Going Downhill Spiritually
The Life and Times of Samson
Going Downhill Spiritually
Judges 14:1-4
 
Charles Oatman wrote in his hymn Higher Ground:
 
I'm pressing on the upward way,
New heights I'm gaining every day;
Still praying as I'm onward bound
Lord plant my feet on higher ground.
 
I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I'll pray till heaven I've found
Lord lead me on to higher ground.
 
That ought to be the prayer and desire of every Christian; pressing on the upward way, always going forward reaching for higher ground. But tragically that is not always the case for some. Instead of going forward they go backward. Instead of going upward, they go downward.
 
Someone has rightly observed that the Christian life is like riding a bicycle; if you don’t go on you go off.  It’s impossible to sit still. Have you ever noticed that?  There is no such thing as holding ground. It is either higher ground or lower ground. Samson certainly illustrates that for us. 
 
Notice the words of verse 1, 5 and 7
 
Three times the Bible says that Samson “went down”.  Now before you get too up in arms, I know that Bible is talking about a geographical direction.
 
But the words also picture the beginnings of a spiritual decline in Samson's life.  In fact, I know I don’t have to tell some of you, that there were times in your life if you hadn’t been “where” you were geographically, you wouldn’t have gotten in the mess you were spiritually
 
At the beginning of his story, we see Samson as a man with great purpose. He had been born according to God's plan; he has a divine purpose. He is set apart from his mother’s womb to be God's man for the hour.  He is dedicated to the Lord.
 
We also see that that Samson was a man of great promise. Samson would definitely had been voted, “Most likely to succeed”. It was not an everyday occurrence for parents to experience a personal visit from God to announce their son's birth. All of the circumstances surrounding Samson's birth made him a person of destiny.
 
We could also say of Samson that he was a man of great power. More than any other man in the book of Judges, it is said that the Spirit of the LORD came upon him. Samson was endued and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
 
He had all the ingredients to go down in history as one of God’s greats.  And even though there were some bright spots in his life, what could have been never was.
 
One of the best descriptions of Samson's life I have come across is one by Gary Inrig in his book Hearts of Iron, Feet of Clay, a commentary on Judges.
 
 
Inrig says: “For most of his life, Samson was like a whale chasing sardines--a great power pursuing small goals.”
 
So while chapter 13 tells us what Samson could have been, chapter 14 begins to tell us why he never was what he was destined to be.
 
Notice how chapter 13 ends:
 
Verse 25
 
Chapter 13 ends with Samson climbing upward.
 
Then notice how chapter 14 begins:
 
Verse 1
 
Chapter 14 begins with Samson going downward.
 
It is the start of a spiritual decline in his life that would ultimately end with his death. I would dare say that all of us know someone or maybe several “someones” who used to be blessed and used of God. 
 
They enjoyed the peace of God and the power of God in your life. They were serving God and God was at work in their lives.  But somewhere along the line, they you began to go downhill in their Christian life. Why does that happen?
 
Samson shows us why sometimes even those with great purpose, promise and power can go downhill spiritually.
 
 
First, a person begins to go downhill spiritually when there is:
 
1. Deviation from the Will of God
 
verse 1
 
Notice to where he went down. The Bible says that he went down to Timnath. Timnath was only 3 or 4 miles from Samson's hometown. It was not far geographically, but spiritually it was a place of great distance from God's will in his life.
 
The name Timnath means “the place of the vineyard”.; Now that is significant when you consider what God said in Judges 13:5.
 
As a Nazarite, there were certain restrictions placed on the life of Samson.
 
They are given to us in Numbers 6:2-4
 
As a Nazarite, he was to have nothing to do with that which came from the vine. In short, he was not to either drink or eat anything that involved grapes. Welch's grape juice and Del Monte raisins were a no-no! Being a Nazarite was God's will for his life, and yet what we find him doing in Judges 14:1 is going to a place that was known for its vineyards.
 
We also know that Timnath was located on the northern border of Judah. Even though it was part of the allotment that had been given to the tribe of Dan, Judges 14 describes it as a city occupied by the Philistines. You could say that it was a city right on the edge. It was on the border of an area belonging to both Israel and the Philistines.
Now remember, Judges 13:5 makes the purpose of God clear. 
 
And yet when we read that Samson ”went down to Timnath”, there is nothing that indicates that he was going there as an act to deliver the city from Philistine occupation. It seems that he was just going there to visit. The will of God for Samson's life was liberation from the Philistines, not association with them.
 
That picture of going “down” is used quite often in Scripture to picture those who get out of the will of God for their life. 
 
Jonah is a classic example. Jonah ran from God's call and the will of God. When Jonah ran from God's will the Bible says that he “went down to Joppa”. He “went down”into the ship (1:3), and ultimately went down into sea and down into the great fish. Out of the will of God, Jonah was always going down.
 
The same is true for us. The moment we begin to deviate from God's will for our life, we start going downhill in our life.  Sometimes it is just as simple as our physical location; being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
 
So Samson reminds us that we begin to go downhill spiritually when there is a deviation from the will of God. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Secondly, a person begins to go downhill spiritually when there is:
 
2. Disobedience to the Word of God
 
Verses 1-3
 
Samson goes down to Timnath and falls head over heels in lust.  It wouldn’t be the last time that a pretty girl would capture Samson’s attention from the Lord. This is the first of three women that we see in Samson's life and in each we see Samson going further downhill.
 
Verse 1 says he “saw” her. Immediately there was a physical attraction. No doubt, she was, as we say, a knock-out.
 
The moment he saw her, he determined that she would be his wife. The reason he went back to his parents and asked them to get her for his wife was because it was the custom in those days of parents to ask the parents of a daughter for her hand in marriage to their son and to pay a dowry for her hand in marriage.
 
Now I would suggest that Samson is making several mistakes right off the bat. 
 
First, his decision was based entirely on the physical.
 
All he saw was a pretty girl. It reminds me of the story I heard one time of a man that went to an Opera and a woman came out on the stage to sing.
 
 
He sat there and thought, “She has the loveliest, long flowing golden hair I have ever seen. She has the deepest blue eyes I have ever seen. Her complexion is like the rays of the morning sun. Her teeth are like pearls. Her voice is like a nightingale.”
 
He determined right then and there he was going to marry her. He went back stage to meet her and in a few weeks they were married. On their wedding night they checked into the honeymoon suite.
 
To his surprise she took off her wig. Her lovely, long flowing golden hair was a wig! She was almost bald-headed. Then she took out one of her eyes. One of these deep blue eyes was a glass eye. Then she pulled out her false teeth. Those pearly white teeth were not hers. Then she took off her makeup. The complexion that had looked like the rays of the morning sun was gone and what he saw was ghastly.
 
He sat there for a moment and finally said, “Sing, woman, sing!”
 
The second mistake that Samson made was that his choice of the Philistine girl was in direct disobedience to the command of God.
 
verse 3
 
God had commanded the children of Israel not to intermarry among the pagan nations of the land.
 
Deuteronomy 7:3-4 makes that clear. 
 
 
 
 
Why was that such a big deal?  God knew they if they intermarried with people like the Philistines, they would turn their heart away from him, so therefore, He strictly forbid such marriages.
 
And yet Samson pursued what he wanted in direct violation of God’s command.  He said, “get her for me.” The last thing on his mind was doing God’s will. 
He didn't care about what God said, and commanded. All he cared about was what he wanted.
 
See the pattern?  When you deviate from God’s will it is because of disobedience to His Word. 
 
The Bible is God's book to regulate our actions and reactions. It is more than a book to display on the coffee table or to carry to church with us. It is a book to live by.
 
Listen to Psalm 1:1-3
 
God's promise is that those who guide and guard their lives by His word will be fruitful and prosper. God says in Psalm 1:4, “But the ungodly are not so.” The ungodly are those who do not make God's Word the delight and directive of their life. The implication is that they will not prosper.
 
I have known some, who like Samson, care only about what they want. The last thing they think about is what God said. They disregard the Word of God. They are even defiant at times with what God said. They are so consumed with what they want and having their own way, that they act in ways that they know are contrary to what God expects and says.
They are some who are completely out of church today because they disobeyed what God said about being in God's House on the Lord's Day. They began to miss a Sunday here and there to do what they wanted, and over time they found themselves completely out of Church.
 
I have seen people make major mistakes in their life because they would not be obedient to God's commands. They made decisions that they knew were in direct opposition to God's Word. I have seen people make such mistakes in marriage, business, and personal matters; yet, they were consumed with what they wanted.
 
I have seen others go downhill spiritually because they listened to others, instead of listening to God. Again, one always goes downhill spiritually when they are disobedient to the Word of God.
 
Lastly, one begins to do downhill spiritually when there is:
 
3. Distraction from the Work of God
 
Look at verse 4 again
 
This is a verse that is often misread and misunderstood.
 
Think about what it says:  Israel was under the dominion of the Philistines. As I have stated over and over, the reason God raised up Samson was to deliver Israel from the Philistines. That was His plan.
 
 
 
A lot of people read verse 4 and think that it is referencing Samson looked for an opportunity to move against the Philistines.  That’s not what it says.  The “He” of verse 4 is God. 
 
The attention is on the Lord. It was the “LORD” that is looking for the opportunity. This was God's plan! He was going to judge the Philistines and deliver His people.
 
Now no doubt, Samson's marriage to the Philistine girl would give God an opportunity to judge the Philistines, but that wasn’t Samson’s objective in the marriage.  It was the farthest thing from his mind.  This is nothing less than Sovereign God overruling and bringing His purposes to pass in spite of Samson.
 
Never forget that God is in control and He will act according to His plan in spite of our disobedience. He will do what He wants to, where He wants to, when He wants to, and how He wants to--no matter how man acts!
 
F. B. Meyer said, “God overruled the results, though that did not relieve Samson of the blame.”
 
God overruled in His providence, but that did not excuse the actions of Samson. This was a work Samson was to be involved in, but instead he let himself be distracted by what he saw and wanted. Instead of doing God's work, and working with God, he was acting selfishly.
 
When one gets distracted from doing God's work they always go downhill spiritually. I've seen it happen more times than I can count.
Someone gives up their class, or job and work in the church, to take a break, or because they got upset about something. Without exception, they always lose their joy. The joy they used to have in serving God is gone. They fade into the background, and in most cases, eventually get out of Church altogether.
 
The greatest place to be is in God's work. The happiest people in the Church are those who are serving. But when one gets distracted from doing God's work they always begin to go downhill.
 
It even happens to churches.  As long as their focus is serving God and reaching people, the church prospers. But when they let things distract them from serving God and reaching people for Christ, it always begins to go downhill.
 
Where are you in your Christian life? Can you say:
 
I'm pressing on the upward way,
New heights I'm gaining every day;
Still praying as I'm onward bound
Lord plant my feet on higher ground.
 
I want to scale the utmost height,
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I'll pray till heaven I've found
Lord lead me on to higher ground.
 
Or are you going downhill spiritually? Let Samson be your warning. When there is deviation from the will of God, disobedience to the Word of God, and distraction in the work of God, one will always go downhill spiritually.
 
Let’s pray