Samson and Delilah – Part IV

Judges 16:15-20
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. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; 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. 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. 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. 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.

Delilah is trying her last trick. She troubled Samson for three times before and this was her final trick in the name of love. Proverbs 27:6 says, “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Her question to Samson how he could say he loves her when his heart is not with her is a deceitful trick. Samson in the first place made a deliberate mistake falling in love with a temptress. He was being pulled into this quagmire of sin surrounding lust. Without the hand of the Lord he cannot come out of this quagmire. His heart needed to be after God’s but it is in the wrong place. His heart was not aligned with God and His will for his life. He approached the force of darkness that is surrounding him with its trap. The words of Delilah that Samson mocked her three times without disclosing the secret of his strength is a plain lie. In fact, it is her who was mocking him so that she could surrender him to the enemy’s hands to be harassed and tortured. She vexed him daily with her words and urged him to speak the secret source of his strength. When she troubled him daily, Samson’s soul was sorely vexed that he spoke his heart out. The enemy vexes us daily to see if we hear its lies and give in to it. Do not put a chair for the enemy to sit before you and speak the lies into you. Thrust it away the minute you sense it. Hurl it away, by the authority that Jesus Christ has granted to us. Do not allow it to linger around you. Let the living waters overflow us that the enemy would fear us. The enemy is afraid of the water for it is scared that it might choke. Mark 5:13 says, “And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea.” The unclean spirits (Legion) that tormented a man in the tombs were rebuked and removed by the Lord Jesus Christ and sent into the swine and the swine violently ran down a steep place into the sea and were choked to death in that sea. If you are tormented or tortured by the enemy in some ways speak these words of Jesus and hurl the forces of darkness out into the sea. These words were spoken to me by my cousin Viola Vasa and they are so full of life of Jesus Christ. I would like to take a moment to thank her divine walk with the Lord that is so exemplary unto all our relatives and friends!

Samson lingered around Delilah knowing fully well what she was up to. He opened up her heart unto Delilah and spoke all about himself thus disclosing the source of his strength. Samson’s heart was meant for God’s glory and here he is surrendering himself to Delilah who was a friend of the enemy and who was working for her own passion for money. Our heart should be surrendered to God wholly and we should break open our hearts for the King of Glory and not to the enemy. If you allow yourself to be pulled by the enemy, he will take you to temporal heights with him and these heights will put you down pathetically like it happened to Samson.

When Delilah realized that Samson poured out his heart for her, she called for the Philistine lords with such a confidence that the Lords of the Philistines brought her what they promised. She made Samson sleep on her knees and she called for a man so that he could shave off the seven locks of Samson’s head. See how Delilah approached Samson. She made him sleep on his knees in such an endearing way that Samson was lost in her love and slept fully surrendering himself to this evil authority. When we are dragged by our worldly passions the kind of slumber we enter in is deadly; it has the potential to put you to sleep in it and yield to the forces of darkness. When we trust in our Lord Jesus Christ who neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4), we can safely rest in His divine arms for He will lift up a standard against the enemy and the enemy is put to death before it can think of plundering us. The trust that Samson put was not in God of Israel but in the evil woman who tempted him until he was tortured and afflicted by the enemy. He thought he still had the strength like before but the Lord God departed from him. The very source of his strength was the Lord God and He left him as Samson did not heed the voice of God like it happened to King Saul. I Samuel 16:14 says, “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him”. Lord God gave opportunities after opportunities to Samson and also to Saul to repent and seek His blessed forgiveness but in both cases they did not pay attention to God and their heart was not right with God.

If any of us have hearts that are going to the wrong places, seeking rest in the wrong places, finding ourselves stuck with the temporal benefits that the wrong places are offering, I plead that you step out of that wrong places to the only right place with Jesus Christ. Come unto Him all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and He will give you rest (Matthew 11:28), the perfect rest that is so godly and eternal!

Next: The Birth of Jesus Foretold