The Secret of Strength

Judges 16:4-9

August 29, 2021 • Mount Pleasant UMC

Today most people know Franklin Graham as the heir to his father Billy’s evangelistic ministry, or they associate him with Samaritan’s Purse, the organization we work with on the Operation Christmas Child boxes. He’s also been an outspoken political activist, which has led to him being both loved and hated, maligned and appreciated. But early on in his life, he really didn’t want anything to do with the spotlight or the Graham name. In his autobiography, Rebel With a Cause, he described his early years as living the “fast life.” He smoked, drank, got in fights and admitted trying marijuana. His family sent him to Stony Brook, an elite Christian boarding school on Long Island, New York. He dropped out and was later expelled from another school, LeTourneau College, for keeping a female classmate out all night past curfew. Both of his parents worried about Franklin, and when Franklin accompanied his father on a trip to Switzerland in 1974, Billy confronted his son about the direction of his life. Looking Franklin straight in the eye, Billy said, “I want you to know that your mother and I sense there is a struggle for the soul of your life, and you're going to have to make a choice.”

These words stuck with Franklin, and one night (not too long after that conversation) when he was in a hotel room in Jerusalem, something happened. That night, instead of going to the bar for a couple of beers, he found himself alone in his room reading through the gospel of John. He described it this way: “When I came to the third chapter, I read not just that Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again, but I also grasped that Franklin Graham had to be born again as well.” In that moment, Franklin Graham became a new person, and that night has led to who he is today.

I thought of that story as I read the story of Samson again this week. No matter how old you get, your mother will always worry about you. And just as Ruth and Billy Graham had a deep concern for Franklin, I can’t help but think that Samson’s mother must have gone through agony as she watched his life unfold. Samson was a miracle baby, born to a barren woman (13:3), and when he was born, his mother pledged him to God. She was told Samson would lead the Israelite people, and she believed it with everything in her, which is why she made a vow to raise him as a Nazirite. That was a special sect or group within the Hebrew faith of the time; it would be a little like the Holiness movement of more recent times. Nazrities had three special obligations: first, they could not have any fermented drink, nor could they have grapes or raisins (in case they were fermented). Second, he could not cut his hair during the time of the vow; for Samson, that supposedly meant he would never cut his hair (13:5). And third, he was not allowed to come near a dead body (Wolf, “Judges,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 3, pg. 462). These promises were made for Samson before he was even conceived, but as he grew up, he proceeded to break two of the three commands, showing how little he cared for the faith of his mother. Her heart must have been broken. But just like Franklin Graham, a time was coming when Samson was going to have to make a decision, a time when he would find out who he really was.

This morning, we're wrapping up our quick trip through the book of Judges and this series we’ve called “Ordinary Heroes” by taking a look at one of the most memorable and flashy characters in the Bible. If anyone comes closest to being an actual superhero, it would be super-strong Samson. That was the promise made to him, anyway. If his hair was never cut, he would have the strength to defeat the enemies of Israel, the Philistines. Remember, as we said the first week, the book of Judges tells the cyclical story of Israel’s belief, unbelief, desperation and rescue. Over and over again. The leaders of Israel during this time were not kings; they were judges, people whose job it was to help the people live God’s way. Most of them are the sort of folks you would expect, but Samson breaks the mold in every way.

Chapter 14 is about his marriage to a Philistine woman, so he’s consorting, literally, with the enemy. In the process of that marriage, he kills a lion and later eats honey out of the carcass of that same lion. So he’s broken the third Nazirite vow—no contact with a dead body—and he’s had a nasty snack as well. He most likely also broke the “no fermented drink” vow when he took part in a seven-day Philistine feast in chapter 14. The only vow left is the one to not cut his hair, and that is about to come into serious jeopardy (cf. Goldingay, Joshua, Judges & Ruth for Everyone, pg. 140).

So, through a ridiculous wager, Samson loses his wife, but then he moves on to a prostitute. Some time after spending the night with her, we are told he “falls in love” with a woman named Delilah. Three things I want you to notice here. First of all, this is the only time we’re told Samson is “in love.” The other relationships have no mention of any sort of romantic or emotional connection. Before, it seems to have all been about the physical, but now with Delilah it’s different (Stone, “Judges,” Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, Vol. 3, pg. 412). Second, Delilah is the only woman in this story who has a name. Samson’s mother, his wife, his prostitute—none of them are remembered by name. Only Delilah is (cf. Goldingay 140). That tells us something about her importance, that centuries later we still know her name. And third, notice that despite our assumptions, the text never says Delilah is a Philistine (Wolf 475). She is certainly working with the Philistines, and I think that’s why I always assumed she was one. But the Sorek Valley, where Delilah lives, is actually in Israelite territory, though it is close to the Philistine border. Either way, whether she is a Hebrew or a Philistine, she is a danger to Samson, something that becomes obvious (at least to us) right away.

We read the first part of the back and forth that happens between Samson and Delilah—which is probably the most well-known part of Samson’s story. She asks him what the source of his strength is, and he lies to her. Repeatedly. Guys, let me just say if you don’t already know: the secret to a strong relationship does not include lying when she asks you a question. But this is Samson, and he lies to the woman we are told he is in love with.  “Tie me up with a certain kind of string.” So she does, and then she calls out to the Philistines who are hidden in the room. Now, hold on a minute. I’m trying to figure out where they hid. Their homes were not very big—basically a room or two, stone walls, and closets weren’t really a thing. Where were they hiding? Anyway…it doesn’t work. So she asks again and he says, “Tie me up with new ropes; I’ll become as weak as any man.” She does, guys come out of hiding, and nope. Doesn’t work. Next time, she accuses him of making her look like a fool, and she asks again. “Braid my hair into the loom and I’ll become as weak as any other man,” he says. Closer, to be sure, but when she does it, and the men come out of hiding again, it doesn’t work. Now, Samson’s no dummy. I’m sure he has picked up on the pattern here. He knows what Delilah is up to. So why, when she asks him a fourth time, does he finally tell her the truth? Why does he reveal his secret? “If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.” I don’t know for sure, as the text doesn’t tell us what was going on in Samson’s head, but I suspect it’s because this time she accuses him of not loving her. And we know, from earlier in the chapter, that Delilah is the only woman Samson really has loved. If he has to prove it by revealing his secret, he will. And he does (16:6-20). And disaster follows.

Once more, she has the Philistines come back in. They shave Samson’s head (the last tie to his Nazirite vows) and then they wake him up. He doesn’t realize he has no strength, and thinks he will easily escape again, but he is actually powerless and easily captured. They gouge out his eyes and put him to work grinding grain. Punishment after punishment, humiliation after humiliation. We might not think much of the work he is made to do in prison, but in Israel in those days, tasks were very strictly divided up by gender. “The men plowed while the women ground grain. There isn’t much a blind man’s captors can make him do. What they make him do is the work of a woman” (Goldingay 141).

The story of Samson really is tragic, much moreso than any of the other judges. And the tragedy is really summed up in one verse, verse 20: “He did not know that the Lord had left him.” To me, that’s the saddest sentence in the whole story of Samson, maybe in the whole book of Judges. “He did not know that the Lord had left him.” It’s not just that the Lord had left him; that’s bad enough. But Samson didn’t even realize it. He had no idea. He had gotten so used to doing things on his own, to relying on his own power and his own strength, on his own skills and talents that he doesn’t even notice when God is no longer with him. It’s not that God doesn’t love him anymore. It’s just that Samson has filled his life so much with himself that he no longer has any room for his creator, for the real source of his strength. He has come to believe that it’s all about him. But as he learns quickly and painfully—it’s not.

There’s something that happens when we insist on doing everything our own way, on depending only on ourselves. God allows us our own choice. If we reject God, he will allow us to do so. There’s a Biblical phrase that haunts me, and it’s this: “God gave them over.” We hear it most clearly in the letter to the Romans, written by Paul. In the very first chapter, he’s describing what happens to someone who ignores what they know of God, people who refuse to have anything to do with God. Paul says there is evidence for God aplenty in the creation itself, and yet people turn their backs on what they know deep inside to be true. What happens then? Here’s how Paul describes it: “God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts…They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator…” (Romans 1:24-25). There’s that phrase: “God gave them over.” And it shows up repeatedly, especially in this chapter because that’s what happens when we choose to rely on our own self, our own so-called knowledge, our own strength. God will “give us over.” He’ll allow us to have our choice, even if it means that in the end we will be forever separated from him. It breaks his heart, but he will give us over if that is the choice we make. He will depart, and sadly so many people, like Samson, don’t even notice.

We don’t notice because it doesn’t happen all at once. It happens bit by bit, moment by moment, choice by choice. I knew a man many years ago who was very talented, knew how to do his job well and was very active in his church. From all outward appearances, he was a strong believer and a Christian businessman. He ran for office with that image, and I was vocally supportive of him. But bit by bit, it seems he chose to rely more on his own skills than on God’s strength, God’s power. As far as I can tell, there were no big choices, no single moment when my friend turned away from God wholeheartedly. But there were choices in the company he kept, in the way he embraced the power of political office, and an apparent desperation to be somebody who was perceived as important. And God gave him over; that’s the only way to describe it. God gave him over through scandal, embarrassment and loss. It was heartbreaking to watch. And it was a reminder to me of how easily we can end up where Samson was.

I wonder where we are as a nation in that process. I have no doubt that every person in this room has their own opinion about that, and I was thinking this week how, when I was much younger, there were campaigns to “get prayer back in schools.” Pastors and pundits pointed to the 1962 decision to disallow prayer in schools as the moment our nation began to turn its back on God. Now, that may or may not be the case; I tend to think that’s far too simplistic because there were waves of sentiment, thought and decisions that led up to that event happening. Besides, having a prayer led by someone in a classroom who may or may not even believe in God is not going to save our nation. The question has to be whether or not God’s people, the church—are we still being the people he has called us to be? Are we people of prayer? Are we praying for revival of the church and the nation? Or is it possible, just possibly, that God has left our presence and we haven’t even noticed? It’s scary, isn’t it, to think about that? The church today has so much technology and marketing skills and webinars at our disposal—do we even need God to run a church anymore? You see, one choice leads to another choice leads to another. We stop praying, we stop reading the Scriptures, we stop participating in corporate worship, we don’t do any of the things we know will bring us closer to God. I’ll just skip one day, and then another, and then I’ll get around to it on the weekend, and before we know it—God gave them over. He will not force us to have a relationship. He will give us over if we don’t want anything to do with him. 

Last week I asked you if you would trust God the way Ruth did. The story of Samson follows right on from that, asking us a related question: where is the source of our strength? Do we find our strength in ourselves, our own abilities, our own talents or skills? Like a toddler, do we insist that “we can do it” on our own? Or is the source of our strength found in the God we say we trust, the God we believe in? It’s so easy to slip from one to the other, from God to self, unless we are vigilant.

I don’t know how you’ve always pictured Samson, but I’ve always thought of him as one of these really muscular men, probably wearing something that resembles a wrestling outfit today. I probably picked up that image from any number of artist renderings of Samson, including the comic book Bible stories we got in Sunday School when I was a kid. But some scholars suggest he might not have looked like that at all. What if Samson wasn’t “ripped”? What if, instead, he was like Steve Rogers before he became Captain America? What if he was a “skinny kid from Brooklyn”? You see, if he was visibly strong, then when the Philistines wonder what the secret of his strength was, the answer could just as easily be, “Well, he obviously works out every day.” But they know that’s not the reason. It has to be something else, because to them, his strength makes no sense. They think there must be some lucky amulet or a trick or something else. Maybe it’s magic (cf. Stone 413; Goldingay 141)! They have no idea that it’s really a God thing. So do those who know you recognize God working in and through you, or do they just think it’s all you? What is the secret of your strength?

Even though it was nearly 35 years ago, I still remember it like it was yesterday. I can tell you exactly where I was sitting in the dining hall at Ball State during that finals week when everyone was stressed out. And we were all talking about how stressed out we were, because, you know, that helps. Anyway, one of my friends who was at the table unexpectedly turned to me and said, “You seem calm during all of this craziness. How do you stay so calm?” What I don’t remember is what I said, but I do know that I didn’t say what I should have. I should have said something to the effect of, “It’s not me who’s calm. It’s God working in me, giving me his peace.” Instead, I probably mumbled something about having studied or that I really wasn’t as calm as it looked. You know, basically a lie. And I remember the incident because I wish I could find her today and say to her what I should have said then. True peace, true calm, true strength in the midst of challenging circumstances only comes from God. It’s not me; it’s him.

Honestly, that’s what I’ve been asking you and challenging you to do during this pandemic and in the midst of a divided world. In the chaos we find ourselves in, our calling as followers of Jesus is to respond with faith rather than fear. When the unknown hits, whether that’s in the form of a pandemic or any other unexpected circumstance that enters our lives, the challenge for us is to respond to the fear that rises up within us with our faith, with the confidence that the God who has brought us this far will not abandon us now. If he is the secret of our strength, there is nothing that can happen to us in this world that will ultimately separate us from him. Nothing. That doesn’t mean we act unwisely. That doesn’t mean we ignore the facts. But it does mean that we hold onto God’s unchanging hand no matter what the world or the government or the culture around us throws at us. Throughout the early days of the pandemic, you might remember, I kept saying to you: have faith, be wise and do not fear. As we enter more uncertain days, those are still good words to hear. And it’s what Samson experienced, even in his days in prison. Because Samson may be blind, in prison and humiliated, but in God’s good mercy, his story is not over.

Verse 22 leads us into the next chapter: “But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.” Now the author is not saying that the hair was magic or that the hair was really the source of Samson’s strength. The hair is only a symbol and the regrowth is a sign that, in the midst of prison, Samson is remembering what the true source of his strength is. God may have left him (16:20), but God is always ready to come back into a person’s life who wants him to. God doesn’t want to leave us forever. All God ever wanted from Samson was obedience, which oddly is all he ever wants from us. Jesus told his disciples on the last night he spent with them: “You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants…Instead, I have called you friends…” (John 15:14-15). And then he defines what it means to “do what he commands.” “This is my command: Love each other” (John 15:17). It’s as simple and as difficult as that. That’s what he wants. All God ever wanted from Samson and all God wants from us is to do what he asks us to do. And Samson remembered that as his hair began to grow out.

It’s kind of amazing to me that no one noticed. Maybe they thought once they had imprisoned him, Samson was forever beaten. Maybe they thought robbing him of his strength was a one-time thing. But in an unfortunate incident, they learn that’s not the case. In the midst of a religious festival, Samson is brought out and put on display. He is made to perform on command, sort of like a circus animal, and you can hear the laughter as they make fun of this former enemy. (Anyone ever wonder where Delilah went? Where is she in all of this? The text doesn’t say, but you can’t help but wonder what she’s thinking, feeling or if she was content just being paid for betraying the man who loved her.) The pagan temple is crowded on this festival day, with people even hanging out on the roof, and at this point, Samson prays and asks for God to be with him. It’s his final prayer, because after that he pushes on the main pillars, causing the entire building to collapse, killing Samson and everyone in the temple. The text says, “He killed many more when he died than while he lived” (16:30). Now it’s understandably bothersome that so many people die in what, according to the text, is basically an act of revenge by Samson toward the Philistines for gouging out his eyes (cf. 16:28). It bothers people that God would have him do such a thing, but notice that God does not tell Samson to do this. Yes, he does pray and ask for strength, but the strength came not from a magic prayer but rather from what appears to be Samson’s return to a relationship with God. God didn’t order the Philistines’ deaths, even though those deaths were caused by a servant of God. It reminds us that all of us are imperfect and don’t always make the best use of the gifts God has given us.

Unlike the other judges we have looked at, Samson is not a role model. He is not someone that anyone should plan to pattern their life after except in this one thing. We can learn from Samson that relying on our own strength leads to disaster. We have to be clear about where our strength comes from, and if we are content to rely on our own abilities, God will let us. He will turn away from us because he never pushes in where he is not wanted. How many people in the world break his heart daily? He has given them abilities, skills and talents, and they choose to use them for unholy and unhelpful ends. Let’s not be one of them. Let’s recognize the true secret of our strength is God alone.

Centuries after Samson, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah these words to his people when they were going through a difficult time. Let’s allow Isaiah’s words to lead us toward prayer today. God says, “Do not fear, for I am with you; I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). Let’s pray.