Last week we learned that Samson was special. Even before he was born God had put a call on his life and all Samson had to do was walk into his calling. His calling was clear, God wanted to use Samson to move the Israelites out of their complacency because they were losing their identity. They were more concerned about shopping and working and pleasure and social events and just about everything else than their relationship with God. The laws of God had dropped on their priority list and their identity was slowly being dissolved in the culture. They were complacent in their faith and took God’s provision and comfort for granted. And Samson was no different.
Samson thought he could figure everything out on his own so he grew up and married a young woman he had no business marrying. She was a Philistine, a woman who did not worship the LORD. She lived in a culture that had nothing to do with God, instead she worshipped idols made from human hands and believed in a different kind of spiritualism than the Israelites.
But Samson married her anyway. Turns out she was given to the best man at the wedding instead and ultimately killed along with her father because Samson lost his temper.
We went through a couple of the miracles that Samson did under the power of the Holy Spirit. He killed a lion with his bare hands and caught 300 foxes and destroyed the fields of the Philistines. Then he hid and his own people, the Israelites came to him and tried to turn him over to the Philistines.
They bound Samson with ropes but when he got close to the Philistines the ropes fell off and Samson used the jaw bone of a dead donkey to kill a thousand Philistines. The last verse in chapter 15 of the book of Judges says that “Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.”
This is rather interesting since the Philistines were ruling over the Israelites at the time. Samson led Israel because of physical strength, not because of his leadership abilities. God empowered him with strength in a miraculous manner and he used Samson’s strength to gently move the Israelites out of their complacency over the course of 20 years. It is my belief that Samson’s spiritual life slowly died over those 20 years. He was certainly gifted but he wasn’t godly. If he were alive today he would be the person who went to church every week for the first year, missed only one Sunday a month over the course of the second year, then in year three he would have gone to church once a month and at some point in his fourth year he would have stopped going altogether but would have still claimed to be a Christian. Samson’s spiritual life slowly slipped into non-existence.
It’s obvious that Samson had plenty of supernatural physical strength but lacked moral strength. Judges 16 gives us the sermon fodder for the day.
“1One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, "Samson is here!" So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, "At dawn we’ll kill him."
3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.” Judges 16:1-3 NIV
I believe this miracle is included because he probably hadn’t performed any feats of strength in a while so the people were getting anxious to get rid of him again. As the saying goes, he just “flexed his muscles” a little bit to gain some respect. No man could even come close to killing him because of his God given strength, then came Delilah.
“4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 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 so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels [a] of silver." Judges 16:4-5 NIV
Delilah was just a pawn in a big game of chess. She must have heard the murmurs of what had happened to his first wife. She must have known her fate if she didn’t comply. God hated the Philistines for a reason and this is one of those reasons, they had no morals because their gods had no morals, they had no morals. They lived for whatever they felt like and they didn’t feel like living with Samson anymore so they wanted him dead and they knew Delilah was there answer.
“6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."
7 Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs [b] that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man."
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.” Judges 16:6-9 NIV
Samson was so convinced that God was with him he taunted the secret to his strength. By now his spiritual life had been shelved and he was living for himself everyday in everyway. He was so stupid that he let Delilah lay a guilt trip on him when he refused to tell her the secret of his strength.
“10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied." 11 He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man."
12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.” Judges 16:10-12 NIV
Again she threw a guilt trip on him and he listened to her.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied." He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and tightened it with the pin. Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.” Judges 16:13-14 NIV
Samson knew the Philistines were out to get him but he didn’t care because he thought God was on his side no matter how far he drifted. Little did he know that he had walked out of God’s will long ago. He just didn’t know it. But God used his arrogance for his glory anyway.
Delilah kept nagging and nagging and nagging until Samson told her everything. And I think he still expected God to protect him even though he had completely walked away from God.
15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, ’I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength." 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. 17 So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man." 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. 20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I’ll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison.” Judges 16:15:21 NIV
I can only imagine how much it must have hurt to have his eyes gouged out with a blunt object. And I can imagine that it hurt Samson all the more because he thought he was immune to the hostilities of his enemies. Now in shock and despair he was relegated to pushing a grinding wheel round and round in a mill. He was a slave and only by divine providence, alive.
The story continues:
22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. 23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, "Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands."
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying,
"Our god has delivered our enemy
into our hands,
the one who laid waste our land
and multiplied our slain."
25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them.” Judges 16:22-25 NIV
The Philistines thought their pagan god named Dagon was victorious and were involved in a huge celebration and Samson represented the God if the Israelites so they brought him into the show to mock the LORD Jehovah.
It was during this huge pagan festival that the Bible records Samson’s prayer of repentance
“When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived.” Judges 16:25b-30 NIV
Samson’s life has so much to teach us. I hope that you have picked up on a number of things just as we read through these passages but I do want to highlight the highlights.
Samson expected God to be with him in whatever he did.
Samson married a woman god forbid him to marry then after she was given away to another man and killed he did it again.
Samson grew so complacent he didn’t even know when God left him.
Samson was so accustomed to being empowered by God that he had no clue when God left him. Samson was empowered but empty.
Samson came back to God only after a very painful lesson.
His arrogance didn’t come from ignorance. He knew all about God and his laws but he consciously choose to ignore them.
Right after 911 people were publicly asking “where was God.” People wanted to know how this God of love and grace could ever let something as evil and sinister as the terrorist attacks on the world trade centers happen. I don’t know why God allowed it to happen, but I do know that they caught America in general off guard.
When my friends wife and son were involved in a serious car crash the first person he called was me and the first question he asked was where was God? John hadn’t been to church in years and he had publicly proclaimed his atheism but now that there were two lives at stake he needed someone to blame so he blamed God. I wanted to tell him “Where was God?” isn’t the question, the question is where have you been?”
The truth is that all of us may ask that question at some point in our life. But I hope that with a little preventative maintenance we will never stray so far away from God that we become oblivious to his departure. I’m not suggesting that we lose our salvation but I am suggesting that you can walk right out of God’s purpose for you.
I keep my spiritual life string I need to…
Keep in touch with God.
You keep in touch the same way you keep in touch with a goof friend, talk to him and read his letter to you, the Bible.
Keep in line with God’s will.
Our primary purpose in life is to glorify God with our life. That’s it. And we do that in a wide variety of ways: Some people glorify God by working on computers or mowing lawns or cleaning houses. The Bible tells us that in everything we do, do it for the glory of God. But we have a tendency to become selfish or arrogant like Samson and we begin to focus on ourselves and that can lead to all kids of problems from finances to family to personal fulfillment.
Any of you who have kids have probably watched Veggie Tales. There is an episode where Madam Blueberry focuses only on herself and winds up with a ton of stuff that is now hindering her life. I think a lot of us are like Madam Blueberry. We start out with great intentions but somewhere along the way we walk away from God and wind up somewhere we never planned on being.
Find God’s will for your life then live by faith everyday.
Live by faith everyday.
When you live by faith you act out what you believe to be true. If you believe that Jesus is the way the truth and the life, live that way. If you believe that God loves you, you don’t have to live feeling empty. Live by faith everyday.
Samson was motivated by women and revenge. He became arrogant in his self pursuits always assuming that God would bless him because he was special. He virtually abandoned his spiritual life over the course of 20 years then was shocked that God was gone. Keep in touch with God, keep in line with his will, and live by faith everyday. AMEN.
