Samson. Enamored with Delilah’s beauty. Prideful of his strength. Perhaps he thought he was invincible after a lifetime of plundering the Philistines with one escapade of destruction after another.
He was warned. Do not cut your hair. That’s it. He was by no means a holy man. But God used him like a bee stuck in someone’s clothes, stinging over and over.
One day he falls in love with Delilah. She nags him for the secret to his strength. He lies to her three times. Three times, men come in and apply these measures to Samson. Three times he gets away.
Delilah pouts. “You lied to me. Tell me your secret.” Hello. She tried to destroy him by giving away his secret. Is he laughing like this is some kind of game?
The fourth time she comes nagging, he tells her the truth. He is compromised. The Philistines overcome him, gouge his eyes out and put him in prison. Without his strength, he could not do the job God gave him to do.
God hasn’t given me a job that requires the strength of Samson. He has asked me to be wife, mother, teacher, writer and a myriad of other things throughout my life. For the most part I’ve had the strength for my tasks without much thought to how I eat, exercise and otherwise watch over my health.
But each year I turn another year older how I eat, how much rest I get and whether I exercise or not all effect whether I have the strength and energy I need to accomplish what God gives me in any certain day. To ignore these signs is like Samson ignoring the men attempting to weaken him.
I often think “I don’t have time to exercise” or “I have too much to do to get in bed early.” Yet how much time do I lose when I compromise my strength with unhealthy eating, late nights and lack of exercise?
Samson’s hair eventually grew back and when the Philistines brought him out to entertain them, he brought the house down on the entire lot of them. In his death he did more damage to the enemies of God than in his life.
I want strength to be about the tasks God has given me during my life. I don’t want to wait until it’s time to die and hope I can have one last hurrah and get it all done.
I believe that loving God with all of my strength means caring for this body God has given me in such a way that I am always prepared (as far as it depends on me) to put my energies into the opportunities God gives me.
I am far from perfect. I tend to reveal my secrets and compromise my strength on a regular basis. Then I whine. Hello. What did I think was going to happen?
Today, I start fresh. One day at a time, one moment at a time, I will choose better food, rest more and move by body out of the box of old thinking.
What things nag you away from the strength needed for your tasks?
Some really good thoughts Angela. It is so easy to compromise my strength for just a few more minutes reading emails or facebook and not getting to bed on time or too tired to fall asleep. Something else that saps my strength is if my motives are to please people instead of God. I love your description of Samson as a bee stuck in someone's clothes!