Tommy Mann

The story of Samson and Delilah is one of the most intriguing in Scripture. Samson’s weakness for women is displayed in his first marriage, and then his rendezvous with a lady of the night in Gaza. But when he met Delilah his weakness became a physical weakness.   Samson’s enemies, the Philistines, had spent years trying to subdue the man with superhuman strength, but he continually got the better of them, as he routinely wreaked havoc on their entire city. In Delilah Samson saw a beautiful woman, but the Philistines saw a golden opportunity. They promised to make her rich if she could find a way to enslave their bitter rival. And she tried. She asked him the secret of his strength. At first that may have appeared to be small talk, but even a bonehead like Samson should have realized that something was off.    The first time she asked, Samson told her that one only needed to bind his hands with seven fresh bowstrings, and then he would be like any average Joe. He drifted ...

All parents have instructed their children not to call people names. And I imagine that all parents have had their kids come tell on another kid: “He called me a name!” Although it might not be expressly said, it is implied that we mean not to call someone a negative name. When children call each other things like dumb or weird, it obviously hurts that child’s feelings and makes them think they are disliked or inferior. If that child were to be called cool or awesome, it has a completely different effect.    Sometimes God calls people names. For example, Jesus famously called one of his disciples “The Rock” (Peter) when everyone else called him Simon. That nickname inspired Simon to step up to the plate and lead the apostles and the early church. But I want to focus on another name that God called someone. Although his parents named him Gideon, and the Israelites later nicknamed him Jerubbaal, God called him by another name: “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said ...