It’s hard to draw out meaningful wisdom from some of the Old Testament stories—wisdom that shapes how we pray. It takes time, maybe a conversation or two. And who has time for that when you are trying to read through the Bible in a year?
Recently, as I came to the story of Samson (Judges 13-16), I noticed that I had been satisfied to learn new details and make new connections, but the story didn’t reach how I prayed. So I tried to go slower but that only made things worse. Samson appears at the end of Judges, and the stories become more depraved as the book goes on. Manoah, his father, comes across as a bumbler. Samson’s first words are about what he saw and desired: he desired a Philistine woman, against the strong advice of his parents. “Get her for me,” he demanded, “for she is right in my own eyes” (14:3). Right in our own eyes, or right in God’s eyes—this is a dominant theme of the entire book, and Samson is the model of one who pursues what is right in his own eyes. This foretells the events of lust, foolishness, and vengeance that follow. Samson
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