You and Delilah

Have you ever read a story in the Bible and thought, "Wow he was obviously not the brightest sheep in the pen."? That happened to me recently when I was reading the book of Judges, where there is a story of a man and woman named Samson and Delilah. Here's the pocket-sized version:

Samson was set apart by God. He had insane, God-given strength and long hair which was the source of his strength. God commanded him not to cut it or tell anyone the secret of his strength. He meets this hottie with a body named Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines desperately wanted to know the secret of his strength, and so they bribed his wifey with money to find out the secret. She asked him and actually nagged him so many times that he gave in and told her that his hair must never be cut. When he fell asleep with his head on her lap (...if you're single...don't do it) and a man went in to shave his head. He thought he would be just fine walking out of the tent, but he didn't realize his strength had drained from him. The Philistines gouged his eyes out and arrested him and he basically walked around like a fool until he cried out to God to let him take these meanies down, even if he has to die with them. God honored his prayer and Samson took down the two pillars of the temple, killing more people in his death than in his life.

There's really only one thing to say about this story: What the hell is wrong with him?

Like dude, God told you not to do something and you did the exact opposite! Dude couldn't you see that this lady was total trouble?! 

For a while I had that mindset. Gosh, he really is stupid. That was a dud move. And the more and more times I've read this part of Judges, the harsh reality hits me:

I am Samson, and I am married to my own personal Delilah.

Let me give you some background on my boy Samson and some of his flaws: 

First things first, he had a first almost-wife. She basically had tricked him and trapped him in a very similar way that Delilah had. When he saw this woman he was like, "Yup. Mom, dad, I wanna marry her. Bring her to me." And his parents objected! Dude no, she's bad news don't do it. See, one of his flaws was that he was deceived by his eyes. He was controlled by his eyes. He loved this woman because of her beauty. He loved Delilah for the same. This falsely-advertised 'love' he believed was what got him to trust this devious women so easily, and that is what led to his downfall. 

His eyes controlled him, and because of this, in-turn, when he was captured, he walked around blind and powerless. It was how he had always been, deep down. Blind and powerless.

But he is who we are, whether we've admitted it to ourselves or not. Aren't lies so beautiful? Aren't men and women so beautiful? Isn't flattery so beautiful? Aren't these beautiful things so tempting? At first it is our eyes that are tempted, but where your eyes go, your heart goes and where your heart goes, your life surely follows. Following the deceit that was before him without thinking practically was eventually his greatest downfall. 

Second: He used his gifts and talents unwisely. When I say gifts and talents, that is an understatement. This man could tie 300 foxes tails together in a swift motion. But he wasn't wise about things. After sleeping with a prostitute, he used his strength to get out of it by ripping the city gates from the ground. When he lost a bet, he used his power to kill all those men. 

This past Sunday, my assoc. pastor Justin was talking about talents at one point in the message saying that God gives us all these amazing talents and gifts and we get to heaven and God is kinda like, "I gave you this amazing talent to sing and you did it for the cars and I gave you this ability to write or speak and all you cared about was money." Being wise with the talents God gives us is the only way we can give God a worthy gift, in my personal opinion, and a lot of us think we're walking around with just skin and bones, with no soul or gifts when in reality God wants to pour them through us, but for His name-sake not ours.

Third: He could not deal with persistence and gave in so quickly. If you read through Samson and Delilah's story in Judges, you'll see that she literally asked him, "What is the secret of your strength and how could you be tied up?" And every time, he would lie to her. But she literally almost nagged him to death and he gave in! When his first wife, who I mentioned before, asked him for the answer to something secret, he could only be bothered so many times before giving in.

This man could rip a lion's jaw open with his bare hands, but could not break free of his lust and disobedience. 

Like us, he was lured by persistence, attractiveness, and how persuasive something sounded. He easily gave in because he was tired of what he kept hearing and did not want to keep fighting, which is odd for one of the strongest men in the Bible.

I hate to be the one to say he had great potential, but he did. He did and ruined himself. Potential, though a beautiful thing, is usually followed by something negative and, "What a shame."

I encourage you to be unlike Samson in this way: Don't be the person to just sit on your potential like a dang goose egg waiting for the right time for it to hatch. Now or never. There is no PLAN B! Make people say, "Wow, we did not see that coming." 

Be resilient. The dictionary definition of that word is returning to the original form or position after being bent. When you realize, okay maybe this isn't what the plan for my life is, or maybe this isn't the talent God had blessed me with, RETURN to your original shape! God will let us bend and never break, but sometimes we allow ourselves to get that far. 

I also encourage you to beware of your personal Delilah. She was a Proverbs 5:3 woman; honey on her lips and poison in her heart. She actually tied him up so many times and literally asked him, "What is the source of your strength and how can you be tied up?" I mean HELLO she obviously was wearing her intentions on her sleeve! But beware. Delilah is not always a person.

Delilah is that thing you keep in the back of your closet that you promise to never go back to but can't bare to throw it out.

Delilah is that number in your phone that you just can't delete.

Delilah is the voice that tells you one drink won't hurt.

Delilah is your downfall. 

But we will mess up sometimes. And it's okay. Here's why:

This section of the Bible ends with this sentence... Judges 16:22 "But before long, his hair began growing back."
That's hope. That's a new mercy. That is our awesome God taking a garbage-dump of a situation and making it beautiful. And when we do mess up, which we will, we have to trust that He will do just that.

Ps- sorry about the weird highlight over the words. I wrote this on a word document before I pasted it onto here. Sorry!