Judges 16:18-21 – There's a price tag for toying with temptation

Samson’s callous lifestyle shows a lack of seriousness to the calling God had placed on his life. He treated his life and ministry like a fun game. To be sure, God is not a kill-joy. He wants us to enjoy serving Him. But that does not mean that one is at liberty to take it to the degree and goes about it casually. God deserves our very best and we must make every effort to present to Him a service of the highest order. From the very start, we saw how Samson made light of everything. So, now he ended up with his head on the lap of Delilah. It’s a wonder that he could be so stupid and not read Delilah’s intention despite the three attempts to have him captured. That’s the power of nagging. Delilah kept nagging till his defence was worn. When he finally told her the truth to the secret of his strength, she knew at once that he was no longer lying to her.

Sound asleep on Delilah’s lap, Samson was oblivious that she had summoned for a man to shave off the seven locks of his neatly braided hair. Then she called out like the other times saying, ‘The Philistines are upon you!’ The tragic phrase of this account is found in the latter part of verse 20 that reads, “But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” Samson was oblivious of the danger that was lurking. In his fun and game, he was also oblivious that the Lord was no longer with him. There is nothing magical about the hair. It was the Spirit of God that Samson had grieved. The hair was only a symbol of the Lord’s presence with him. With his hair shaved, he still assumed that he could get up and like previous times just shake himself free. How wrong he was! He had courted danger one time too many. And this was one time he could not get out. The Philistines, with the reward for Delilah, seized him. Sadly, they gouged out his eyes and rendered him blind permanently. Then they shackled the blind Samson with bronze fetters and led him to prison in Gaza.   

This dreadful moment of Samson ‘s life tells us that we can never push the boundary of temptation too far. It is true that fire can never be wrapped with paper. No one has ever played with fire and not get burned. The result of toying with temptation always leads to a disastrous end. The best action to avoid temptation is to flee it. Don’t even go near it. No temptation, no matter how pleasurable, is ever worth the consequence one has to face. No one ever has a fail-proof plan to the consequences of immorality. It is not only inevitable but also unavoidable. One will always have to pay for it someday. Therefore, it pays to consider the end from the beginning. Think about everything before embarking upon it and then think of it again. Nothing is worth giving our life to, apart from living a life pleasing to God. Better live right and end right. Our love for God demands it.