The Line that Won't Get Crossed

 

When I was little, I heard about Samson, how strong he was, and how an evil woman named Delilah convinced him to tell her the secret of his strength. He told her he would lose his strength if his hair ever got cut, she ratted him out, he became weak, but then God made him strong again and he killed a lot of evil Philistines. Or something like that.

Imagine my surprise almost 20 years later when I decided to study the entire book of Judges and all of its blood, sex, and gore. Samson was on a slippery slope almost from the beginning. I know we tend to favor his triumphant last hours in chapter 16, but let's back up to the beginning.

In chapter 13, we meet Samson's parents, who were barren and begged the Lord for a child. He promised them that not only would He send them a child, but the child would be a deliverer of his people (the Israelites were being ruled by the Philistines at the time). The only catch: they were never to cut his hair.

It's pretty evident that God had a plan for Samson even before his birth. I heard a preacher say that Samson and the prophet Samuel had very similar beginnings. They were both born to parents who had previously been barren, and were miracle babies. They were also given significant callings at a very early age. The biggest difference between them was that Samuel fully lived out his calling. Did Samson?

I'm not going to go into a long comparison between the two of them. I really want to focus on Samson. The thing about Samson is, he had this awesome calling on his life. He would be a deliverer! And he was! He defended Israel for 20 years! The thing is, he was always playing with fire.

I believe that almost every kid who has been brought up in church and around ministry have a "line" that they just will not cross, whether they are saved or not. They might experiment with something here or there, but there's usually that "one thing" that they just WILL NOT do because they know that would be the last straw. But boy, do we like to toe that line!

Samson was your typical PK, (or PGK for us third-generation ministry kids lol). He knew the rules. But he was just compelled to break them. The first trip he (literally) took to the enemy territory was when he decided to marry a Philistine woman. None of his fellow Israelites were good enough for him (ch. 14, v. 3). He was drawn to the woman in Timnath, who "pleased" him. This was a daughter of the enemy, who worshipped other gods, and just was not somebody he should have been with. However, God, being God, used this union as a part of His plan. The thing we have to realize about God is, no matter what we do, His show will always go on. So, he married this woman, and her people ended up using her to cheat Samson out of a lot of money. See, he also dabbled in some gambling. He gave them a riddle and seven days to answer it so they would have to give him their possessions. They got her to nag him until he told her the answer and she betrayed him. So, he ended up losing out big time. Not only that, she ended up leaving him and marrying his best man.

That should have been his wake-up call, right? Of course not. Samson became the embodiment of the "dumb jock" stereotype, and threw a temper tantrum. I read this part, mouth open, screaming REALLY SAMSON??? in my head. The Philistines came after him, and he won. Because he had not yet cut his hair. He hadn't yet crossed that line.

But Samson wasn't finished with his life of rebellion. He decided he was going to have some fun by getting busy with a harlot (ch. 16, v. 1). The Philistines tried to get him again, but he got away. He hadn't crossed that line yet. God was still giving him grace.

But then came Delilah. Oh, Delilah. Just like Samson's first wife, she wasn't any good for him. First of all, she was a Philistine. Why was he still in the enemy's territory? Didn't he learn from the first time? At any rate, the Philistines promised her a lot of money if she could get him to tell her the secret of his strength. The last piece of the puzzle. The one thing that Samson had held on to, the last source of grace. Many of us have strayed so far from God, but it was often that one thing we couldn't let go of that brought us back. It was either that alcohol we wouldn't drink, that hymn we couldn't forget, that prayer we had to say every night. Our last connection to the Father that as long as we hold on to it, we can follow the trail back home.

But, Oh, Delilah. The thing about that line that you just won't cross is, it can become very blurry the closer you get to it and the more sand you kick up as you go. The line gets pushed back further and further and eventually disappears. All that Samson had been involved in, he knew he couldn't let go of his hair. However, the longer he stayed in Delilah's presence, the weaker his resolve got. In fact, before he actually let the secret out, he played with the idea of it by having her weave it to a loom (ch. 16, v. 13-14). He got too close, still didn't see the light, and eventually went over the edge.

Here's the thing that kills me about the Samson/Delilah situation. First off, I can see how he might have been drawn to her beauty, and whatever else she was offering him. But every time he told her a "secret" she betrayed him. She tested them out each time. Shouldn't that have been the red flag and screaming alarm that should have alerted him that this woman did not have his best interest at heart?

How many times (ladies) do we end up with men who lie to us, use our bodies and then reject us, and then we go running back? How many times (gentlemen) do you spend your time and money on women who are only looking to see what they can get from you and then they're on to the next? How many of our friends have to get us into trouble at school, with the law, on our jobs, with our families before we realize that they are no good? And the longer we stay in their company, the closer we get to that line. The minute we begin to say "it's okay, I don't mind if you do that around me," we're headed toward the danger zone! The minute you begin to relax around blatant displays of disregard for the Word of God, you're headed toward the danger zone.

Samson knew from birth that he was never to cut his hair because it was a part of his calling. It's obvious that his strength was really given to him by God, but God drew the line and basically let him know what would cause his grace to run out. When Samson gave in to Delilah, he forfeited his calling and the blessings that were associated with it. Yes, God used him once more after that, but that was also his last chance. Do you need more examples of what disobedience breeds after a lifetime of calling? Moses wasn't allowed to see the Promised Land because he spoke out in anger instead of waiting on the Lord. David couldn't see the building of the temple because he had blood on his hands. And it wasn't the battles that the Lord commissioned him to fight. It was the fact that he sent an innocent man to his death after sleeping with his wife. After the Israelites were taken into captivity and then released, they were never fully restored to their former glory.

I want to be like Samuel. Samuel was able to live to an old age and see the fruit of his labor. He was able to see David become a king and be happy with the work he had done in the name of the Lord. He didn't live a life of regret. I'm not saying that if you've strayed and done things you weren't proud of that you can't experience that same things that Samuel did. But the longer you play around with the enemy and the calling on your life, the closer you are to forfeiting your divine inheritance.

Where is your line?