As Christians, you and I are like athletes. Every day we’re training for competition. Every day we’re engaging in battle with the enemy. To meet this serious challenge we need divine strength and power. Like a body-builder, we need energy to reach and sustain our optimal level of performance. And we need fuel for our spiritual fires. There is such a thing. The Bible calls it honey.
Samson Encounters the Lion—Unarmed!
Samson’s first and most critical training experience took place in a vineyard outside Timnah. Samson was taking his parents there to meet his prospective bride for the first time. Mom and Dad must have lagged behind because Samson was alone when a young lion came roaring toward him. And, to make matters worse, Samson was unarmed.
Can you imagine fighting a lion without a weapon! If I had to travel somewhere on foot, knowing that a lion might attack me along the way, I wouldn’t go empty-handed. I’d carry the biggest gun I could find and, more than likely, I’d find some excuse for not going at all.
But, God makes it clear, “He (Samson) had nothing in his hand” (Judges 14:6). The power to cope with lions would have to come from somewhere else, and it did. “The Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily,” the Bible says, “so that he tore him as one tears a kid…” (Judges 14:6).
Samson learned a valuable lesson that day. Victory, he discovered, comes not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of God (Zechariah 4:6).
Samson wasn’t a giant. He was no Goliath. But the power of the Lord comes mightily on those who carry nothing in their hands. When you depend entirely on Him by faith, you will experience victory in your daily life.
Put Down Your Weapons
Is the word “victory” in your vocabulary right now? If not, there’s one simple reason: When facing satan—the lion—you’re not empty-handed. The Bible says he prowls about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). But the Spirit of the Lord cannot come upon you mightily, as it did upon Samson, when you’re holding a weapon of your own, from a human arsenal.
God will not honor self-sufficiency. So if you’re trying to fight the enemy with your own resources, willpower and stamina, don’t expect to experience victory in daily living. It just won’t happen.
When Gideon and his followers went into battle against the Midianites, they carried no visible weapons. With a torch in their left hands, and a trumpet in their right hands, they prevailed simply by crying, “A sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” (Judges 7:20, KJV).
According to Ephesians 6:17, the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. And it is God’s sword, not yours or mine. To use this sword, you must yield to God with an absolute trust in His Word. And that’s what Samson did.
Samson wasn’t looking for trouble in the vineyard. He didn’t expect to find a lion there. But that’s just how satan operates. He strikes: when you are alone and vulnerable; when you least expect it; in the most unlikely of places or circumstances; and when you appear to be empty-handed.
In reality, however, you are never unarmed. Wherever you go, you carry the most potent hidden weapon available to mankind—faith in Jesus. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world,” the Bible says, “and this is the victory [the weapon] that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).
Faith unleashes the activity of the Holy Spirit. In response to your faith, God puts His strength into your human frame. And, if God is in the fight, no one can defeat you. As Paul said, “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31).
Samson Eats Honey From a Lion Carcass
Not long after the lion-killing incident, Samson and his parents made the same journey to Timnah, this time for Samson’s wedding. And, once again, the young Nazarite passed through the vineyard alone. There he turned aside to look at that carcass of the lion he’d killed earlier. “And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the body of the lion. So, he scraped the honey into his hands and went on, eating as he went” (Judges 14:8).
His hands laden with honeycombs and dripping with honey, Samson rejoined his parents and shared his honey with them.
Isn’t that a picture of Jesus? He conquered death and hell. With no visible weapon in hand, He defeated the lion that roared at Him, and continues to roar at us today. “It is finished,” He declared (John 19:30). And now, Jesus stands in the midst of His church with hands full of honey, and He is bidding us to come and eat.
Come, let Me sweeten your life with my grace and majesty. Come, let Me fill your heart with My joy. Come, share in My triumph over satan. Come, let Me transform you into My image.