*The intrigues of Samson and Delilah* .
The management of life is such a pure and coherent algorithm or process, when we truly with all commitment from the heart follow up with the blueprints of God. Actually, our true commitment determines the level of reckoning whether we would quietly attain His purpose in our lives or be led away with our worldly assumptions. However, life becomes complicated and to a large extent, painful and aggressive against us when the human heart chooses to flout the order of perfection though transmitted through ordinary modes or means either from God’s words or from vessels of His Glory delivering His righteousness by revelations. There is also the scenario where as God chooses His vessels and specifically elect few for His great works, the same way the enemy; the spirit of the devil through human vessels very close to us can decide to interfere or strangulate the goodness of one’s life journey. These wicked ones infested with demonic spirits acting as witchcraft usually come within our close circle and hide by creating division among people around to cover up their identities and evil schemes. These being said, let us delve a little into the historic context of this topic on our review to help us get a better spiritual understanding of the ways of God as He always relates with us in different means with the clear intention of bringing us up as better individuals to His Glory.
There was a period in the life of the Israelites, when they had no kings or prophets to lead them in their national existence. At this period, the kind of leaders they had were called judges. These were prominent individuals, who at different times led them against their national enemies. Such judges were Samson, Gideon, Deborah, Othniel, Abimelech, Samuel and others. Some biblical records consider Samuel a Prophet, though that is not the direction of this text. Now, these judges were not with legal credentials but inspired actions in one form or the other against the foes of the people. Samson in his case was born a Nazerite, meaning he was separated or divinely called from birth to work for God. As a Nazerite, there were things he was not supposed to do, like never to shave their hair, not to drink wine or strong drinks nor eat any unclean thing, and to keep himself clean by not touching any dead bodies or coming within its vicinity. The main idea was to be consecrated or spiritually separated as holy vessels for the work of God.
Therefore, with this divine consecration, Samson was blessed with unbelievable strength as he became the rallying champion for the people, who were oppressed by the Philistines. There were occasions when he killed a lion with his bare hands, slaughtered thousands of the enemy of the people with just the jawbone of an animal and other great exploits. However, with this unbelievable strength on the man Samson, he had the great weakness of sexual promiscuity or wildness, meaning sleeping around. With the tendency of giving out the deep thoughts or secrets in his heart to the ladies he was having relationships with, most regretfully after their deceptive but strong insistence for him to divulge his heart thoughts to them. The first case was when he gave a riddle to his fiancée’s countrymen to solve. That is, after much pressure on Samson from this lady, he finally gave the meaning of the riddle to her, and she subsequently told her people because she was all along under their threat. Somehow, the whole situation angered Samson and he went back home to his father’s house. However, after a while, he decided to come back for his proposed wife, and he was told by his father in-law that his supposed wife had been given to another man and suggested to Samson to go for her younger sister. This really triggered him to leave but secretly arranged by setting the peoples stocks or storages with their vineyards on fire. Upon inquiry, these folks realized these deeds were done by Samson and burned his supposed wife and father with fire. They later encamped against Samson for a fight and he did not fail as the Spirit came upon him and he grabbed the jawbone of an ass and killed thousands of them. In due course, Samson went to Gaza and slept with a harlot there. Another attempt to capture him there also failed. Not long, he fell in love with a lady from the enemy’s people by the name, Delilah. That is, Samson who was a great tormentor of the Philistines as he had consistently overpowered them and championed the course of his people. Therefore, his love affair with one of their own, Delilah, presented a great opportunity for them to deal with their nemesis. Thus, they came to Delilah by promising her money if she could get the secret of Samson’s strength. She willingly accepted and set out by enticing Samson to reveal his secret to her. On three occasions, he opened up but gave her the wrong information. She did not give up, but increased her petition, which eventually wore Samson down, and gave in by letting out his Nazarite secret that his hair had never been shaved or cut. Sensing that this was the real deal, Delilah hurriedly summoned her sponsors for payment and arranged for someone to shave his hair as she lured Samson into sleep on her lap. With Samson’s hair shaven, the Spirit of God that always empowered him on every occasion left him because he had broken the vow with God. Subsequently, he was arrested and his two eyes gouged out and kept in prison. The great and powerful Samson, the feared nemesis of the Philistines, was now a lame duck. The situation was so relieving to the enemy that with time the lords and all the nobles of the Philistines gathered together in a large chamber to celebrate the marvelous feat that had happened to their peace and dominance with the capture of Samson. It was an occasion to serve their god for giving them their arch enemy in the person of Samson. They were so engrossed in their celebrations that none paid attention to Samson’s hair growing back or they might have wrongly assumed that once shaven, all his strength was gone even with the new growth that meant nothing. However, Samson knew better and differently. While the service to their god and celebration was going on, Samson was brought in blind for ridicule. He subsequently asked a young lad to move him closer to the two pillars that held the building. After secretly praying to God asking for his strength back, he brought the building down by deconstructing the pillars. Hence, He died with all the lords, nobles and a great multitude of people in the building, thus using his life as sacrifice to destroy the lives of the masters and great numbers of the enemy of his people.
The spiritual implications are somewhat astounding.
First, it tells us that our loyalty to God is the great treasure we must studiously guard because the source of human life and fulfillment are encased in this noble venture. The loyalty here is not talking about just faith but the combination of other godly virtues waived together in commitment to honor our sincere bond with God. Not to appeal to our human sensibilities but strongly attached to delight in His Glory.
Second, this loyalty to God brings about the great flow of loyalty to ourselves, which will give birth to internal self-discipline that would mold the worthiness in us, value our relationships with others, and or even better with our loved ones. Knowing well that the spring of essence and thoroughness will challenge the acceleration of the heart not to be loose with our bodies to satisfy temporary sexual desires neither, with the instinct of the “he goat.”
Thirdly, our distinct loyalty will conjure or instill the self-worth in us that would consistently rebuild the essence of our inner being not to unduly expose the treasure of life embedded in our soul from the Creator to every creature possessing human flesh. Loyalty to the truth of God is a protective shield against the trickery of the enemy, who could camouflage themselves as close ones.
The fourth pointer is that the greatest and quickest way to compromise the strength or blessings of God in human lives is to grieve the Holy Spirit. When we grieve the Holy Spirit, we are compromising His goodness in our lives by our conduct with utter lack of self-respect and total disregard that brings to the promotion of unguarded attitudes, which is a direct inroad to the enemy’s manipulation.
The fifth is that nothing can outsmart the plans of God. The greatest deception and attack of the enemy is usually the starting point and weakest spot of the enemy in the hands of God. While the enemy thought it had its way with Samson, it greatly miscalculated the power of God in the affairs of His own. In the midst of their celebration of conquest was actually the occasion of their total demise with Samson’s life as the sacrificial lamb to the will of God.
The sixth is that the script of life purpose is written in the passion above self built in truth and service. This could be translated and transmitted from different areas of human endeavors that always aim to broaden the community of human freedom, nobility and fairness. Reaching that resolve will only spotlight one main point in the soul. That is, giving Glory with life’s worth.
The seventh is direct to the point…commitment is the price to replace convenience with contentment drawn from the Consciousness of Perfection.
God is great in Christ Jesus…Amen!