#400 Fleeting Convictions

Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.

3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.

4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.

11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

15 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.

19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.

23 Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.

25 And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.

26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.

27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

28 And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

30 And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years. Judges 16 KJV

The Bible speaks in very unpopular fashion about sexual sin, and God is not subject to our fallen natures nor apologetic in His declaration of what is sin. As a young man I reasoned in favor of my lust, for who would ever buy a car without test driving first, or if two people decide consensually that they want to share each other's bodies then who is to say that is wrong? I did it and like Samson eating the honey, I didn't notice anything straight way, so it felt good and it's my body, right? I mean Samson was already set apart as a Nazarite, had taken honey from an unclean animal, and he kept his strength. So while you may insist that I am arm chair quarter backing, pointing out another's sin, I would have been and see myself as worse than Samson. You see, Samson may have been physically strong, but to whom much is given much is required, and I have been from a young age exposed to the Word of God, and I have had the completeness of Scripture available to me anytime. Ask yourself, and be honest though, which would you rather have Samson's strength or the Word of God? I suppose if you don't realize these are the words of life, and that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. If you are not aware that it is by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, lest any man should boast. I suppose that if you go around thinking that everything is right in your own eyes, based upon your feelings and that this is "your body", it's an easy choice. I have to reason in my unregenerate, fallen state, that even acknowledging that there is a god, my preference will grow towards my wants, my broken compass. I tried drugs when I was young and didn't die, I did OD a couple times as it went on, and no one get's lung cancer the first day they smoke. Samson plays with fire, he is the captive of his lust which places him as the captive audience of Delilah, and he has a game of it at first. 

Why does he tell her? It says she basically wore him out with her pestering, but a part of him obviously didn't think that anything would happen. He would get up and shake it off as any other morning. That didn't happen the last morning, God had left him, and as Samson came to see after he was blind, rightly so. We forget so easily in times of peace, in times of plenty, and it is not so many generations till we forget all together, and say there is no God, or blame God, no one seeks the truth, we just assume. The men that have captured Samson give credit to their god, the Philistines praise their idol, and surely this proves what they believe. Samson, now humbled, approaches his God, and ask that he be avenged of his enemies, and he takes more Philistines in his death than in his life. I use to watch those who first told me of God, about the Bible, and I found them flawed so I did not believe that God was real either. I was a bigger hypocrite than them, but I felt justified in my opinions. I mean there are those clichés like consider the source, but what about the source's source? What if the ass is warning me of the angel in the path, or the jaw of the ass is in the hand of the judge? I would hope that the one who critiqued me would fall or that I could hurt his feelings in debate, but too often the one poking out the other's eye is not in the right either. When it is about my own ego and pride I can be far from right, yet you might think I won because we agree, but was the truth our aim or winning? Did we put forth the whole truth? Christ would come and live the life that Samson couldn't, but He would also be rejected by His own people. He would die a death that He chose willingly, but death would be swallowed up in victory. To Rome they would look on and laugh and taunt, they would parade him around as sport "King of the Jews", he would wear a crown of thorns and a robe, what fun, and surely they would be right in this because they were able to do it. There is much to learn here and I think I am going to end here saying that from it I sense the need to pray, to ask God for forgiveness and help, that I would hate my sin, learn from what I read and glorify my Savior.

From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

5 Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?

6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

11 Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.

12 There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4