It’s not that I am wrong, I just have not thought of an excuse yet!

Judges 15:1-5 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat, and said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father did not let him enter. Her father said, “I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours instead.” Samson then said to them, “This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.” Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned the foxes tail to tail and put one torch in the middle between two tails. When he had set fire to the torches, he released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, thus burning up both the shocks and the standing grain, along with the vineyards and groves.

"The Pastor of a Lutheran Church in Seattle sponsored the following: "NO-EXCUSE-TO-STAY-AT-HOME-SUNDAY" "Cots will be available for those who say Sunday is their only day to sleep. Eye drops will be supplied for those who have red eyes from watching late Saturday night TV shows. There will be steel helmets for those who say the roof would cave in if they ever went to church, blankets for persons who think the church is too cold, fans for those who say it is too hot, score cards for those wishing to list all the hypocrites present, TV dinners for those who can't go to church and cook dinner also. And finally, the sanctuary will be decorated with Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who have never seen the church without them." - Reader's Digest

As we continue with the very interesting life of Samson, we will continue to see a lot of behavior we find strange, yet there are some great lessons we can glean from it. Here we find Samson has decided to visit his wife again. He does not know that she has been given to his companion.

v. 1 But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat, and said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father did not let him enter

Samson came with an offering of a goat, which was to put his wife and father in-law at ease I am sure. Samson was in a "Sadika" marriage. In this marriage the wife continues to live with her parents and the husband comes to visit. In Israel this type of marriage ceased early in their history. It clearly misses the admonition of Scripture that a man AND woman will leave their families and cleave to one another. 

v. 2 But her father did not let him enter. Her father said, “I really thought that you hated her intensely; so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please let her be yours instead.”

His father in-law is really stuck here, he does not want to offend the Philistines by taking away this woman from one of their own and giving her to a Jew, but he knows how powerful Samson is. So he made the offer of his youngest daughter, which would be an insult to Samson. Samson had chosen his wife and wanted her.  

v. 3  Samson then said to them, “This time I shall be blameless in regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.”

Before we deal with a great lesson here, we need to remind ourselves that the Philistines had enslaved the Israelites and oppressed them terribly. God was using Samson to break the Philistines hold over Israel, but do not believe that justifies everything Samson does. God uses all things to accomplish His purpose, but that does not mean that God condones all things.

Samson’s statement “This time I shall be blameless” should send an alarm off in our souls. Human beings try to rationalize everything they do…at least I know that is the temptation I deal with. We want to make excuses for our behavior. Samson devises a unique way of torching all the grain of the Philistines. I would like us though to think about “rationalization.” Several dangerous mindsets are involved in rationalization and we should consider them.

First, Samson justified himself with "This Time!" When we look for ways to make us feel okay with our actions we place ourselves in the role of the man in Proverbs:

Proverbs 12:15 The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.

La Rochefoucauld, a Frenchmen, said this: "Almost all our faults are more pardonable than the methods we think up to hide them."

Luke 16:10–15 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.¹¹ And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own  “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” The Pharisees, who dearly loved their money, heard all this and scoffed at him. Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.

We must seek the Holy Spirit’s opinion when we hear something that deals with things in our lives. If we do not, we will react like these Pharisees, scoffing at the one that made us feel so uncomfortable. We should never fear the truth, no matter how inconvenient it is.

Luke 10:25–37  One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”  “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!” The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling on a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by.  A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’  “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Notice how the “expert” dealt with Jesus’ perfect answer to his question:

The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

This is a normal tactic to justify ourselves…we deflect. Instead of hearing the Lord’s answer and examining his heart, this expert tries to change the direction of the conservation. This way he can avoid having to be honest with himself.

I once heard about a little girl that was told this story from the Bible. When she was asked why the priest went right passed the man and did not stop, she said “because the man had already had all of his money taken!”

There are two more mindsets we need to look at next time, but right now let’s consider a few questions.

How important is it to you to be right? When you hear a truth that shows you that you are wrong, how do you respond? The last time you were caught in the wrong, how did you handle it? Why do we sometimes fear the truth?