Judges 15
When Samson learned that his wife was given away to a Philistine, he went off to get even with them. He set fire to the Philistine vineyards, olive groves, and stored grain. But when the Philistines heard what Samson had done, they burned his wife and her father to death. Samson had gone away to stay in a cave in Judah, but the Philistines pursued him there and asked the men of Judah to surrender Samson to them. The men of Judah confronted Samson and he allowed them to tie him up and hand him over to the Philistines. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson in power and he broke away the ropes and struck down a thousand Philistine men with the jawbone of a donkey. Afterwards, Samson cried out to the Lord in acknowledgement, "You have given your servant this great victory". He was very thirsty and God provided an opening in a hollow place and water came out for him to drink. Samson's strength was renewed again and he led Israel for twenty more years in the days of the Philistines.

Judges 14
God lead Samson to Timnah, where he met a Philistine woman and desired to marry her. His parents didn't know this was from the Lord and didn't like the idea of Samson choosing a wife from the uncircumcised Philistine people. On the way to introduce his parents to the woman in Timnah, Samson was empowered by the Spirit with great strength in order to kill an attacking lion. Samson gave a feast for seven days, as was customary for bridegrooms. He gave a riddle for the people and offered a challenge to solve it, but the people threatened Samson's wife to get the answer for them. Since they had solved the riddle with deception and evil threats, Samson was empowered again by the Spirit and struck down thirty Philistine men. The Lord would continue to use Samson to confront the Philistines who were ruling over and oppressing the people of Israel at that time.

Judges 13
A man named Manoah had a wife who was unable to have children. An angel of the Lord came to her and instructed her not to drink any fermented drink nor to eat anything unclean for she was to soon conceive a son who would be a Nazarite. The angel told her that the boy would be set apart to God from birth and would help deliver Israel from the Philistines. Manoah prayed, asking God for further instruction and wisdom in how to raise the boy. When the boy was born, he was named Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him and the Spirit of the Lord stirred within him.

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I have become aware from my recent studies and readings (Luke 14-15, Romans 5-10, and the book of Judges) that I often do not acknowledge the fullness of God's grace and mercy towards the lost (and myself included). Sometimes I lack a rightful appreciation for these and pray that God will grant that His will be done in my heart and change me, so that I may have the compassion that Paul had in chapter 9 of Romans, "... my conscience confirms in the Holy Spirit--- I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, for I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers ". Lord, I want to extend your extravagant love and grace to the lost and rejoice with you upon their return to fellowship with you, just like you have done for me and continue to do for me every day.

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On the occasion that I ponder my current status with God, assessing my closeness or level of intimacy in my fellowship with God, my default thoughts go directly to evaluating my obedience compliance both to the so-called "holy habits" ( regular time in the Word, prayer, bible study, fellowship with the body, serving the church, etc) and secondly to behavior compliance in regards to sin management. Instead, my default thoughts should be acknowledging that my status in right standing and fellowship with God depends only on His grace and my position in Christ as an eternal child of God. Just like we can not steal the glory from Christ's work at the cross to boast in our efforts, works, and desires in our regeneration, we can not trust in our behavior compliance or sin management to impact our level or rate of spiritual growth. Our sanctification is the work of the Spirit. We have been destined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son-- only God can change our hearts and this is His work in us. Paraphrasing from 1 Corinthians 5: In Him, we are being enriched in every way... He will keep us strong to the end, ... and we will be declared by Him to be blameless on the day of the Lord. God who has called us into fellowship with Him is faithful !

in Judges 12, Jephthah led the Gileadites into a victorious battle against the Ephraimites. Jephthah then led Israel six years before he died. He was succeeded by Ibzan (7 years), Elon (10 years), and Abdon (8 years) before the Israelites returned to their evil ways again and the Lord allowed them to be oppressed by the Philistines for the next 40 years.

Judges 11 is about a mighty Gileadite warrior, Jephthah, who was given the responsibility of leading Gilead into war with the Ammonites. He tried to settle the dispute peacefully, but the king of Ammon paid no attention. "Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD : If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
Jephthah went out and fought the Ammonites and devastated their towns and Israel subdued Ammon. When he returned home, his only child came out to greet him , dancing with tambourines. Jephthah was horrified as he recalled his vow to the Lord, but he fulfilled his promise since the Lord had avenged the enemies of Gilead.

Judges 10
The Israelites went back to their evil ways and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths and foreign gods. They forsook the Lord and no longer served him, so He became angry with them and allowed them to become oppressed by the Philistines and the Ammonites. While in great distress, the Israelites cried out to the Lord, "We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals...Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now." They returned to the Lord and served only Him and "He could bear Israel's misery no longer".

Judges 9
The people of Shechem aligned with one of the sons of Jerub-Baal, Abimelech, and together murdered all the other sons. They then gathered and crowned Abimelich king of Shechem. But one of the sons, Jotham, had hidden and escaped. When he heard what had happened, he spoke to the people of Shechem and said to them, "Now if you have acted honorably and in good faith when you made Abimelech king, and if you have been fair to Jerub-Baal and his family, and if you have treated him as he deserves- and to think that my father fought for you, risked his life to rescue you from the hand of Midian - if then you have acted honorably and in good faith toward Jerub-Baal and his family today, may Abimelech be your joy, and may you be his, too! But if you have not, let fire come out from Abimelech and consume you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and let fire come out from you, citizens of Shechem and Beth Millo, and consume Abimelech!" Later, the citizens of Shechem became afraid of Abimelech and gathered to the stronghold tower, but when Abimelech heard that they had assembled there he ordered his men to set it on fire. All the people were killed. Next Abimelech beseiged and captured the city of Thebez, but during this pursuit "a woman dropped an upper millstone on his head and cracked his skull". The "curse of Jotham" had fallen on Abimelech and the people of Shechem as God punished them for all their wickedness.