Judges 15:15
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
Samson was fighting for his life. The Philistines were upset with Samson because he went out and killed many Philistines after they felt they righted the wrong. The Scriptures say that the Philistines came and encamped against the city of Lehi to get Samson. When the men of Judah saw this great army, they asked why they had come against this city. The Philistines said they had come to bind and kill Samson for what he had done to them.
Three thousand men of Judah came to where Samson was staying to take him to the Philistines. After assuring Samson that they would not kill him, they took him to the Philistines so that the enemy could kill him. However, when Samson came to the Philistine army that had come to take him captive and kill him, the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he broke the bands that he was tied with and slew one thousand Philistines.
Here is the sad part of the story. Samson fought alone while the men of Judah watched him fight. They stood silently by as Samson fought alone for his nation. These men should have joined Samson in the fight. Their silence was deafening. We don't know, but had these men joined Samson, they might have been able to defeat the Philistines and free their nation from the bondage of the Philistines.
However, I see this story happen over and over again in our day. When one person stands for truth, many watch silently as the one who fights for truth is attacked. It ought to bother every believer when truth is under attack and cause every believer to rise up and stand with the one who is fighting for truth. Sadly, many are like the men of Judah that called Samson the problem when their silence was the problem. Many call the one fighting for truth the problem instead of fighting the compromise that is the problem. Let me point out two principles we can glean from this story.
First, silence is as wrong as compromise. To watch truth be attacked and not say anything about it is to accept the compromise with your silence. It matters not that you don't want to get involved; truth is under attack. God commands the believer to earnestly contend for the faith, not earnestly stay silent while faith is under attack. Silence is as much compromise as is the one attacking the faith because silence is saying that the faith is not worth fighting for.
Second, we enjoy the benefits of those who have fought for the faith. We often talk about the men of the past as heroes, but we don't realize these men fought alone to give us a pure faith while many who agreed with them were silent. It was George W. Truett who stayed silent while J. Frank Norris fought the liberal Southern Baptist denomination. Norris was hated by many, and is still criticized today, but if it were not for Norris, we would not have the truth today because the Southern Baptist denomination was teaching evolution and attacking God’s Word in their institutions.
I am not saying that we need to seek a fight, but truth is always under attack, and it is the silent crowd who believes right that is hurting the cause of truth. Much compromise could be averted if the silent crowd rose in support and fought with the one fighting against compromise.
Comments