Have we yet read the hidden meaning of Samson's riddle? "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." (Judges 14:14)
We know the story: A young lion came forth and roared against Samson. The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent it as though it had been a kid. Some time afterward passing the spot, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and found in it a swarm of bees and a honey-comb, with which he refreshed himself and his parents. The lion that roared against him was the means of providing him with a sweet repast. "Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)
But if we meet him in the strength of the Lord, we shall be more than conquerors, and get blessing and help from all his attacks. From the eater comes meat, from the strong, sweetness. "My brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations," (James 1:2) even though you be in heaviness through them, (1 Peter 1:6) for: "Though no chastening for the present seems to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby." (Hebrews 12:11)
Not only are we ourselves fed and strengthened by our temptations, our tribulations, our difficulties, and our labors, but we thus receive a supply from which we can minister to the needs of others. "Blessed be God, ... Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God." (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
Thus may our tribulation be to us as a passport by which we may in some degree enter into the joy of our Lord, "by whose stripes we are healed." (1 Peter 2:24)--Present Truth, March 26, 1903--Judges 14:14
E.J. Waggoner