Bishops’ Chosen Quote
LEADERSHIP THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Trust is formed by a leader’s character and credibility.
Read Judges 13:1-16:31
Samson performed many feats of strength during his life, and he judged Israel for twenty years. Yet despite his good start, Samson got himself into trouble many times, and in the end he finished poorly: he was weak, blind, and enslaved to the Philistines from whom he was supposed to deliver his people.
Why didn’t Samson become the great leader he had the potential to be? His despicable character made him untrustworthy, and that destroyed his leadership. He was impetuous, volatile, lustful, moody, emotional, and unpredictable. No one could figure out his intentions, not his new wife, his father-in-law, or the Israelities. His people bound him up and delivered him to the Philistines to save their own necks.
Samson’s untrustworthiness extended to God. Before he had finished, he broke the vows of a Nazirite. First, before his marriage, he touched a dead animal (Judg. 14:9). Second, he gave a wedding feast that included much drinking (Judg. 14:10). And when he finally broke the third vow, by allowing his hair to be cut, God removed the anointing from his life (Judg. 16:19-20). Samson repeatedly flirted with disaster, and it overtook him.
Samson’s lack of integrity was his undoing. When leaders lose that, they also lose the people’s trust. And when that’s gone, they’re finished. Samson might have taken down a few hundred Philistines in the end, but not without losing his authority and leadership as judge as well as his life.
Faith Evangelistic Center www.FaithEvCenter.org
