Have you ever wondered, “Does God really use imperfect people like me?” “How could He use me with my past?” “I don’t know enough,” “I don’t have the right gifts,” “I can’t do anything great for God”?

If your knowledge of God’s Word is primarily what you heard in Sunday school stories, you may not know how flawed some of God’s people really were.

While it’s true that David killed a giant with a slingshot, he also committed adultery and plotted to have the woman’s husband killed. Gideon led the Israelites to victory over the Midianites with just 300 men, but at times he was full of doubt and fear.  Jonah was in the belly of a great fish because he was in rebellion against God’s calling. And mighty Sampson … well, you’ll have to read about it for yourself in today’s post.

Today’s Readings:

Judges 15 & 16
Psalm 51.1-6
Proverbs 14.31-32
Luke 18.1-23

Why* God Uses Imperfect People

Judges 15 & 16:

Sampson

Contrary to the portraits in many children’s Bible stories, the heroes of the faith were all sinful human beings like you and me. David was an adulterer. Gideon struggled with doubt and fear. Jonah tried to run from God. And, In fact, the list of flawed people God has used is much longer than the who’s who in Hebrews 11.

And as we read Sampson’s story in Judges 13-16, it doesn’t take long to realize that Sampson was a womanizer and full of himself to boot!

As we come to the end of his story, Sampson had been judging Israel for 20 years. And nothing much had changed. When he went to visit a harlot in Gaza (v. 1), the Gazites laid a trap for him. God in His mercy delivered him, in spite of his sinful behavior. But then, along came Delilah.

Delilah

The Bible says, “he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.” You have to wonder if this really had anything to do with true biblical love.

⁵ And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

⁶ So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.”

You might think Sampson would see that request as a red flag where her character was concerned, but she probably wasn’t much different from many others who had attracted his attention. Instead, he made up an answer to appease her.

⁷ And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

⁸ So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹ Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

¹⁰ Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.”

Another red flag. Sampson responded with another lie. And another.

Presuming on God’s Grace

¹⁵ Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” ¹⁶ And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, ¹⁷ that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”

Not only did he take her questions lightly, but he presumed on God’s grace.

The Lord Departs from Him

¹⁸ When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. ¹⁹ Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

²¹ Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.

But, later, during a religious festival honoring their god, the crowd called for Samson to be brought out to perform for them.

Through the years Sampson had used the strength God had given him for his own selfish purposes, lived immorally, and taken lightly the things of God. It had cost him his eyes, his freedom, and turned him into a cheap carnival act. Such is the deceitfulness of sin. It never delivers what it promises!

But God …

But God was at work, in spite of him, and his hair, the symbol of his strength, had been growing.

²⁶ Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.” ²⁷ Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed.

²⁸ Then Samson called to the Lord, saying, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” ²⁹ And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. ³⁰ Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.

Remember God’s purpose in all of this was that Sampson would “deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (Judges 13.5). And even in his death, God accomplished that purpose.

Other Blessings

In the process, God blessed Manoah and his wife with the child they desired and other children, as well (v. 16.31). Although, it must have been a great grief to them to see this son with so much potential waste his gifts and talents as he did. Could it have been a consequence of coddling and catering to him in his youth (see yesterday’s reading)?

Even so, Sampson, like all of us, was responsible for his own personal choices. It seems to me that he was the one who found the least satisfaction in all of this. In the area of his personal relationships, he continually ran after whatever appealed to him. His motives were selfish and he sought to fulfill his desires in ungodly ways. Consequently, they never brought him any lasting joy, peace, or satisfaction.

Yet, God used him in spite of all this.

Romans 15.4 tells us that:

… whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

Sampson’s story and others should give us hope that God can and will use us, but it should also teach us the value of God’s gifts, the consequences of immoral behavior, and the danger of seeking satisfaction in things other than God Himself. Let’s pray that we learn from his example.

Why* Does God Use Imperfect People?

*While I don’t pretend to know the heart of God, we can certainly glean some possible reasons from other passages.

If you are familiar with Gideon’s story (Judges 6-8), for example, you may remember that God thinned the Israelite army from over 32,000 fighting men to just 300. Those 300 men went up against an enemy “as numerous as locusts” and who had “camels without number.”

God understood that if they defeated their enemy with a huge army, they would be tempted to think they had done it in their own strength. Instead, God used an imperfect, fearful man and routed their enemy in a way that led to His own glory.

In 2 Corinthians 12, we read about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.” Whatever it was, Paul saw it as a hindrance to his ministry and prayed for the Lord to remove it. God’s answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12.9).

Paul came to understand that his thorn was given so he wouldn’t be “exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations.” It would have been easy for Paul to become proud because of all God had shown him. Paul went on to say:

⁹ … Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12.9-10).

The Benefit of Recognizing Our Weaknesses

We, too, can benefit greatly by recognizing and acknowledging our weaknesses. But we need to view them through the lens of Scripture so we can analyze them rightly. There are some weaknesses that God reveals so we can grow in those areas.

If, for example, we don’t know a lot about the Bible (2 Tim. 2.15), we should be digging into God’s Word for ourselves and taking advantage of the opportunities to grow that our churches provide. This is one reason why we need to be part of a good Bible-teaching church (Heb. 10.25).

Or if we don’t know how to effectively share the gospel, again we need to learn. I’ll list a couple of posts at the bottom that may help.

But there are many situations where recognizing our weakness forces us to depend on God in a greater way. And that’s a good thing. God is not looking for self-sufficient people who think they are strong on their own. As one psalmist said:

He does not delight in the strength of the horse;
He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
In those who hope in His mercy (Ps. 147.10-11).

I said this recently in the post about Gideon but it’s worth repeating. Sometimes God thins our armies, too. He allows us to lose those things on which we depend so we can learn to rely on Him alone. When we have come to the end of ourselves, when we feel the weakest and the least able, even foolish in comparison to others, God uses imperfect people like us and does great things … all for His glory!

Today’s Other Readings:

Psalm 51.1-6:

David’s Psalm of Repentance

What a great psalm to go to when we realize we have sinned and fallen short of God’s best in our lives! If that is you, you might want to pray this psalm as a prayer. It begins:

³ For I acknowledge my transgressions,
And my sin is always before me.
⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned,
And done this evil in Your sight—

⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Proverbs 14.31-32:

The Poor and the Poor in Spirit

He who oppresses the poor reproaches his Maker, but he who honors Him has mercy on the needy (v. 31).

As believers, we should have mercy on the poor, but not just the poor physically, also on those who are poor spiritually. By learning to share the gospel we can offer that which is the most valuable of all—that is, spiritual riches.

Luke 18.1-23:

Persistence in Prayer

Verse 1 is one of my favorites:

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.

The parable that follows, the Parable of the Unjust Judge, can be a great encouragement to stay faithful in prayer. God is not saying He is like an unjust judge, but contrasting the two by saying, if even an unjust judge will finally give in and respond to constant requests, how much more will God who is perfect respond to us when we are faithful to pray and wait on Him.

What About You?

How do you respond when you are confronted with sin in your life? Are you defensive or do you humbly admit and confess as David did in Psalm 51?

Are you prepared to share the gospel with unbelievers or do you avoid it because of indifference or a lack of preparation?

Are you persistent in prayer? Do you trust God and wait on His timing? Or do you quickly give up?

Finally, what did you take away from Sampson’s story? Is there some area where you need to step out in faith and allow God to use you?

Coming Up:

In the coming days, we’ll talk about Jesus as the Good Shepherd, look at sin’s bizarre end and its invisible hooks, and discuss the battle for truth and religious liberty. We’ll also pose the question, “If others were to call you by your character, what would your name be?”

I hope you’ll sign up so you don’t miss any of them.

If you would like to receive a FREE downloadable and printable Bible study through the book of Mark, you can click here for more information.

Blessings as you grow in Christ,
Donna ♥

Note about this post:

I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer. 

A while ago, I read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”

I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)

I sometimes LINKUP with these blogs.