The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/judges/16.htm

I saw a meme the other day with a picture of a man, portraying Samson, slaying a lion, and it read, “The strongest man in the world was defeated by lust.” It doesn’t matter how great you are, how smart, how wealthy, what your social status is, or how mentally or physically fit, one small sin can bring you down.

Philistia was on the “West Bank” (sound familiar?), and one of it’s towns was named Gaza (anything yet?), and Samson went there and visited a harlot. Scripture doesn’t say if that was his purpose for going there or he had other business and just happened to stop and visit the harlot while he was there. And in this case, we can probably take the title of “harlot” as being one.

And the Philistines were still trying to capture Samson. Now if I had witnessed Samson slay a thousand of my brothers with the jawbone of a donkey, I would either assume he had the Spirit in him or he had a demon in him, and in either case, I surely wouldn’t want to mess with him. So they went up to Gaza and they laid in wait for him to capture him, but Samson waited until dark, then he pulled the gates of the city out of the ground and threw them over his shoulder and carried them away. Times were pretty rough back then, and most cities were fortified with locked gates at night to protect against enemies and raiders But the gates were no problem for Samson.

Then Samson met and fell in love with a woman named Delilah, the co-star of the famous Bible story of “Samson and Delilah” you were told as kids. And the “lords” of the Philistines bribed Delilah to find out what could hold Samson, obviously, new rope wasn’t going to do the trick.

So the first time Delilah tried, she asked Samson about his strength annd what could be used to bind him with. And Samson told her he could be bound with fresh bowstrings that had not yet dried. Now you have to read a lot between the lines here, but understand you’re trying to learn from the end result and not necessarily the logic that got you there. Obviously Samson lied to her, so Samson has to be suspicious, or at least, smart enough to keep his secret hid. So Delilah bound Samson with bowstrings. And again, we have to guess how this happened. In the movie (yes, there were a couple of movies made), Delilah got Samson drunk, which was a big violation of his Nazarite vows. But we don’t know how she was able to bind Samson. Perhaps she simply did it when he was asleep.

And scripture says that there were Philistines waiting in the room, and that Delilah yelled at Samson that the Philistines were “upon him”, and Samson was able to break free of the bowstrings and Delilah discovered that Samson hadn’t been truthful with her. Remember, she’s trying to get paid the big bucks for turning him in, and she’s probably using her female charms combined with maybe a little wine to help her get her cash payout. And scripture doesn’t say if Samson defeated the waiting Philistines or if they simply fled when they saw Samson was no longer bound.

So Delilah tried again, and this time, Samson lied again, telling her he could be bound with new and unused ropes. And the same scenario played out, and Samson was able to break free of the ropes, and Delilah still didn’t have her money.

By now, I would have a pretty good idea that my girlfriend wasn’t up to any good, and I would be sleeping with one eye open; no, actually I would be looking for a new girlfriend that I could trust.

Delilah asked a third time, and Samson told her that if she weaved his hair into the loom, it would confined him, and she was able to accomplish that. And scripture says that when Delilah alerted the Philistines, Samson “awoke” and was about to break free. Wouldn’t it be nice to sleep as sound as Samson, to have someone weave the locks of your head into a loom without waking up? Then again, maybe Samson knew, but simply didn’t care because he knew that wasn’t going to hold him either. But Delilah was now playing the “love” card hot and heavy. Oh, and she nagged him, which always works.

Scripture says that she pestered him daily and eventually his “soul was vexed”. I feel for you Samson, my soul has been vexed with nagging before as well. So, he finally broke down and was honest with her.

I started this blog talking about how lust could bring a strong man down, and Samson must have had a pretty good libido. His wife was able to get him to confess the answer of his riddle, and now his girlfriend was able to get him to confess where his strength came from.

As a child, you are led to believe that Samson’s strength came from his hair. But his strength actually came from God, through his vow to God as a Nazarite, because in this vow, one of the symbols one takes in the vow is to never cut your hair. And now, Samson has let the cat out of the back and should have known that if someone were able to cut his hair, his vow as a Nazarite would be broken and that he would lose the Spirit.

There’s a lot to think about here. Would you really have faith in God because of the length of your hair, or would you have faith in God knowing He is the Almighty? Samson was chosen, prophesied by Jesus, born from the womb of a barren woman, all was by design, he wasn’t an accident. And while I haven’t studied much on the Nazarite vow, I’m guessing off the top of my head that the cutting of the hair is simply a reminder to be faithful. Monks took a vow of silence to show their faith, Catholic Priests take a vow of celibacy, I wear a lot of Christian shirts. I’m sure I’ve said this before, I once told a friend that I was under the false pretense that I wore a lot of Christian shirts to share my faith, when in actuality, there are numerous times throughout the day that I begin to sin, either losing my temper or cursing or something like that in the heat of the moment, and I look down at my shirt, and I’m immediately convicted. So was the “unshaven head” really the source of Samson’s strength, or was it there to simply remind him to be faithful to God, to remind him that he had taken a vow with God?

So Samson told her his strength was in his hair and she “lulled him to sleep”, after which she called for someone to come and cut Samson’s hair. Now, she either had to get Samson drunk in order to accomplish this, which was breaking his Nazarite vows, or Samson’s faith flew out of the window when he saw his hair was gone, or if it was simply just a part of God’s plan, His Will, and it was all designed to flow with God’s desired result.

Once Samson realized that the Spirit had left him (or was it his faith?), the Philistines easily subdued him and the first thing they did was blind him. Then they bound him with bronze fetters and put him to labor pulling the millstone around that grinds the grain.

But the Philistines weren’t very smart or they truly didn’t understand the power of the Nazarite vow, because obviously Samson’s hair began to grow back. And with the hair was likely his faith I personally do not think that Samson’s hair was magical, and just because his hair grew back voluntarily didn’t mean he renewed his Nazarite vows. I believe the hair was just a symbol that reminded Samson of his faith in God.

You can read the rest of the chapter, but Samson wins in the end. God was able to use him to defeat the Philistines as He had planned all along.

“Faith” will take you places. “Faith” will enable you to do things you don’t think you are capable of. And “faith” may come from a symbol like long hair, or a Christian tee shirt, or simply through reading God’s word or communicating with God through prayer. The more you do, the closer you’ll feel, and the closer you feel, the stronger your faith will be.

One of my sins is worry. I’m aging, quicker than I would like, and with the aging process always comes concerns about health, either real or perceived. I’m the guardian and caretaker of three special needs adults, one of which has some pretty good health concerns. I worry that when I’m gone, who will care for her? (Oh, and I’ve come to love her as my own daughter…even though she “vexes my soul” a lot, she has a smile and a laugh that melts your heart). So I really worry about who will be capable of taking care of her health, and who will be willing to take care of her health.

But when I’m close to God, that worry fades. I eventually came to the realization that I’m not the one taking care of her, it is God who is caring for her, and it’s just my hands he’s working through. (She’s a Type 1 Diabetic and highly fragile). I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, but God guides me every step of the way. And knowing that, I know God will take care of her regardless of what I do or don’t do to plan for that time. If I drift away from God, Satan plays with my mind and I begin to worry about the future, but when I stay close to God, I have comfort, and I have faith that everything in life goes according to God’s plan, and that God’s Will will be done regardless of what I do or don’t do on this earth. Just like Samson, if God wants me to do something, He will make it happen, no matter how long my hair is, or whether or not I happen to be wearing a “Normal Isn’t Coming Back, Jesus Is” tee shirt or not. But, whatever it takes to keep the faith….

Isn’t God wonderful?