Quick Note – Judges 16:20 – The Entanglement of Sin

Judges 16:20 – And she said, “the Philistines are upon you, Samson!”  And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.”  But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

Addiction is not born at one time, but it is a bad habit that is built, because of many failings.  Whether it be to drugs, alcohol, pornography, television, shopping, gambling, etc., a person does not fall into this hole because of one incident, it is many occasions where one has given into the craving that leads to this imprisonment.  Sin, which encompasses many of these activities, is an addiction.  It begins with a little taste here, a little touch there, until finally, one is entrapped and cannot escape. 

Samson, one of the strongest men that ever lived, experienced this first-hand.  Samson was a mighty man selected by God from birth to be a judge and deliverer for Israel.  His job was not only to defeat the Philistines, who were oppressing Israel, but also to lead and guide them back to the LORD.  However, Samson had a tendency to fall into sexual sin.  Eventually, he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who was paid by the Philistine leaders to seduce him, to determine where Samson got his strength, and to entrap him, so that they might capture him.  Judges 16 describes how Samson quickly fell into a hole.  The first time Delilah asked him about his strength, Samson lied to her and said that if he was tied with fresh bowstrings, he would lose his strength.  When she did that, he broke the strings and escaped.  The second time, Samson told her if he was tied with new ropes, he would lose his strength, and when she did that, he escaped again.  The third time, he told her if she weaved his hair and fastened it into a loom he would lose his strength, and once again, he escaped when she did that.  Finally, after constant pestering, she obtained her answer, when Samson told her that he was a Nazarite and if his hair was cut, he would lose his strength.  Being that he escaped three times before, although Samson likely knew that Delilah would cut his hair, he thought that he could escape again, which is why Judges 16:20 states, “And he awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’”  However this time, he did not.  He fell into the trap, was captured by the Philistines, and even lost his two eyes.  Samson played with sin, and although he thought he would not get caught, the trap had sprung. 

Sin is the same with every Christian.  We may dabble in it, a little here and a little there, thinking that we will never fall into its trap.  When the consequences do not catch up to us right away, because of God’s mercy, we become a little bolder and dive deeper into it.  But as we keep entangling ourselves into its web, we, one day, find ourselves enslaved to what we were simply toying with before.  It is when we least expect it that the Devil devours us like a roaring lion.  Sin is tricky, deceptive, and dangerous like that.  Let us be careful to never take sin lightly.  We must never assume that we can shake ourselves free, for it is when we think we stand that we will fall.  Stay far away from sin that is the best way to avoid it. 

Quick Note – Judges 13:8-9a – Making Decisions

Judges 13:8-9a – Then Manoah prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.”  And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field…

Making decisions is difficult, especially when the decision can impact a large portion of your life.  I have had to make important decisions a few times in my life – 1) Whether I would switch schools when I transferred from Junior High to High School, 2) Whether I would go to medical school or not, and 3) Which university I would pick for my PhD studies.  After looking back on these decisions, I can say that for the first decision, I feel like it didn’t matter whether I switched schools or not, but I don’t regret staying in the school I was at.  For the second decision, I am quite regretful for not taking the opportunity to at least try medical school to see whether it was right for me or not.  And for the third decision, I am still unclear as to whether choosing the university I am still at now was the correct choice. 

It is hard to make decisions.  That is why it is important to seek God’s will.  However, at times, that makes the decision even harder, because not only are you accounting for what will make you happy, but you are also considering what God wants you to do.  That is why making decisions as a Christian disciple is so tough.  What’s beautiful though is that God will always guide you!  In our passage today, an angel of the LORD appeared to a barren woman and gave her specific instructions about how she was to raise the child that would be born to her.  Hearing this great news, she told her husband Manoah, who was likely quite surprised and doubtful of what he had just been told.  Rather than completely discounting what she said, he prayed and asked the LORD to show him what to do, and God listened.  When Manoah needed guidance, he asked of God, and God guided. 

As Christians, we can trust that our God will always lead and guide us when we need Him.  He will never leave us without the instructions that we need to best do His will.  It may not come exactly at the moment you want it, and it may even not be as much information as you want, but He will always give you exactly what you need at the right time.  Take Abraham as an example.  When God told him to leave his family and to go to a place that He would show him.  He did not tell him where he would go or exactly what he was supposed to do; God only told him that his next decision was to go, and Abraham followed.  We can trust that God will give us the instructions we need in the right time.  So next time you need to make an important decision, seek the Lord for guidance and wait on Him to lead. 

Here are two tips for you to consider when making a decision that may help you as you wait on God’s leading:

1)  Does the decision go against the Word of God?

God gave us the Bible so that we would know His will, commands, and statues for our life.  The Bible is our instruction manual and our source of wisdom.  That is why it is important as Christians to read it every day.  It is only by reading and knowing it, that we can truly know who God is and what He desires for our life.  If at any point, you must make a decision that goes against God’s Word, it cannot be in God’s will.  Do not make the choice that will lead you into sin. 

2)  Are you making the decision in haste?

Don’t rush into a decision, even if waiting makes you look indecisive.  Sometimes, we like to make a decision, because we feel pressured to do so now.  However, we must be willing to wait on God’s timing.  He will give you the answers when you need it.  It may seem delayed, but you can trust that God will instruct you in the way you should go. 

3)  Have you prayed?

Prayer may seem inconsequential at times.  Those around you may mock, laugh, and wonder why you need to pray about a decision.  But as Manoah did when needing guidance about how to raise his son Samson, we must go to the Lord in prayer, seeking His guidance and will for our lives.  We can trust that God is listening and will tell us exactly what we need at the right time. 

Quick Note – Judges 16:15-22 – God, the Source of Strength

Judges 16:15-22 – 15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 19 She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. 22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Most of us know the story of Samson, the super strong judge appointed by God to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.  Samson was born as a Nazarite, so he was supposed to keep three major rules – 1) Not to drink or eat of the vine (grapes), 2) Not to be unclean by going near the dead, and 3) Not to shave his head.  Samson though had a tendency to break the rules of God.  At one point, he killed a lion and after some time, found honey in its carcass and ate of it, breaking the rule about going near the dead.  Although it doesn’t say in the Bible, whether he drank wine or ate grapes, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.  And in our passage today, we find that his hair was eventually cut by none other than his lover Delilah.  But today, I don’t want to spend time harping on how bad Samson was or how he made so many mistakes in his life, because who am I to cast the first stone, being that I sin against God often as well?  What I want us to focus on is where Samson found his strength. 

Many people think that the strength of Samson came from his hair, and when his hair was cut his strength was cut off, but that was not the source of Samson’s strength.  Many people think that if it wasn’t his hair, it must have been from his Nazarite vow, and because he had broken it by cutting his hair and interacting with things that were unclean, then that was why he lost his strength, but that was not the source of his strength either.  Samson knew exactly where his strength came from and we find it here in vs. 17 and then in vs. 20.  Unlike the times before, when Samson mocked Delilah and told her that if he were tied with new ropes or new bowstrings or his hair was wrapped into the web of a spinning loom, he would become weak, when Samson told Delilah this final time that if his hair was cut, he would become weak, he added a phrase.  He said that his strength would leave him.  And in vs. 20, we find out what, or better yet who, left him – the Lord.  Samson’s strength ultimately came from the Lord.  God was the source of his strength.  And because of his sin, because of his breaking his vows, because of his pride, God left Samson, and he became weak and was captured by the Philistines. 

We as Christians must remember that the source of our strength is not our knowledge of the Word of God.  Our source of strength is not the skills we’ve developed in the ministry.  Our source of strength isn’t our actions, our friends, our pastors and teachers.  Our source of strength is none of these things.  Our source of strength ultimately is God.  This means that if we want to be successful spiritually, then we must make sure that our relationship with Him is right and uninterrupted all the time.  Samson allowed lust and sin to break his relationship with God, and we must be wary not to allow any type of sin to do that to us.  We must be careful to keep our hearts pure and our relationship with him clear, so that we can always be in communion and communication with Him.  Let us make sure that we are always connected to our strength – our God.