Here's Samson, the answer to his mother's prayers and the one that the angel said would begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines. What kind of man would one imagine him to be, this consecrated, dedicated
Nazerite who never cut his hair, who had to abstain from wine and anything that came from the grapevine, who was to never touch a dead body? Samson should have been very holy, but he was anything but. He was a lusty, arrogant, proud man who loved to cavort with prostitutes and wild women. Even at the end of his life, when he brought about the deaths of more Philistines with one action than in his previous twenty years, his motives were still not pure. All he cared about was retribution for his lost eye sight. But this confused, flawed piece of work was God's vessel.
God works in mysterious ways. He always has, he always will. All of our leaders have clay feet, some visible, some not. Those who are truly used by God are just that...used by God. It's not our piety that makes us useful, it's our willingness to be used in spite of our shortcomings and many times because of our shortcomings. Perhaps, if we spent less time trying to be perfect, trying to be in control, and more time just being who we are there would be more opportunities for us to be used by God.
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