We've been talking about Samson this week.
Samson was brash.
He was arrogant.
He was a womanizer.
But hey, he could get away with it.
He was strong.
That is until he met Delilah.
If there was ever a couple that needed
relationship counseling, it was Samson and Delilah.
Dysfunctional from the word go.
So Samson falls in love with Delilah
and they get together and immediately Delilah
takes a bribe from five Philistine rulers
to find out what the secret to Samson's great strength is.
Now granted, the bribe was pretty hefty.
It was 150 pounds of silver, about 15 years' wages.
Delilah could retire comfortably.
So Delilah got to work and three times,
now she pleaded with Samson to tell her the secret.
And three times Samson came up with lines
about like fresh bow strings, or being bound with new ropes,
or the funniest one is where you put his hair in the loom,
and then he'll become weak.
And three times Delilah fell for it.
So three times she sets these traps for Samson,
and she says, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"
In other words, Gotcha!
And three times Samson gets up,
and he just easily takes care of the situation,
and makes a fool of Delilah,
and the Philistines.
But then the waterworks start.
And the Bible, I love this line in this account,
has a line of understatement
as it describes life in the Samson house.
This is what it says,
"With such nagging, she prodded him day after day
"until he was tired to death."
One can only imagine the scenes behind that little line.
It is no wonder Samson cracked
and he told her everything.
In fact, that's what the next line says,
"and he told her everything."
So Samson said razor and Delilah saw silver.
Not only did Samson's hair fall to the ground,
but he also fell from grace.
The Bible says that the Lord had left him,
and that he didn't have his great strength,
and that the Philistines came in
and they gouged out his eyes
and they bound, put shackles on his, on his wrists,
and they dragged him away to their pagan temple
where they,
they had a praise Dagon Samson's Caught Festival service.
Then they brought Samson out to entertain them.
And I know that when I was growing up
reading this story,
even though I knew how it ended,
I always get to this point and I go,
Why Samson? Why?
It's because he thought he was strong.
It's because he thought he had everything under control.
Well nothing could be further from the truth.
If only Samson were privy to the apostle
Paul's warning:
"If any of you thinks you're standing firm
be careful, lest you fall."
Pride came before the fall.
Samson thought he was self-sufficient,
but thinking that we're self-sufficient in life
will lead to the death of faith.
Have you ever acted like you've got everything
under control?
Acted like you're self-sufficient?
I mean, God has gifted us incredibly.
It's just that when God gives us gifts
He knows He's taking a risk.
He knows that we are tempted to focus on the gift
rather than the giver.
He knows that we're tempted to put our trust
in the gift rather than the One who gives the gift.
Go to the Garden of Gethsemane,
and I want you to tell me what you see there.
There you see Jesus.
The only one who is truly self-sufficient
and what's He doing?
He's praying to His Father,
asking for help.
Jesus, the only self-sufficient one,
is pouring out His prayers to His Father on His face.
And what is the Father's answer to Jesus' prayer?
Well the Father gives Jesus a cross
so that He could give you to Jesus,
and isn't that a wonderfully freeing thing?
That we are not self-sufficient.
Instead, everything we have, everything we need
comes from a God who loves us enough
to send His own Son for us.