Title: Enhakkore (Judges 15:14-20)
Contents
Humans have the emotion to commemorate a certain person or an event. Therefore, there are many days in Korea to commemorate places or events that commemorate people. Even in the calendars we see every day, we get the feeling that there are many days to commemorate events. In the ceremony of commemorating a great person or a good event, it means that there is a desire to have it happen again in one's life.
Even in the Bible, there are cases where a new name is given to a place to commemorate an event. The word “Jehovah Jireh” is the name given to the altar that Jehovah-jireh, or Jehovah, prepared because God prepared a sheep instead of the son at the place Abraham went to to sacrifice his son. The place called Bethel was also named after Jacob left his father and went to his maternal uncle's house and met God in a dream while sleeping in the wilderness. In addition, the word Ebenezer was intended to commemorate the place by giving the name Ebenezer to mean that God helped us up to this point after the Israelites were attacked by the Philistines and defeated them by God's grace.
In today's sermon, we are talking about the background of the creation of very important place names. When Samson fought with thousands of Philistines alone, he defeated a thousand people with a single donkey jawbone, but his thirst led to a crisis. Samson cried out to God at this time, saying, "With God's help, I have won, but if I die of thirst, I will die by the Philistines." At this time, God made water well up in a place called Lehi, so Samson was victorious in the battle. Samson named the spring Enhakkore. Its name means Fountain of the Crying One.
Life requires the experience of Enhakkore. Through Enhakgore, life is to overcome the barriers of life given to you and experience God's grace. Enhakgore is a place that symbolizes the church. The church is the place where the saints cry out to God and where God grants the grace of salvation to those who are spiritually thirsty and have no choice but to die. Through this church, the experience of Enhakkore should be for all the members of the church to be their own.
1. Samson shows that each person has a God-given mission in life.
The historical background of today's Word is the story of the Age of Judges. The Philistines are the nation that Israel suffered the longest in history. The Philistines afflicted the Israelites like an incurable disease. It was a time when I had hope when God would deliver the people of Israel from the Philistines whenever they were tormented and harassed every day.
God is teaching something very important through the book of Judges. It is the teaching that when God sends man into this world, he gives each one a mission. Samson is the person who shows that teaching concretely. Before Samson is born, God visits Manoah, who will become Samson's parents. And he said he would give him a son. When he explained the reason why Samson was to be born, he said that it was to save Israel from the Philistines. When we look at Samson, we are taught that when a person is born on this earth, God has a mission that God gives to each person.
And what we can see through Samson is that if a person lives according to his mission, he will lead a powerful life. No matter how strong Samson is, his power is revealed when he fulfills his mission. When Samson lives regardless of his mission, it shows that no matter how strong he is, he cannot protect him. It is not the talents or circumstances that make a person honorable. It is saying that the reason a person is honored is because of the mission he has. The reason Elijah was honored, Moses was honored, and John the Baptist was honored because of his mission.
Also, Samson is the person who shows that God has given man the ability to carry out his mission. When God gives us a mission, He also gives us the ability to carry out the mission, so we need to get rid of the idea that we cannot carry out our mission because we do not have the strength. If a believer has taken on a certain responsibility in the church or at home, God will surely give him the talent that is worthy of that responsibility. Samson had a mission to save Israel from the Philistines, showing that he can fulfill that mission alone.
When God finds people and entrusts them with certain missions, He also gave them the ability to bear them. When God called Elijah, he gave Elijah the power to defeat the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah. When God called Moses, Moses said that he was not qualified because he was incompetent. God said that Moses would make Moses like God before Pharaoh. I need to know that all the talents I have are tools for fulfilling my mission.
2. Samson shows that life's weaknesses are in him.
Samson was a Nazarite from birth. He was dedicated to God. What God gave Samson specifically for his mission was strength. For this reason, there are many descriptions of Samson's power in the Bible. First, there is an article that he killed a lion with his bare hands. He once killed three hundred foxes and attached torches to their tails to burn the grain of the Philistines' fields. Also, it was strong enough to take off the gate of the city gate and hang it on the shoulder.
But Samson's mistakes or defeats were always within him. First, he broke millet in the house of a Philistine bride, and then he confided the secret to the tears of the bride. He became like a beast who spoke the secret of strength and turned a millstone before the temptation of the Philistine woman Delilah. In today's words, the crisis did not come because of the enemy, but because of his own thirst.
Failure in life always begins with one's own problems. There are many cases in the Bible, in society, and in the external aspects of success, but failures because of their own problems. It means that there are many people who win against their opponents and lose with themselves. The real danger is always with yourself, not from others. Many people fall over their own problems after being loyal outwardly and often fall because of their own family problems.
Elijah defeated the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mount Carmel and killed them in the Kishon River. He triumphantly overcame the Gentile prophets with power on their backs. But he could not overcome the fear that rose in his heart. He lay under a broom tree and pleaded with God to die. So did King Saul. After becoming king, he won a marvelous war against the Philistines. However, Saul was defeated by his greed and eventually gave up his position as king. So did Achan. He won the battle of Jericho, the first war since he entered Canaan. However, he was defeated by himself and eventually fell out of the place of the people of Israel.
3. Samson overcame his weakness by crying out.
Samson overcame his weakness by crying whenever he was weak. When he was thirsty, he cried out to God, and God gave him a spring and gave him the blessing of Enhakkore. God is said to be the God of those who cry. In addition, the last Samson was able to defeat the Philistines at once even when the Philistines made fun of him because he cried out to God.
Weakness in life makes me unhappy when I don't cry out, but when I cry, it becomes a channel through which I can receive God's grace. When Hagar was dying in the wilderness with her children, Hagar wept and cried. God opened a spring for her. Hannah was sad and cried out to God. Her weakness was overcome and it became a blessing.