Several years ago, I was listening to a sermon during men’s ministry, at a church I was attending at the time – Destiny Ruined, I believe the pastor named his sermon. The story of Sampson, retold by a millennial. I’d never heard the story of Sampson and Delilah that way before and I’ll admit, his telling gave me a good laugh. But as I listened to his message, I thought it made sense. His spin evoked thoughts about life. Lots to think about after. His sermon reminded me of sketches an artist would make.

My thoughts churned as the pastor preached about a young, crazy, and emotionally unbalanced Sampson, which is true from what we read in the book of Judges. Sampson, was chosen by God before his conception to deliver Israel, God’s people from the Philistines. A lot of hope rested on Sampson when the people found out how strong he was. The Spirit of God rested on him from a young age. But as told, Sampson didn’t know. He thought all he had to do was shake and summon that special power inside him. Once the shaking failed and he got captured, rather than call on God to correct the path he was on, he called on God to “let him die” with his enemies.

The pastor’s sermon got me thinking about the sketches we have as children, as teens, and as adults; how we may erase and scribble the wrong lines being drawn in our sketches. I also think that maybe, just maybe, instead of saying it’s too late or we can’t; maybe we should take the pencils in our hands and fill in the lines to finish those sketches instead of giving up.

Crazy, right?

Many of us are born into circumstances that aren’t ideal. Maybe we come to see that the things we have works fine, but we don’t know how to use them or even deserve to use them. But as I listened to the sermon of Sampson’s ruined destiny unfolds in a new way, I thought that maybe when he found out what was alive inside him, Sampson didn’t think he deserved to live because, in the end, his eyes were gouged even though his strength was coming back to him. Could he have fulfilled his destiny without his sight?

If Sampson had decided to break free from his chains and live, rather than die, he may have had a more distinct impact on history. As it is, Sampson is the inspiration of several characters that carry the same brand of strength and wild tenacity. But we will never know because he chose to die in the arena with the Philistines who had captured him and forced him to perform feats of strength for them.

Is there a difference in our sketch? We’ve all been given natural abilities that can be nurtured into habits or actions we can use to fulfill our destinies. Destinies shape societies and cultures, our lives, and our children. How we feel about ourselves. When think about the sketch of our own lives it may not be much different than what the pastor preached. But Sampson did make decisions that fulfilled the word of God for his life; Sampson started the liberation of Israel from the Philistine people and shortly after came King David.

As a positive thinker who fell a few times, I tend to think, “One more try”. But when we can draw inspiration from our past, it is a win. Besides, having a pencil with a good eraser will ensure we don’t have a destiny ruined, type of life. We can have the type of life where, if things don’t pan out the way we see them, we can adjust.

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