Our Strength can become Our Weakness.

“The lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, ‘Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver’”(Judges 16:5).

            What do you think your strength is?  Do you know what your strength is?  Do you also know that your strength can become your weakness? 

            When you look at the today’s passage Judges 16:5, we can see that God’s servant Judge Samson’s strength is “his great strength”.  But we also can see that they were people who tried to weaken his great strength.  Who were they?  They were “the lords of the Philistines” (v.5).  The lords of the Philistines were the ones who tried to weaken Samson’s great strength that is from the Lord.  How did they try do this?  They did so through Delilah whom Samson loved (v.4).  The lords of the Philistines bribed her that they would each give her eleven hundred pieces of silver if she entice Samson and find out two things about him: (1) where his great strength lies and (2) how they may overpower him so that they may bind him to afflict him (v.5).  And Delilah was blinded by their bribe and fell into their enticement.  Isn’t it interesting that she took a lot of money than Samson who loved her?  So she went up to Samson and tried to make him talk where his great strength lies and how he may be bound to afflict him for three times (vv. 6, 10, 13).  But Samson lied to her three times (v.13) and didn’t tell her the secret of his strength and how he may be bound.  So Delilah pressed Samson daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death (v.16).  Thus, he told her all that was in his heart (v.17).  This is what he told her: “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb.  If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man” (v.17).  How foolish it was that Samson told Delilah what was in his heart – the secret of his great strength.  He himself weakened his own great strengthen.  He was blinded by Delilah who was blinded with love of money.  As a result, he fell into her enticement and allowed his strength to become his weakness.  Why did Samson tell Delilah all that was in his heart?  Why did he even love her at first?  Why didn’t Samson realize that Satan was using Delilah to entice him and fall away from God? 

            As I was mediating on this story about Samson, the Spirit gave me some insight about how our strength can become our weakness.  It is because of Satan’s persistent enticement.  Like the lords of the Philistines who bribed Delilah with a lot of money so that she might persistently urged Samson to the point of his soul might be annoyed to death, that’s what Satan is doing us.  And it is Satan’s goal for us to open up our heart to tell the secret of our strength so that Satan may weaken our strength.  But we have hope in the Lord.  As the Lord heard Samson’s last cry out that He remembered him and strengthen him just one more time that he might at once be avenged of the Philistines for his two eyes (v.28).  So when the lords of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice for “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hands” (v.23), God strengthened Samson at last so that he may die with those entire Philistines who were in the house – “full of men and women and all the lords of the Philistines (vv. 27, 30).  Although Samson fell into Satan’s enticement and thus weakened his great strength by committing sins against God, God strengthened weakened Samson and thus manifested His glory.  God actually manifest His strength (power) through weakened Samson and defeated the Philistines’ god Dagon.  Why?  It was because He is true living God, not Dagon.  The same God even uses our weakness and manifest His great power.  Thus, we have hope.  Although Satan tries very hard to spoil our strength into our weakness, our Almighty God manifests His great power through our weakness.  With this hope, it is my hope and prayer that all of us fight the good fight against our sinful nature, against this world and against Satan and be victorious by the great power of our Almighty God. 

A man who wants to pour out his heart to his great God who strengthens him when he is weak,

Pastor James Kim