We’re going to take a look at Samson again in Judges 15, and think about how he failed to give glory to God.
It’s easy to sit here in church and give glory to God. We sing, we pray, we have fellowship, and we leave happy that we were able to give glory to God. But what you’ll see in Samson here is what it looks like to fail in that – even when you’re actually succeeding in other things.
And when you or the whole church rob God of his glory, you yourself are diminished because you lose sight of him.
These notes accompany a sermon on YouTube delivered in July 2026 at Bromborough Evangelical Church. You can find more in the series in our sermon index.
Give glory to God in grace (1-8)
Last time we read about Samson’s disastrous wedding week in the land of the enemy Philistines. At the end of it, he returned home without his wife – having provoked the Philistines into hating him.
Here, Samson has returned to the land to go to his bride. Some might take flowers, but Samson romantically takes a young goat(!). “Sorry,” says his father-in-law, “we thought you’d gone. We’ve given her to another. How do you fancy my younger daughter?”
Samson is livid. Read Judges 15:3-5.
300 hundred foxes. There might be around 500 foxes in all of Wirral. How on earth do you catch 300? No idea. And why tie them into pairs? Couldn’t you just catch 150 and tie torches to them singly? Samson was a crazy guy. He did things his way!
The Philistine response was brutal: They killed Samson’s bride and father-in-law the way Samson had destroyed the crops: With fire. Verses 7 and 8 have more brutal bloodshed as Samson takes revenge on those Philistines.
It seems so ridiculous, it’s easy to see how easily normal people still do what he did – we just do it differently.
At an obvious level, look how things escalate. Someone does something wrong, and in temper there’s often a desire to do something worse in return. When someone put paint on my car, one of our neighbours wanted to go round to the culprit – but to do worse than spread a bit of paint… It’s how wars begin: Disagreements become skirmishes, skirmishes become conflicts, conflicts become war.
But those things don’t happen in a moment. It must have taken Samson ages to catch all those foxes, tie them together, and destroy the crops.
Hot temper, slow revenge
In all that time, all his thoughts were anger and revenge.
Anger isn’t automatically a bad thing. When you see a vulnerable person being abused or exploited, it makes you angry. Righteous anger. God himself is angry at your sin and rebellion. You stockpile his wrath against you as you sin! But his anger is always measured and proportionate, righteous and true. He has no temper to lose.
Even more, where Samson (like us) was stubborn and hard-hearted in vengeance, God is determined in his grace. When the Son of God became human, it was so that he could atone for your sin – take the punishment of your sin, absorbing all the wrath of God against you in himself. Where you choose to remain hard-hearted and unforgiving, Jesus chose to love you, to die for you, and to be ready to forgive all your awful sin – all you need to do is ask him.
If you have received forgiveness from God, learn to forgive.
If you’ve been reconciled to God, be reconciled to others.
And don’t think that’s just something you need to do with cranky Christians. Be that person at work too. And at home. If that’s a struggle to your heart, read Romans 12 prayerfully in the Lord’s presence. He will help you.
As God has been determined in his grace towards you, you must also let go of your hard-hearted fox-chasing temper, and learn grace towards others.
Give glory to God in faith (9-13)
Samson’s next move was to go to a cave in a place called Etam. He probably knew he’d be hunted, and fair play he’s gone away from other Israelites (lest they be caught in the fight).
The Philistines come to Israel, and around 3,000 Israelites go to Samson. Why so many? They were probably expecting resistance! So his supernatural strength was probably already known.
But it’s what they said that’s so tragic: Read Judges 15:11. God’s chosen people, in the land God gave them, had stopped crying out to God for rescue. And when in his determined grace God sent a rescuer, they said, “What have you done to us?”
People are still the same. You can tell some people all day long that Jesus died for their sins, and they’ll say, “So what? I don’t need it.” The world’s a mess, and Jesus is God’s answer, and people don’t care, don’t want to know.
Even Christians can think this way. You accept that things aren’t great, even though you wish you were more effective as a Christian, or that the church was bigger and stronger than it is.
“I tried that and it doesn’t work”
But you think it just is how it is. “Please don’t rock the boat.”
We feed our dogs with a kind of dry biscuit food that we buy by the sack and keep in a tall flip-top bin. Our tallest dog, Monty, used to pop his head in the top and eat away! So I turned the bin round against the wall – a simple thing that meant he couldn’t reach any more. So he stopped trying. After a month or two I swapped the bin round again (it’s easier for me), but he doesn’t try now. He’s learned: “I tried that and it doesn’t work.” Though it would, if only he’d try again. When we accept the status quo of a situation, we lose sight of the possibility that things can change.
Don’t be governed by circumstance when you want to live for God. Don’t succumb to false beliefs.
Be careful you don’t suffer from spiritual amnesia and forget what God can do – or spiritual blindness that keeps you from seeing things the way they really are, or could be.
Jesus never accepted that opposition to his ministry was something to give in to. He was utterly focussed on his mission. He saw opposition to ministry – and temptation to turn aside – as something from Satan, to be thrown aside.
Learned helplessness
You might think of yourself as a rubbish Christian, weak and useless in so many ways. You think that so-and-so is so much better than you. So you write yourself off as a dead loss for God.
Psychologists call that “learned helplessness”. You let some defeat in the past define your future as certain failure. Like Monty. But that wasn’t Christ’s way, and you’re united to him! You can have “learned faith” – trusting Jesus more.
Where do you think you can’t live for Christ this week? Could you be letting past failure shape your future?
Jesus fixed his eyes on his mission, in love and obedience to the Father. Do that. Give glory to God in your faith as you fix your eyes on Jesus and walk in a straight line to him, for him.
Do not be like those spineless Israelites who just accepted enemy supremacy – not when you’re in Christ.
Give glory to God in humility (14-17)
Read Judges 15:14-17.
It probably wasn’t on a hill as such. “Jawbone Hill” probably referred to the pile of 1,000 bodies. (Judges is a grim book in so many ways.)
It’s a victory that is obviously only achievable because the Spirit of the LORD rushed powerfully on Samson. Back in Chapter 4, after victory over God’s enemies Deborah sang a song that began, “I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.”
Samson’s song doesn’t mention the LORD at all. Read Judges 15:16 again.
A few years ago at a Summer Camp there were a few of us sitting together and someone asked a friend to take a photo. He took it as a selfie: The group were very much in the background and he was taking up half the photo! (On his wedding day Julia got him and his bride ready with a lovely pose – and then returned the favour!)
Photobombing Jesus
The thing is, we do that with Jesus. Given an opportunity to photograph Jesus, we’d probably do it as a selfie – we love to steal the glory that is due to him alone. You might witness to someone about your faith, and then pat yourself on the back as a wonderful evangelist! Or if you’re so blessed that your children come to faith, you congratulate yourself on being such a brilliantly faithful parent.
If you’re in doubt about this, think how often you re-run an argument you had with someone but the re-run goes better than the actual one because you imagine yourself with killer arguments!
When things go well for us in our Christian life, or church, we’re far too quick to congratulate ourselves. Samson displayed no humility before God. He was proud.
The Lord has graciously encouraged us here in Bromborough. It’s not because of how we’ve set up our Life Groups. Not because we’ve got elders now. Nor is it our music, our worship, our welcome, or our preaching. The Lord chooses to work through us, but what he chooses to accomplish through us is his own perfect will.
That calls for humility in prayer. And when prayers are answered – even if the answer has cost you in time, money, or other sacrifice – you must turn to God in all humility and praise him alone.
Do not photobomb the Lord Jesus Christ. The more you see yourself, the less you will see of him. That will diminish him in your eyes, to your loss.
Give glory to God in thanksgiving (18-20)
Lastly we come to a moment where Samson actually did acknowledge God’s hand in what Samson had done.
Read Judges 15:18.
“You have accomplished this great victory through your servant.” The “you” is emphatic – he knows where the victory is from. Referring to himself as “your servant” sounds great – the language of Moses himself – but it’s hollow on Samson’s lips.
In truth, he prays like the world might pray. Someone who never calls out to God might turn to him in a crisis. “I’m dying” or “my loved one is dying” or “I’m in trouble” – “Please help me!”
These are so often demanding, needs-based prayers born out of crisis. Samson isn’t really giving thanks to God for what has been achieved – he’s looking for compensation, as if God owed him something.
But get this: God is gracious. He didn’t just send rain. He didn’t even arrange to have an Israelite just happen to walk by at that moment with water. God opened the rock and water flowed out.
Samson named the place “Hakkore Spring” – “Spring of the One Who Cried Out”. Not “Spring of the God of Strength and Grace”. Samson named it after himself.
10 years ago we dropped the name “Matheson” from the name of this church: Thomas Matheson was a very good man, but the only man worthy of a church named after him is Christ himself!
Jesus gave glory to the Father
When we looked at John’s gospel we saw Jesus work for the Father’s glory in everything he did. And he joyously thanked the Father publicly for all the Father did through him, giving glory to God with thanksgiving over and over. And Jesus is still the God who gives life-giving water: The Holy Spirit of eternal life who lives in every believer!
As you look at your life, are you like Samson or Jesus? Do you feel like God should be treating you better? Are your prayers all so self-focussed that you forget humility and thanksgiving before him?
That said, do cry out to him in your need! As you do that, with a heart for his glory, your dependence itself will bring him glory as you acknowledge his grace and provision.
Summary
Give glory to God in
- Grace. Be determined to be gracious, overcoming hot temper with a desire to forgive and be reconciled (as far as you possibly can).
- Faith. Don’t be governed by “learned helplessness,” thinking that past failures and circumstances guarantee future disaster. Trust God, and step forward for him.
- Humility. When things do go well (and they will), whether individually or as a church, don’t write Jawbone Hill songs about how brilliant you’ve been. Give God the glory in all humility.
- Thanksgiving. God answers prayers because he is gracious, not because he owes you anything or because you deserve it. When he lavishes living water of Christ into your life, give thanks that his grace knows no bounds!