Judges 16
Be Alert
Samson didn't have the same relationship with God as his father Manoah did, Samson did what was right in his own eyes.
He once went to Gaza and slept with a prostitute and Gazites found out where he was staying and decide to wait for him to come out to seize him until the first light; Samson stayed in that same place until midnight and then he got up went to the doors of the city,(which were at least two stories high and made up of iron), he took the doors and the posts and carried them out on his shoulders going up hill to Hebron.
After that he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, it was the third woman he was involved with who was not an Israeli, and Philistines came to her and offered her a lot of money if she would find out how to bind Samson. Delilah went along with Philistines proposal and so she started nagging, pleading and asking Samson,
"Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you." (verse 6)
Samson didn't reveal to her that he was a Nazirite and that he haven't cut his hair right way, but eventually he could not take it anymore and so he told her the whole truth. Cutting off his hair, another rule of Nazirite that was broken.
Delilah made Samson fall asleep on her knees and ordered a man to cut off Samson's hair and just like other times she said,
"The Philistines are upon you Samson! and he awoke from his sleep and said, " I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him." (verse 20)
Philistines seized him and gouged his eyes out.
As time went on his hair started to grow back again. Philistines threw a huge feast in one huge house in honor of their god Dagon; they were thanking him for giving Samson into their hands. Once they were drunk they called Samson so he would entertain them, and when Samson came to them he asked a young man who was his guide,
"Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them... Then Samson called to the Lord and said, "O Lord God please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God that I may be avenged on the Philistines for me two eyes."... then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell... upon all the people who were in it." (verse 26-30)
As we read this is the only time Samson called out to God and really prayed to him, but he only wanted to get revenge on these people for taking his eyesight.
Today...
Some days we do things on "cruise control" we just do things automatically. We pray automatically, we read Bible on auto control, we go to church automatically and this can continue for weeks, months and years without us caring about it or noticing it. We get used to our routines and that's what our prayers, daily readings, and church visits become-- routines. We do things without knowing if God is with us, we pray without knowing or without caring if God hears us.
Samson was riding on cruise control too, he couldn't tell if God was with him or not, he didn't feel the difference, and because of that he got caught and eventually died.
If we do not feel God's presence, if we feel nothing inside then we should stop in our ways. If do not stop and evaluate where we stand, (check if we're even Christian or not), we might die thinking that we were doing the right things, and living a Godly life, when really we didn't even really know God.
Be Alert.
Samson didn't have the same relationship with God as his father Manoah did, Samson did what was right in his own eyes.
He once went to Gaza and slept with a prostitute and Gazites found out where he was staying and decide to wait for him to come out to seize him until the first light; Samson stayed in that same place until midnight and then he got up went to the doors of the city,(which were at least two stories high and made up of iron), he took the doors and the posts and carried them out on his shoulders going up hill to Hebron.
After that he fell in love with a woman named Delilah, it was the third woman he was involved with who was not an Israeli, and Philistines came to her and offered her a lot of money if she would find out how to bind Samson. Delilah went along with Philistines proposal and so she started nagging, pleading and asking Samson,
"Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you." (verse 6)
Samson didn't reveal to her that he was a Nazirite and that he haven't cut his hair right way, but eventually he could not take it anymore and so he told her the whole truth. Cutting off his hair, another rule of Nazirite that was broken.
Delilah made Samson fall asleep on her knees and ordered a man to cut off Samson's hair and just like other times she said,
"The Philistines are upon you Samson! and he awoke from his sleep and said, " I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him." (verse 20)
Philistines seized him and gouged his eyes out.
As time went on his hair started to grow back again. Philistines threw a huge feast in one huge house in honor of their god Dagon; they were thanking him for giving Samson into their hands. Once they were drunk they called Samson so he would entertain them, and when Samson came to them he asked a young man who was his guide,
"Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them... Then Samson called to the Lord and said, "O Lord God please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God that I may be avenged on the Philistines for me two eyes."... then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell... upon all the people who were in it." (verse 26-30)
As we read this is the only time Samson called out to God and really prayed to him, but he only wanted to get revenge on these people for taking his eyesight.
Today...
Some days we do things on "cruise control" we just do things automatically. We pray automatically, we read Bible on auto control, we go to church automatically and this can continue for weeks, months and years without us caring about it or noticing it. We get used to our routines and that's what our prayers, daily readings, and church visits become-- routines. We do things without knowing if God is with us, we pray without knowing or without caring if God hears us.
Samson was riding on cruise control too, he couldn't tell if God was with him or not, he didn't feel the difference, and because of that he got caught and eventually died.
If we do not feel God's presence, if we feel nothing inside then we should stop in our ways. If do not stop and evaluate where we stand, (check if we're even Christian or not), we might die thinking that we were doing the right things, and living a Godly life, when really we didn't even really know God.
Be Alert.
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