Judges 16:4-9
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 of silver.”
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 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.
Related Text:
Judges 14-15
Proverbs 5
2 Timothy 2:20-23
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Making the Decision
Samson is known for being a man with great and unique abilities. Why God chose to bless his strength by the length of his hair is a wild mystery. But it’s not unique that God chooses to work in any way necessary, even if that way seems strange at the time – it’s seen several times throughout the Bible. The most simple answer about Samson’s strength and not having his hair cut might just be that it was symbol of His obedience to God.
As you read today, and will read tomorrow, Samson spent time with and confided in the wrong person. Delilah broke his trust, she was paid off by the Philistine leaders, and it eventually resulted in Samson losing his hair, his strength, and his leadership.
Samson’s life can provide a powerful learning example of leadership, obedience, and influence. God blessed him with many gifts which had a potential for greatness. Although God blessed him, Samson made wrong decisions, and allowed himself to be in situations where he was influenced by people who pulled him away from God.
This event in Samson’s life begs the question: Do I have people in my life who pull me away from God, who have a negative influence on me? Do I allow myself to get into situations where I will be disobedient to God?
Inevitably, a common response always arises when people start asking “are your friends bad influences, are they even Christians?” The response goes something like, “I’m friends with them so I can be a witness to them.” Which is GREAT, but, we’re human right? We stumble and sin right? It’s very possible that we sometimes use this “witness” response as an excuse to never change our behavior or never change who we hang out with or where we spend our time. In No Way am I saying we cannot have non-Christian friends. This isn’t one of those talks and I’m not your mom. What I am saying is that, we need to guard ourselves against temptations that will put us in a place where we are disobedient to God and distant from Him. This might mean we have to mix up how long, and where and when we hang out with people who have a tendency to carry us away from God. This might not be something you want to address, but if our goal is obedience to God, it’s a decision that we will eventually have to make if we are ever going to make an impact for the Kingdom.
