All week long I’ve been teaching on Spiritual warfare from Judges chapter 14-16, the life of Samson.
Samson is often called a renegade judge of Israel. Being extremely strong, he was brought down by such a small weakness. Today, we’ll look at similarities between what Samson faced and what we face, especially in the area of Spiritual warfare.
In Judges 16, we read of Samson and Delilah. Samson fell in love with Delilah. It didn’t take long for the rulers of the Philistines to approach her about obtaining the secret to his strength. Twice she asked Samson to confide in her with his secret but he only teased her with phony explanations.
On her third attempt, Delilah was successful. “With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. So he told her everything” (16:16-17a). The secret to his strength was that no razor had ever been used on his head. He was a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth.
Samson was a Nazirite, which involved three specific things to separate oneself to God: No alcohol (wine or strong drink), uncut hair and must stay away anything dead, even his own family members who died (Numbers 6:1-8).
A Nazirite vow often was only for a short period but in the case of John the Baptist and with Samson it was from birth to death. The Apostle Paul took the Nazirite vow (Acts 18:18). When the period of this vow was over, they would cut their hair and burn it at the entrance of the Tent of Meetings (Numbers 6:18).
But more than following mere rituals the one taking the Nazirite vow was considered holy and dedicated to the Lord. Taking such a vow showed intense focus upon accomplishing God’s will. Throughout the world we hear many groups declaring “holy war.” Yet, none is more true of a holy war than what we see in the life of Samson. He indeed is set apart by God to carry out a holy war against the Philistines.
In addition to a greater level of holiness, perhaps the three levels of abstinences of the Nazirite vow represents the focus and intent of the warrior’s heart: No time to keep the hair well groomed. No time to relax and enjoy wine. No time to mourn the death of others.
Only after the period of this vow was over, would they cut their hair and burn it at the entrance of the Tent of Meetings (Numbers 6:18). Then they would enjoy wine and choice food as a way of celebrating what God accomplished through the vow.
Delilah put Samson to sleep on her lap and had his hair shaved draining him of his strength. His strength was not just in the length of his hair but the obedience to the vow he had made to God. He violated the Nazirite vow when he took honey out of the carcass of the lion in Judges 14:8-9. He violated it again by having a wedding feast where it was customary to have wine. And now he violates the last part of the vow by allowing his hair to be cut. Three strikes and he loses his strength.
Like Samson we are set apart to God from birth, not our physical birth but our Spiritual birth. As we accept Christ as our Savior and Lord, from that moment on we are set apart to serve the Lord and to advance His kingdom. We are given strength through our salvation. Being filled with the Spirit we are able to accomplish great things for the Lord.
Even though we have such Kingdom power, authority and strength, our strength is often stolen away by our own Delilah’s, nagging at our faithfulness and purity until we finally give in.
satan found a weakness in Samson and in the same way satan seeks after our own weaknesses in order to drain us of our strength. The devil seeks to bring us to a point of disloyalty toward God; nothing draws us away from the Lord as quickly as disobedience.
As Delilah continued nagging and prodding Samson day after day, satan does the same to us tempting us over and over. We might say Samson fell asleep at the wheel. He literally fell asleep in his deceiver’s lap.
We each have soft-spots, places of weaknesses which satan seeks to use to overpower us. Once the devil gains control of our weakness he gains control of our strength. Rather than allowing satan to gain a stronghold, we must learn to live in the stronghold of God.
Samson gave his weakness to his enemy, thus he lost his strength. But when we give our weaknesses over to the Lord, He makes us strong.
When we give Christ every part of our life, He deals with every one of our weaknesses. Christ wants every area of our heart not only that we might live totally for Him but also to protect us from satan by redeeming our weaknesses.
One by one, Samson was lured to violate all three aspects of his Nazirite vow.
It must have been a sickening feeling when Samson went to rely upon his strength only to find it was gone. How many Christians are dozing, allowing the devil a chance to zap them of their strength through various demonic strongholds?
Samson was careless with his vow, and many Christians become careless with their faith. Carelessness toward our faith makes us an open target for the devil to erode away our Bible reading, our prayer time and our commitment to do the Lord’s will.
Today, as we follow Samson’s life from Judges 16, we learn that we must remain faithful and set apart if we are to honor God. We must not fall asleep at the wheel of our Spiritual lives, but we must remain steadfast and focused upon our calling.
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation” (Matthew 26:41).
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your grace that sustains us. Forgive us when we wander away from our commitment to You. Give us wisdom to know when the devil is getting a foothold in our lives. May we never give up our strength through own weakness. But as we give our weaknesses over to You, You make us strong. In Jesus’ Mighty Name, AMEN!