Judges 14:1 Once Samson (a young man of Israel) went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. ² Then he came up, and told his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” ³ But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she pleases me.” “⁷ Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson. ⁸ After a while he returned to marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. ⁹ He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion. 

Samson saved Israel from the Philistines, but he was not a good Jew. First he asked to marry a Philistine woman when God had commanded Jews not marry outside their own people. Then instead of abiding by the objections of his parents he insisted on marrying a foreign woman anyway. Then he ate honey from the carcass of a dead lion, which would have been considered ritually “unclean”. Lastly he gave some of this honey to his parents making them (unknowingly) unclean.

This young man has some obvious character flaws, but God used him anyway. I have some character flaws too, some rough edges. Okay, LOTS of rough edges. Sometimes I get to thinking God cannot use me because I’m so far from where God wants me to be. Yet stories like this remind me that God can, and does, choose very imperfect people to accomplish his purposes on earth. There is hope! Thank you Lord for giving me a chance to do your will – flaws and all. Amen.