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Releasing The Samson In You
(Judges 16:1-31)
We are all acquainted with the story of Samson
& Delilah and sometimes picture him as this
unbelievably-sculpted, massive, & powerful
specimen of humanity. He was the strongest
man in his time. He was also the weakest..
We read in verse 1: "Then Samson went to
Gaza. And he saw a harlot there, and went in to
her." Though we will be speaking on
Samson's weakness in the arena of lust today,
let's not become as the Pharisees and snub our
nose at his weakness here. As you will see, each
one of us has that certain weakness we entertain
instead of "pulling down imaginations
and every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought into
the obedience of Christ."
(2 Corinthians 10:5)
Samson was Judge over Israel for 20 years so he
was well known. Anything he did and
anywhere he went he was recognized. There
was always someone willing to turn him over to
his enemies. In verse 2 it states
"The Gazites were told, saying, Samson has
come here. And they surrounded him and laid wait
for him all night in the gate of the city, and
were quiet all the night, saying, Until the
light of the morning, then we shall kill
him." One thing to keep in mind here:
Whenever you are doing the work of God, satan,
will find out and will lie in wait for the
opportunity to exploit your weakness &
destroy you.
We see in verse 3 that Samson woke up much
earlier than they expected and he departed Gaza
in an extraordinary way. Samson wasn't
worried about the Gazites or anyone else for
that matter. He took pride in his
strength, toying with his enemies as in this
verse. He was the strongest man alive and he
knew it. He was also the weakest.....
Even though Samson had in more than one occasion
been brought into mischief and danger by his
lust of women, he would not take warning and
again in verses 4-17 he is taken in the same
snare, this time with fatal consequences.
Enter Delilah..................
The
Philistines paid her a tremendously high price
for her services. Verse 5 states:
"And the lords of the Philistines came up
to her, and said to her, Lure him and see where
his great strength lies, and by what means we
may prevail against him, so that we may tie him
to afflict him. And each one of us will give you
eleven hundred pieces of silver."
We read in Judges 3:3 that the lords of the
Philistines numbered 5. 5 times 1100
pieces of silver for a total of 5500 pieces of
silver they offered her for her services.
You think they wanted Samson dead? Judas
gave up our Lord & Saviour for just thirty
pieces.....
In
verses 6 through 14 Delilah asked him on three
separate instances what would be needed for him
to lose his strength, leaving him at the mercy
of his enemies. The first time it happened you
think would have been the last time it happened,
but it wasn't so. You see, the reason God
is bringing this out is so that we may all
realize the dangers that lurk when we do the
things Samson did here:
1) His pride got the best of him. He
knew he was special but instead of walking
humbly in his anointing, he wore it like a
personal trophy.
2) He had a tremendous weakness, a
weakness stronger than his own strength.
Instead of making an honest attempt to turn it
over to God, he gave in to the desires of his
heart. He was complacent in his weakness.
After all, he was a Judge of Israel, the world's
strongest man. He had slaughtered more
enemies of the children of Israel than anyone
before or after. Who else would God use if
he didn't use him? So what if he failed
here and there?
3) His sin had blinded him. How
much? We'll see later on.
In verse 15 Delilah says to Samson: "How
can you say, I love you, and your heart is not
with me? You have mocked me these three times,
and have not told me in what your great strength
lies." In verse 16 it speaks that
Delilah would distress him with her words daily,
urging him to tell her his weakness and his soul
was grieved to death.
Pick your weakness. What is it that you
have constantly given in to instead of bringing
into captivity & into obedience of Christ?
What is it that is distressing you as it speaks
daily into your life? Is it lust? Is it
alcohol? Is it drugs? Is it
reporting less income on your tax return?
Is it your obsession with having as much nice
stuff or better than your neighbor, A.K.A.
"Keeping up with the Jones'"?
Is it that little white lie on your resume you
inserted because you felt it would make you look
better in the eyes of prospective employers,
giving you the advantage over others better
qualified than you? Is it signing out for
lunch at 12:00 and signing back in at 12:30 even
though you returned at 12:45?
Is it the back-biting you do against your Pastor
and leaders of your church instead of praying
for them? Can I share one wisdom key here
with you that can change not only your life but
your entire walk with God?
THE PROBLEM THAT INFURIATES YOU THE MOST IS THE
PROBLEM GOD HAS ASSIGNED YOU TO SOLVE.....
Not with your tongue, but with every other
member of your body. The next time you see
something dirty in church, instead of
complaining about the servant who "missed a
spot", clean it.
Finally, is it the pride you exhibit when a
brother or sister in the Lord falls and you look
down on them because of their
"weakness" instead of realizing that
"but for the grace of God there go I
!"
Take my advice here: THE ONLY TIME YOU
SHOULD LOOK DOWN ON ANYONE IS WHEN YOU ARE
EXTENDING YOUR HAND AS YOU ARE HELPING THEM
UP!!!!!
Let's get back to Samson now....
Verse 17 states: "And he told her all
his heart, and said to her, A razor has not come
on my hair, for I am a Nazarite to God from my
mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength
will go from me, and I will become weak and be
like any man." Samson was so consumed
by his weakness that he gave up his strength in
exchange for it.
In verse 20 we see what I consider to be the
saddest verse in the entire Bible:
"And she said, The Philistines are upon
you, Samson! And he awoke out of his sleep and
said, I will go out as at other times before,
and shake myself. AND HE DID NOT KNOW THAT
JEHOVAH HAD DEPARTED FROM HIM..
Samson's strength was not in his hair, it was in
the COVENANT he had with God when he took the
vow of the Nazarite.
The conditions of Nazaritism entailed:
1) the strictest abstinence from wine and from
every product of the vine.
2) the keeping of the hair uncut and the beard
untouched by a razor;
3) the prohibition to touch a dead body
4) prohibition of unclean food (Judges 13:5-7;
Numbers 6)
When Samson's hair was no longer kept uncut, he
broke COVENANT with God, and Jehovah God
departed from him. The tremendous favor of
God in his life, GONE!!! The anointing of
God, GONE!!! The protection of God,
GONE!!! Verse 21: "And the
Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and
brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with
fetters of brass. And he ground in the prison
house." They put out his eyes.
Now he was as blind physically as he was already
spiritually. His weakness had blinded him
and his pride gave him that false sense of
security that Jehovah would always be with him.
He was so blind he didn't notice when Jehovah
had had enough and walked away from him...
He became a grinder in the prison house.
Chained to the grain grinder, in darkness,
blinded, going around and around in circles, who
knows the length of time here, possibly
thinking, where did I lose it? How could I
have possibly allowed myself to get into this
predicament?
Let's end in verse 30: After asking
Jehovah for one last show of strength to avenge
his sight it states: "And Samson
said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he
bowed himself mightily, and the house fell upon
the lords and upon all the people in it. So the
dead whom he killed at his death were more than
those he killed in his life."
Father, I come to you humbly in the precious
name of Your Son, Jesus, begging You to forgive
me for my weakness. I acknowledge today
that I have weakness. I commit myself
today to turn them over to you, for at this
moment, my weakness is stronger than my
strength. Father, I plead the blood of
Jesus over my weakness, pulling down
imaginations and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought into the
obedience of Christ. I ask that You allow me to
lay it down at the foot of the cross so that my
burden be lifted and You be exalted as the
people see that where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is FREEDOM. Freedom from addictions,
freedom from lustful desires, freedom from lies,
freedom from all types of bondages, freedom from
our biggest enemy......our flesh! I thank
You Father and receive the freedom You have
given me. I acknowledge my weakness, for
in my weakness YOU are Strong! In Jesus'
name I pray.
Amen!!
Samson was the strongest man on earth. He
was also the
weakest....His weakness was stronger than his
strength....
What about your strength? What about your
weakness? Which is stronger in your life?
Please allow me to leave you with this one last
wisdom key:
WHAT YOU FAIL TO CONQUER IN YOUR LIFE WILL
EVENTUALLY CONQUER
YOU.
Be blessed!
Joe Acosta
Redeemed
By His Blood Web Ministries
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