Hi and welcome back to another article! Today I wanted to share with you a story that I have read a little while ago that has inspired me a few life lessons. I have heard some people say it before that the Bible is so outdated and that most of what is in there doesn’t apply anymore to the days we live in. To be honest, I chose to disagree with it. There are a lot of life lesson in the Bible that would have saved us some of the trouble we were/ are going through if we would just open and read it. Most importantly we wouldn’t have to fight so many battles blindly, begging for direction if we were paying attention to what God was telling through His word. Some of the reason our society is crumbling today is that we have chosen deliberately to ignore the spiritual and moral code of conduct that God has given us and instead, decided to establish our own, built on our own taste, desire, determination of what we think is good or bad. We have twisted and diluted the essence of the blueprint we have been given to better fit our quest to obtain some of the things that have send our whole society system in mayhem and some of our lives down the drain. And the case of Samson is no more different than some of us here. I say us because honestly I have been there too.
Samson was born to Manoach, a man from the Dan tribe in Israel and his wife whose name is not mentioned but whom we know was barren. Before the birth of Samson, a messenger of God was sent to her and her husband to give them specific instruction as to how to behave during her pregnancy (Judges 13:2-4) because this boy she was going to give birth to would be consecrated to God even before he was born (Judges 13:5). The Bible says nothing about the child upbringing but his story starts when the spirit of the Lord fell on him for the very first time. He was a powerful instrument in the hands of God but slowly, his heart started to lead him astray from God. The first lesson that jumped to my eyes when I read this story is how chosing your spouse can make or break you, make or wreck your destiny if you are outside of God’s will for you. In Judges 16, the Bible tells us that Samson fell in love with a woman named Dalila and she was from Soreq. Later in that chapter, we see that she is actually the one that sold out Samson to the philistines and we know what happened next: samson’s hair was cut, he was brought captive to the land of the philistines. And seeing after how abruptly samson’s ministry came to an end, I can’t help brut wonder: would this have been different if he had submitted his heart and his ways to God? Probably. Samson was led by his heart and it is where the beginning of the end came from him. speaking about the heart of men, Jeremiah 19:7 says :
"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? "
The first lesson from this story is learning to trust God and seek Him for all the decisions of our lives, especially when it comes to choosing the right spouse for us. Choosing your spouse is one of the most important decision that we are called to make into our life and as christian, the second most important (the first one being accepting Jesus as our Lord and savior). Whoever you end up marrying can do or undo your life, propel you into your destiny and make or break your dreams/ vision. Unfortunately, for Samson the woman his heart was set on undid his life and wreck his ministry in the process. Reading this story reinforced in me the idea that it is very important to be equally yoked with the person you plan on marrying. Not only spiritually because when you marry you become one, but also from the standpoint of your values, your goals and your objectives in life. It is important to be with someone who shares and embrace your vision and who you share the same values with because those values will be the foundations upon which your marriage will rest. Let me say this again: love is important but it is not enough to keep a marriage from collapsing. Romantic feelings will fade over time or not be as strong as they were in the beginning, there will be highs and lows in your marriage and you are going to need something solid as a foundation. This is were having common goals and values will save your marriage because not matter how hard the bad days are and not matter how difficult the journey is, you are both moving in the same direction. You have to make sure you are both building each other and by having the same vision, you are walking with the same spirit in order to reach the goals you have set for your marriage. If people who are not christian know how important it is to marry to the right person, why as christan do we rush into marrying, willing to settle for anything just because it is available ? why do we rush into marrying the wrong person? Sometimes after even God gave us clear signs that we shouldn't do it? It is time we start submitting to God and seek him before our emotions and heart led decisions wreck us, along with our destiny, especially when it comes to chosing a spouse because when it comes to that matter it is all about being wise rather than being fast.
The second lesson from this story is that contrary to belief, God’s grace runs out when we deliberately and blatantly chose to live a life that does not honor Him. Delilah was from a town named Soreq which during my research I found means "vine", "noble vineyard". When Manoach’s wife was approached by the angel of God one of the instruction she was given is to not consume anything from a vineyard as it would affect Samson anointment. This should have also been a prescription for Samson to follow obviously. Although in a literal sense he did not really consume a product from the vineyard, in a figurative sense he did when he attached himself to a woman who descended from “a noble vineyard” (Soreq). He boldly and wholeheartedly ignored god’s prescription and decided to have what he wanted anyway. And because he had managed to extricate himself from the hands of his enemies three times (Judges 16) he thought the fourth time would be the same. But because he got comfortable enjoying what God had prohibited him from, he fell into a situation where God could not save him from. The Bible says that he opened his whole heart to Delilah which is a physical representation of the things that God prohibits us from, a physical representation of the sin we deliberately and wholeheartedly embrace, adopt, and pet thinking “meh… I walked away before and I can always do it again. I’ll pray and ask God to deliver me. I’ll ask for God’s grace”. Although it is true that God’s grace is accessible it should not be abused; although it is true that God’s grace is always available, it does run out and Samson was one of those of us who found out the hard way. Judges 16: 18- 21 tells us how things unfolded for Samson after he opened his heart to Delilah:
“ 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. 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. 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. 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. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.”
My Lord… Isn’t it horrible what happened? In another version of the Bible it is said they plucked Samson’s eyes and send him in captivity. This is physical representation of what happen in the spiritual world when we sin: we become spiritually blind. We can’t see where we are going anymore and we “grope in the dark without light and tagger like a drunken man” (Job 12:25). Sin felt good for a moment to Samson but led him to a terrible place of brokenness and suffering: his eyes were plucked, he was led into captivity and put in shackles. But there thank God there is a restauration after that as “ the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved”(Judges 16:22). One day te philistines were rejoicing and wanted some amusement, so they sent for Samson to be fetched. As Samson got into the temple of the philistines god, he prayed and asked God for strength one last time to vindicate himself for the loss of his sight. God listen and answered and as he avenged himself he also died with his oppressor. This story could have probably ended another way? Yes but it ended this way for a reason that only God knows. But let us make a different choice today. Let us turn away from the very things that would lead us in the dark places we would be in if didn’t make the bad choices that we made in the first place. And if we made those choices and we feel it’s already too late, let’s all remember that there’s still redemption in Christ and that his saving grace is still enough to snatch us from the hand of our enemies at the condition that we wholeheartedly turn away from our sins and vile ways and submit to God as well as his will for our life.
So instead of trusting a heart that is deceitful and physical strengths, reasonings that just as Samson can abandon us at any given moment, let’s Trust in the Lord with all our heart, and do not lean on our own understanding; let’s acknowledge Him in all your ways which literally means submit entirely everything to Him, seek his will for us in ALL areas of our lives, and He will make straight our paths (Prov 3:5-6)
Hope this helped someone!
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