Judges 16:15-21
"Samson," Delilah said, "you claim to love me, but you don't mean it! You've made me look like a fool three times now, and you still haven't told me why you are so strong."
Delilah started nagging and pestering him day after day, until he couldn't stand it any longer. Finally, Samson told her the truth. "I have belonged to God ever since I was born, so my hair has never been cut. If it were ever cut off, my strength would leave me, and I would be as weak as anyone else."
Delilah realized that he was telling the truth. So she sent someone to tell the Philistine rulers, "Come to my house one more time. Samson has finally told me the truth." The Philistine rulers went to Delilah's house, and they brought along the silver they had promised her.
Delilah had lulled Samson to sleep with his head resting in her lap. She signaled to one of the Philistine men as she began cutting off Samson's seven braids. And by the time she was finished, Samson's strength was gone. Delilah tied him up and shouted, "Samson, the Philistines are attacking!”
Samson woke up and thought, "I'll break loose and escape, just as I always do." He did not realize that the LORD had stopped helping him. The Philistines grabbed Samson and poked out his eyes. They took him to the prison in Gaza and chained him up. Then they put him to work, turning a millstone to grind grain.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
When I was teaching school, I can’t count the number of times I asked a child, “Why did you do such-and-such?” and the child replied, “He/she told me to!” Apparently, school-age children are helpless against the suggestions and persuasions of their peers! But the same might be said of “children” of all ages.
Teenagers are influenced by their friends to participate in all sorts of activities… drinking, drug abuse, sexual experimentation, “youthful mischief” and more. Adults are seduced, literally, by their own desires for the acceptance and approval of others, gratification of a variety of appetites and addictions, and self-validation. So it’s no stretch to see how Samson caved when Delilah persisted. She wooed Samson and accused him of not loving her. She played on his vulnerabilities and emotions and totally manipulated him. In the end, Samson abandoned his sensibility, his reliance on God, and his principles… and it cost him dearly.
When Delilah told the Philistines to cut Samson’s hair, the Bible says that God stopped helping him. Our strength from God may not lie in our hair, but we are still a lot like Samson. We want so badly to be loved and accepted… to be appreciated and to fit in with our friends and family… and we often compromise our faith in an attempt to accomplish this. Samson would have done just about anything to please Delilah… and he pretty well did. But the Philistines, who were in cahoots with Delilah, gouged out Samson’s eyes and put him in prison! Things did not turn out anywhere close to what Samson had hoped would happen!
Things often don’t go as we had hoped, either. Our best efforts to fit in or attain the level of satisfaction we were seeking are thwarted… and sometimes they end badly. We fail to recognize that God has stopped helping us, too. Notice I did not say that God left us… because He doesn’t do that. But when we step away from God and try to do things our own way, He does sometimes take a step backward and rein in His help for awhile.
God used a human like Samson to accomplish many things. But like all humans, Samson had his weaknesses. One of those was what can be seen as a “disconnect” from God. What would have happened if Samson had taken the time to ask God what to do before he told Delilah about his hair? What if Samson had just stopped and asked God to guide his words and his choices… and to give him the strength to do the right thing – even if he was tempted to choose otherwise?
What if we did this? Would the outcome in many of our situations be different? Wouldn’t it make sense that taking a few minutes to talk with God and seek His advice could result in better outcomes… and prevent a lot of heartache and frustration? Isn’t it worth a shot? Isn’t it time we stop trying to “fly by the seat of our pants” and making choices just because they make us feel good or please others… and start living out our faith in God by consulting Him about all aspects of our life each and every day?
We do carry the strength and power of God with us… maybe not in a long thick head of hair - but in our heart and soul, nonetheless. Are we willing to risk losing even some of this power by making poor choices? Who is telling you what to do and how to act these days?
©2011 Debbie Robus
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