What can we learn from Samson's weakness?

• Judges 16:5-21 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.” 7 And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 8 So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. 10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.” 11 So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 12 Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread. 13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom”— 14 So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom. 15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. 21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.

So there is the story in case you haven't read it before. What can we learn from his weakness? Well first we must define what is his weakness. Just from reading the text provided the obvious answer would be shaving his head made him weak. But this is not his greatest weakness. Most of us would become suspicious if our wife asked what we could be afflicted with, but not Samson. Then most would have for sure said no more after the first time she said “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” , but not Samson. Three times she asked and three times he gave her a false answer, but yet he continued to stay with her. Until he finally gave up and confessed the truth about his hair. Sure his hair was what ended up robbing him of his great strength, but if you look closely at his life you will see a pattern. His true weakness was Lust. He had such lust that he was blinded to the tricks women were playing on him.

Lust is like a shiny trinket sin, and it is very sneaky.Are you now saying lust is not a sin?

• Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Lust can sneak in on you very easily. I think it is one of the enemy's greatest tools. So why do I bring this up now? Yet another subject I heard on the radio. Abercrombie & Fitch is involved in another controversy. They have been ridiculed in the past for their borderline pornographic ads, and it seems they are back at it. The particular situation I heard today involved a store front ad that anyone walking by their stores can not avoid seeing. Why is it that they would revert to a tactic that caused them a hassle in the past? Well culture would use the old saying "sex sells". In reality it should be Lust sells! Lust is very easy for us to reason out, sort of justify in our own minds. It is always dangling right there in front of us, and some might say "well it's just human nature". In fact they would be right, but not in they way they would think.

• Jeremiah 17:9-10 “ The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

So it is human nature, all evil is. But we must turn from evil and sins, all sins, and instead turn to Jesus Christ. How can you defend yourself against lust and other sins? Keep your focus on Christ. Like Peter, when he was focused on Jesus he was able to walk on the water as well, but when he became distracted he began to sink.

• Matthew 14:29-30 29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”