Lessons From SamsonSample

Samson: Revenge knows no end

Here’s a riddle for you: The more you take of them, the more you leave behind. The answer? Footsteps.

Samson once challenged the Philistines to crack a riddle: “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet” (Judges 14:14). The answer? Honey eaten from the belly of a dead lion.

When the Philistines pressured Samson’s wife for the answer, and she gave it to them, Samson got revenge by killing 30 of them. They got revenge by giving Samson’s wife to another man. Samson got revenge by burning their fields. They got revenge by burning Samson’s former wife to death. Samson got revenge by killing 1,000 Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone.

As this story illustrates, revenge doesn’t make anything better. It destroys. It never satisfies. It multiplies hate and hurt. Hurt people hurt people.

Who hurt you? Who is bugging you, just begging you to unleash your anger?

God answers the pain you feel in Romans 12:17,21: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. . . . Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Revenge knows no end; it never heals the original hurt.

Jesus could’ve retaliated when the devil attacked him. Jesus could’ve responded against the evil of the devil with evil in return. He didn’t. Jesus overcame the devil with his goodness and perfection on the cross.

Revenge is ended when it’s brought to the cross of Jesus; there, you find peace. Hurt people hurt people, but forgiven people forgive.