in high spirits, they shouted, bring out Samson to entertain us. So they called Samson out of the prison and he performed for them. To complete the humiliation, the Philistines bring Samson out of the prison to the temple,

to perform, and Samson requests to be placed near the pillars that support the temple. It's a request that anticipates what's getting ready to happen. Because of the celebration, the temple is packed. It's full of men and women and all the military leaders of the Philistines. There's about 3,000 people on the roof. Maybe they're there to get a better view of Samson. We're not sure exactly. But it's in that context with a packed temple that Samson utters his second recorded

prayer to Yahweh. Only the second time he's prayed, at least that has been recorded to the book of judges. Verse 28, Samson prayed to the Lord, sovereign Lord, remember me. Please God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes. This prayer starts well, but it ends poorly. As Samson continues to put his personal agenda ahead of God's agenda, rather than praying, oh, Yahweh, let me deliver Israel, Samson's prayer is really about personal revenge for what they have done to his eyes. Self-interest dominates Samson to the very end of his life. This is truly a self-centered prayer. Although it's addressed to Yahweh, it's dominated by the word I, the first person pronoun. It occurs five times in this short prayer. Samson is preoccupied with

himself. He's not thinking about Israel. He's not. He's not. He's not thinking about God's glory. Samson isn't concerned about God's reputation. He's only concerned about getting personal revenge on the Philistines for his eyes. Verse 29 and 30. Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, let me die with the Philistines. Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus, he killed many more when he died than when he lived. Remember how he started out by saying that God uses sinful people? That's what's happening with Samson. God uses Samson to honor himself over Dagon,

the God of the Philistines. God uses Samson to free the Israelites from Philistine control. But just because God uses him doesn't mean that he's a positive spiritual example for us. We can be thankful that God uses sinners and at the same time trust in God's spirit to help us resist sin and be the men and women he's called us to be. The fact that God uses sinners shouldn't make us comfortable living in sin. Instead we pray, God change us, make us into the people you want us to be. Amen.