He Did WHAT?

Have you ever read about someone who did something so outrageous that you couldn’t believe he/she did it?  Have you ever had a family member or a friend do something that really, really surprised you?  I think we’ve all been there in some way or another.  This is the way I feel about Samson as I read Judges chapter 16.  I really suggest that you read the chapter but I’ll give you a quick synopsis of it.

Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah.  The Philistines, Samson’s enemy, see an opportunity to get rid of Samson once and for all.  They bribe Delilah into finding out Samson’s secret to his great strength.  Samson begins to sort of play a cat and mouse game with Delilah.  Three times she asks Samson and three times he tells her a lie.  Each time the Philistines lie in wait for Samson but they do not attack because each time he still has his strength.  At this point in the story I am wondering what Samson is thinking.  Why does he keep playing this game with Delilah?  Well, after three fails Delilah is really upset.  She cries and complains and nags and finally, inexplicably, Samson tells her the secret to his great strength.  She cuts his hair and the Philistines capture him, blind him and put him into slavery.

What was Samson thinking?  How could he have put himself in this position?  There are some nuances and applications to this story but the main one is how
“stupid” we can act in regard to sin.  We are just not as smart as we think we are.  I doubt at the beginning of this relationship with Delilah that Samson ever thought he would end up blind, weak and in slavery.  But that’s exactly what happened.

Please don’t ever think that you can “manage” your sin.  Please don’t ever think that you can calculate the cost of your sin.  Please do take the advice of God’s word to “flee youthful lusts”, to “take heed to God’s word”….Please do follow God in an intimate way.  If you do, you can eliminate those “He/She did What?!” moments in your life and you may have an opportunity to keep others from making the same mistake.