Bringing down the house
Samson had a few weaknesses...and one of them was women! He had a hard time learning his lesson when it came to them. In fact, he never did!
One day Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute there. He went in to spend the night with her.
When the people of Gaza heard, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and waited for him near the city gate all night. They whispered to each other, “When dawn comes, we will kill Samson!” (Judges 16:1, 2 NCV)
Once again Samson outplayed them and showed his strength off to boot!
But Samson only stayed with the prostitute until midnight. Then he got up and took hold of the doors and the two posts of the city gate and tore them loose, along with the bar. He put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces the city of Hebron. (Judges 16:3 NCV)
That in itself was an amazing feat, because Hebron was 40 miles away! His strength was well known for miles around!
You'd think Samson would catch on to the women he chose to be with.
You see what I said...the women HE CHOSE to be with! He, for some reason or another chose women that were not good women...
Maybe he was looking in the wrong places....you think!
Delilah was no different. And she is a philistine no less! He falls in love with her...to his demise.
Women have a way of wearing men down.
She kept bothering Samson about his secret day after day until he felt he was going to die!
So he told her everything. He said, “I have never had my hair cut, because I have been set apart to God as a Nazirite since I was born. If someone shaved my head, I would lose my strength and be as weak as any other man.” (Judges 16:16, 17 NCV)
And...his strength leaves as they secretly cut his hair while he sleeps!
Samson has taken his strength for granted.
And she said, The Philistines are upon you, Samson! So he awoke from his sleep, and said, I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free! But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. (Judges 16:20 NKJV)
When the Lord left him his strength did too!
What a price to pay for having this love affair with Delilah.
His eyes were gouged out...
He was taken as prisoner!
Blind and in prison, doing what they called 'a woman's job' of grinding grain, they were hell-bent on humiliating him. Something that Samson had previously lacked, he now felt everyday!
But it went a little too far as they made him preform for them in a huge temple with about 3000 people watching. Laughing and applauding him, he was lowered to the likes of an animal in a circus!
Did God return, or just his strength ?
Did the Lord honor his request to
vindicate Samson ...or Himself?
The Philistines were giving their god Dagon praise for helping capture Samson!
Either way Samson once again had the strength to destroy his enemies by bringing down the temple ...
Or you might say bringing down the house!
But they weren't laughing now! They were dead!
He brought the entire temple down and killed everyone, including himself!
Samson was reduced to humiliation the hard way! If only he would have been humble throughout his life!
He misused the great gift God had given him.
But amazingly, God still worked through Him to crush the enemy!
Isn't it good to know...that God still uses imperfect people?
People who make big mistakes!
People the get arrogant!
People that forget about where their strength comes from?
People like Solomon...and me... and you!
But I hope if I am ever bringing down the house...it's in a comedy joint.
Created 3 months ago
