Judges
chapter 16 may be one of the most famous children’s stories in the
Bible, but as is often the case, the children’s version leaves out
important details. Samson has not been a man of virtue, yet God had
been working through his life. The chapter begins, “Samson
went down to Gaza where he saw a prostitute. He went to spend the
night with her“.
Samson acts like many people today; he compartmentalized his life
into areas God cares about and areas that are outside God’s
concern. This belief could not be further from the truth. Jeremiah
1:5 reminds us “Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you“.
And in Matthew chapter 10 Jesus explains that God is aware when even
a sparrow falls; He knows us so completely, even our hairs are
numbered. There is no part of your life that is unimportant to God.
When the men of the city learn of his actions, they plan, “At
dawn we will kill him“.
Despite his sin and disregard for God’s Law, Samson escapes his
enemy by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. Even though there are
often natural consequences for our actions, God does not punish us
when we are bad and reward us when we are good. Our understanding is
so limited, yet God’s purposes are eternal.
Next
we read, Samson “fell
in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah“.
We also read the rulers of the Philistines went to her and said,
“See
if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength
and how we can overpower him… each of us will give you eleven
hundred shekels of silver“.
It is important to remember FEELINGS are not the same as ACTIONS.
The Bible is clear, when we become united physically, we are joined
spiritually also. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 explains it this way: “Flee
from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his
body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do
you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in
you, whom you have received from God?”
We are not designed to be joined and then torn apart. This is one
of the reasons sexual intimacy is reserved for marriage only.
Delilah
repeatedly tried to trick Samson into revealing the “The
secret of his strength”
and each time Delilah tested him by tying him in his sleep and each
time Samson woke and snapped the ropes. They say that love is blind
but it must be gullible as well. Delilah even uses one of the oldest
lines in the book, “How
can you say you love me if you won’t confide in me?”
We learn that Delilah finally coerced Sampson through nagging, “day
after day until he was tired to death… and he told her everything“.
After Delilah shaved Samson’s head while he slept “his
strength left him“.
When the Philistines attacked him we read, “He
did not know the Lord had left him“.
More accurately, he had left the Lord by breaking the final vow of
the Nazirite. The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and
humiliated him. But then we read one of the most hopeful verses in
the Bible, “But
the hair on his head began to grow again“.
Guys, no matter where you are spiritually there is hope for you too.
God never turns His back on us.
Everyone
knows the conclusion of the story. Samson prayed and asked God to
once again give him strength. This time he unselfishly sacrificed
his own life in order to destroy his Philistine tormentors. “Thus
he killed many more when he died than when he lived“.
And God can do much more in us when we stop fighting and humbly
accept Him as Lord of all our life.