WELCOMING ADDRESS
We have reached this point. The fourth part of the series and you can possibly guess what that means.
It has taken more time than necessary but thankfully, I made it here.
If this is the first post you are coming here.
Let’s ride in
LOVER?
Samson went to Gaza to sleep with a postitute and while he was there, his enemies came to ambush him.
He caught a wisp of it and at midnight left the city carrying the city gates with him to the top of the hill before Hebron.
Not long after that, he met and fell in love with Delilah of Sorek.
This was not an ordinary woman and Samson’s love for her was known. She was also a Philistine, and not long after she an Samson became an item did the lords of her land approach her to make bargain.
“Entice Samson, get the of his strenght and help us capture him and punish him. When you succeed each of us will give you one thousand one hundred pieces of sliver”.
This was a good deal for Delilah and for her it was an easy task.
She set to work and began to seek ways to get him comfortable with her. She could tell that Samson was enamoured by her presence.
“Tell me, what is the secret of your strength and how you be weakened to the point you can be afflicted”
Samson smiled to himself. Her question was a daring one. She wasn’t afraid that he could squeeze the life out of her without struggling. He was excited by her question and thought it would be fun to play games with her.
“Well…if you tie me with seven green withs, I will be weak and be like any other man”.
He was still speaking when Delilah stood up releasing his head from her laps.
“Where are you going?” Samson chuckled.
By the next day, she had gotten the green withs. Samson was enjoying the play and willingly allowed himself to be tied by Delilah.
“The Philistines are upon you!” She shouted immediately but he had quickly snapped the withs so that the men who were waiting on her were unable to come in.
“You have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what is the source of your strength?”
“Okay, use new ropes. The ones that have not been used before and I will be weak”.
Once again, Delilah scurried to get the ropes but Samson snapped them easily.
Samson was enjoying himself. He loved seeing her so worked up trying to disarm him.
She complained and the next thing Samson would say was that she could weave seven locks if his hair and pin it with the web. Delilah wasted no time to weave his hair while Samson slept.
She woke him up the usual cry of attack and Samson stood up easily with everything she had attached to his head.
Delilah appeared to have reached her breaking point.
“How can you say you love me and your heart is not with me? You have mocked me three times. You made a fool of me and yold me the source of your strength”
She cried for days and Samson felt helpless. The house they shared was filled with moodiness and nithing he could do was enough to pacify her. He had reached his breaking point and was no longer able to keep up with her insistence.
“No razor has come upon my head. I am a Nazarite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me and I will be like any other man”
Delilah could sense it, Samson had never been this vulnerable with her. He looked exhausted and had poured his heart to her.
She called fot her sponsors and told them that she had gotten what they wanted. They then returned with her reward.
Her countenance had changed and she had returned to the calm Delilah he had fallen in love with. Nothing seemed to be amiss, he had opened up to her and she could see that he loved her to that extent of telling her his deepest secrets.
Just like before, she made him sleep on her laps with deep caresses and soulful sounds playing from the harp. The atmosphere was right to make Samson sleep deep. Then the shaving began. Delilah’s hands remained on Samson’s body while the man she hired to shave his head did a clean job.
The usual call came “The Philistines are upon you Samsom!”
“I will shake myself like other times and I will..”
He did not realize God had left him and the next thing that happened was that the Philistines came upon him, tied him up and removed his eyes.
Samson was left in the dungeon to grind food and as days passed, his hair began to grow again.
The Philistines were having a feast and they thought it was going to add more fun to bring our Samson to taunt him.
Samson’s hair had grown and he was looking for a way he could exact his strength one again. When he learned they were going to bring him outside after a long time, he knew he was going to maximise it.
He was brought outside to the cheer of everyone. He was used to play games while making to the crowd to roar in laughter.
“Let me feel the pillars” he said to the boy beside him.
“God strengthen me that I may avenge for my eyes these people plucked away. Oh give me strength and let me die with them!”.
With the greatest push he had attempted in a while, Samson brought the building crashing down making it the largest kill he had done throughout his lifetime.
After his death, his family members collected his body and burued him along side his father.
Story culled from Samson 16, kindly read chapter for original format. This story was fictionalized for the sake of this post.
THE STORY OF A SHAVEN HEAD
Samson continued in his spree of sleeping with any woman within his enemies camp. He had become known for being easy to find within a woman’s tent.
His actions were not leading to any apparent consequences
Samson came to love Delilah and he publicly expressed his love for her. This was not the first time he had done this and this reflected the kind of person Samson was when he was in love.
However, while his love for her appeared genuine, her love for him was attached to a price.
She had a plan to earn from the fragility of his love for her and it became her mission to know the source of his supernatural strength.
The truth is that not every love we recieve from people are founded on truth.
Sometimes, the price to be paid in return is heavier than the love proclaimed
Samson had gradually become more insensitive to his calling and the season he was in. He could not differentiate a threat from a joke. He was used to trivialising important things in his life; it had become a pattern.
There are certain things we should not joke with
He thought it was fun to play games with her until she was tired. Delilah had excessive access to Samson and he had no boundaries in their relationship.
They had no shared values and Samson depended on his love for her.
He released his deepest secrets to the one whose misson was to destroy his life
She had broken his defence and when he was in his most vulnerable state, she attacked him deeply.
He gave into her persuasion and the game he had thought he was in control of became the one he lost by paying with his eyes and freedom.
Samson did not know God had left him because he did not know what God’s presence felt like outside the presence of his hair.
It is scary that we can operate in God’s gifts but can do that without a personal relationship with Him
However, whatever is from God can be restored.
There is always restoration in God.
God never abandons us.
Samson who had lost hope for himself encountered the restoration of God’s power as his hair grew back.
God’s expression of restoration in our lives is dependent on the faithfulness of God.
do we believe God can restore us?
SUMMARY
LIFE APPLICATION
Despite experiencing restoration, Samson chose to die with his enemies.
Even until death, Samson was a man saturated with himself.
When we get distracted and consumed by what is not of eternal value, we are unable to keep alive the hopes and dreams God has planted in our hearts.
It is important to remember that:
God redeems us to restore us to Himself and to His purpose for us.
However, we will always have a choice to be part of this process or to reject it.
Surrendering to God’s will will not be easy but when we trust God’s intentions then we can lay down our understanding and lean unto His.
REFLECTION
- Have you felt that you’ve disappointed God enough not to be restored?
- Have you let your guard fown with the wrong people?
- How did you manage experiences of betrayal in the past.
- What area of your life has been difficult to surrender to God?
Thank you for getting here.
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Your comments, feedback and questions are welcomed.
Stay safe and God bless.
Deeperlook 