Commitment Over Impulse: The Power of Vows

good those of us who live in The Fellowship of the withered hand we're like that man in Jesus story We Know know we do not have the power to do or become the person that God wants us to we need help and a help that is often disregarded in our day but it's understood by wise people to be very powerful is the making of a vow the making of a binding commitment and then we do that with each other in The Fellowship of the withered hand so we help each other live up to that we're going to look at that today by looking at the life of a man named Samson [00:22:00]

Samson was an enormously gifted person the beginning of his story is very interesting this is in the Book of Judges and I'll come back to that context in just a few moments there is a man named man Noah from the clan of the danites who had a wife that was childless and an angel of the Lord appeared to her and said you are Barren and childless but you're going to become pregnant and give birth to a son now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean you will become pregnant and have a son whose head is never to be touched by a razor because the boy is to be a Nazarite dedicated to God from the womb [01:03:00]

we don't know a lot about the whole Nazarite background thing but it is to be a life that is particularly dedicated to God and then he's going to have a purpose he will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines and that child will be Samson and this is in the Book of Judges uh Israel's uh continual oppression at the hands of the Philistines is a huge problem so the woman goes to her husband it's very interesting and she tells him about this message and she tells him again about the vows that are to be taken drink no wine or other fermented drink don't eat anything unclean the boy will be a Nazarite devoted to God [01:07:00]

now in the Bible when something's really important they didn't have aalex they didn't have underlining they had repetition and so it's it is not coincidental it's key here that three times this idea of making a vow promising what are kind of small things uh not to drink not to have haircut not to eat something unclean will be a reminder of a commitment to a great thing your life is to be dedicated to God this life and so uh you know we would understand that the parent would take this very seriously the woman gave birth to a boy and called him Samson he grew and the Lord blessed him and the spirit of the Lord began to stir in him [02:56:00]

Samson went down to timna and saw there a young Philistine woman and mother I have seen a Philistine woman in timna uh he said to his father and mother I've seen a Philistine woman in timna now get her for me as my wife his father and mother replied isn't there an acceptable woman for you among all of our people must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife they recognize um wisdom is needed in the selection of a spouse and if you go to people who live in idolatry and uh without the law of Moses it's going to pull you in a certain direction but Samson said to his father get her from me she's the right one for me [03:48:00]

there's no politeness in this no seeking for wisdom the phrase that Samson uses and it's going to be a common one is she is right in my eyes now eyes is going to be a big theme in the Book of Judges he says about this woman later on she's the one that's right in my eyes and so they get her for her but the uh weddings of train wreck come back to that so he doesn't end up with her in chapter 16 he goes to Gaza where he sees is a prostitute again it looks good to me and so he is with her that leads to a problem and then later on as you may know he sees Delilah and he is smitten with her [04:29:00]

Samson is in the grip of what in our day we would call impulse control disorder in fact I'm not making this up there was an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association by a psychiatrist that argues that Samson fits six of the seven behavioral criteria for antisocial disorder and goes through them all in the text I was talking to my friend Dr Rick a psychologist about uh this problem and asked you know what are your thoughts about impulse control disorder and say oh that's not good so there you have a professional opinion impulse control disorder is a problem because it reduces us to the level of a collection of appetites [05:42:00]

the way that impulse control works folks who write about it will say you have an impulse and then uh there's a growing tension now why is there tension an Impulse is a strong desire but it's not just that uh if it was just a desire but the desire was good there wouldn't be tension there's tension because I know that it conflicts with what is best what is good what I truly value the life that I was meant to lead and that happens in Samson over and over uh and then finally if I give into the impulse there's pleasure in action and then there's relief from the urge but that's always temporary [06:23:00]

Samson turns aside to look at a lion's carcass and he sees a swarm of bees and some honey and he Scoops to eat it out of the carcass and to give some honey to his parents but he doesn't tell them where he taking it from because he took it from a dead carcass which would mean that it was unclean he was eating something unclean he's already broken his first vow just looks good three vows that order his life to remind him of his dedication to God and he's already broken one there's a lot going on in this story of Samson and then when he's going to get married to this woman he throws a feast to young men and Old Testament scholar Douglas Stewart notes that the language there used it takes place for seven days canot it would be a feast where there is heavy drinking in other words now Samson Has Broken Vow number two [08:40:00]

God is able to use Samson in spite of Samson in remarkable ways but he lives in the city of small sins we can all end up there abounding in backways and Retreats but surely sooner or later the Towering flame will rise from the harbor announcing that the rain of cowards is over and a man is burning his ships so today make a vow to God could be be real simple promise that you will read a Psalm and think about those thoughts or there is somebody to whom you will give a gift or there's somebody who is alone someplace and you're going to go visit them or you're going to get coffee for people in the office could be quite a small thing or you're going to clean up the room or you're going to make your bed or you're going to set things right with another person whether there's something wrong or you're going to set aside 15 minutes to talk to a spouse or to talk to a friend or you're going to set the timer now with your phone to go off maybe three times today and each time that it does you will say the prayer your will be done your will be done today be a keeper of the vow [11:31:00]