I was discussing with a friend this word from Jesus:

Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. (Matthew 21.21, 22, NKJV)

“Whatever things you ask in prayer…” It’s a tough one. It’s been over 2,000 years, and I haven’t heard of a single mountain being cast into the sea. People – faithful, devout, believing people – have asked for all kinds of things and not always received them. Healing comes to mind. Even J.P. Moreland who wrote A Simple Guide to Experience Miracles: Instruction and Inspiration for Living Supernaturally in Christ and prays for healing all the time said that only about 20% of the folks he prays for are healed.

So what did Jesus mean? Some people have built an entire ministry and philosophy of life around “whatever things you ask for…” It’s called “Positive Confessionalism” or “Name it and Claim it” or “The Prosperity Gospel,” which many of us think is heresy.

So I still don’t know exactly what Jesus meant. I think there is power that most of us don’t avail ourselves of, but I don’t think that power is unlimited as the name it and claim it folks might teach.

Here’s one way to think about it. Suppose it’s literally true, 100% of the time. That I could ask for whatever I want and receive it. Would I want to live in such a world? Not in my current state! It would feel like I was in charge, and I’d really rather have God be in charge, wouldn’t you?

Garrison Keillor, the great storyteller, was spinning a tale about some people in “Lake Woebegone Minnesota, my hometown,” when he uttered this gem. I first heard it over 40 years ago and haven’t forgotten it:

Lucky? Some people are lucky not to get what they want, but to get what they have, which, after they’ve had it, they may be lucky enough to know it’s what they would have wanted had they known about it. – Garrison Keillor, Prairie Home Companion, sometime in the 1980s.

Read it again. God may not give us what we ask for because he’s giving us something better!

I need one more day on this…stay tuned for thoughts on these prayer principles:

Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (John 16.24, NIV)

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. (1 John 5.14, 15, NIV)

We continue our Lenten meditations with stanzas 19 – 28 of George Herbert’s poem “The Sacrifice.” 

(The bullets allow me to single-space the lines.)

• They bind, and lead me unto Herod: he
• Sends me to Pilate.  This makes them agree;
• But yet their friendship is my enmity:
  • Was ever grief like mine?

• Herod and all his bands do set me light,
• Who teach all hands to war, fingers to fight,
• And only am the Lord of Hosts and might:
  • Was ever grief like mine?

• Herod in judgment sits, while I do stand;
• Examines me with a censorious hand:
• I him obey, who all things else command:
  • Was ever grief like mine?

• The Jews accuse me with despitefulness;
• And vying malice with my gentleness,
• Pick quarrels with their only happiness:
  • Was ever grief like mine?

• I answer nothing, but with patience prove
• If stony hearts will melt with gentle love.
• But who does hawk at eagles with a dove?
  • Was ever grief like mine?

• My silence rather doth augment their cry;
• My dove doth back into my bosom fly,
• Because the raging waters still are high:  [reference to Noah, the flood, and the dove]
  • Was ever grief like mine?

• Hark how they cry aloud still, Crucify:
• It is not fit he live a day, they cry,
• Who cannot live less then eternally:
  • Was ever grief like mine?

• Pilate, a stranger, holdeth off; but they,
• Mine own dear people, cry, Away, away,
• With noises confused frighting the day:
  • Was ever grief like mine?

• Yet still they shout, and cry, and stop their ears,
• Putting my life among their sins and fears,
• And therefore, wish my blood on them and theirs:
  • Was ever grief like mine?             

• See how spite cankers things. These words aright
• Used, and wished, are the whole world’s light:
• But honey is their gall, brightness their night:
  • Was ever grief like mine? -“The Sacrifice” by George Herbert, stanzas 19 – 28.

Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight. (Psalm 144.1, KJV)

And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other. (Luke 23.7 – 12, ESV)

Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” And he said, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!” So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but rather that a riot was beginning, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood; see to it yourselves.” And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27.22 – 25, ESV)

Since I like to finish things, we need to bring our meditations on Judges to a close. We left off with Samson last week. He’s the last judge, but there are five chapters left, and they are not pleasant reading.

First, I have confirmed something I was told a few years ago: the two events in this section (Judges 17 – 18 and Judges 19 – 21) actually occurred BEFORE any of the other events of Judges. How do we know? Because the grandsons of Moses and Aaron are involved:

Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses…(Judges 18.30, MSG)

Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, as the ministering priest…. (Judges 20.28, MSG)

Why are these stories included? Apparently to illustrate the truth of the well-known verse in Judges, which comes from these sections:

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. (Judges 17.6, Judges 21.25, ESV)

And what did they do? In chapters 17 and 18, we have a man, Micah, and later an entire tribe, Dan, making an idol and establishing an ongoing religion with a succession of priests.

First, a man steals silver from his mother:

There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim named Micah. He said to his mother, “Remember that 1,100 pieces of silver that were taken from you? I overheard you when you pronounced your curse. Well, I have the money; I stole it. But now I’ve brought it back to you.” His mother said, “GOD bless you, my son!” (Judges 17.1, 2, MSG)

Then they both make it into an idol:

As he returned the 1,100 silver pieces to his mother, she said, “I had totally consecrated this money to GOD for my son to make a statue, a cast god.” Then she took 200 pieces of the silver and gave it to a sculptor and he cast them into the form of a god. This man, Micah, had a private chapel. He had made an ephod and some teraphim-idols and had ordained one of his sons to be his priest. (Judges 17.3 – 5)

Then Micah got a Levite to be his priest (nothing like making things feel more spiritual than with “ordained clergy”).

Micah said, “Now I know that GOD will make things go well for me—why, I’ve got a Levite for a priest!” (judges 17.13, MSG)

Then men from the tribe of Dan take the idol and the priest for themselves.

The five men who earlier had explored the country of Laish told their companions, “Did you know there’s an ephod, teraphim-idols, and a cast god-sculpture in these buildings? What do you think? Do you want to do something about it?”… They said to [the Levite], “Hush! Don’t make a sound. Come with us. Be our father and priest. Which is more important, that you be a priest to one man or that you become priest to a whole tribe and clan in Israel?” The priest jumped at the chance. He took the ephod, the teraphim-idols, and the idol and fell in with the troops. (Judges 18.14, 19 – 20, MSG)

And just as sometimes happens today, the priest is delighted to be “called to a larger congregation”!

And here’s something I saw for the first time. This is not a one-off incident in the time of the Judges:

The Danites set up the god-figure for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his descendants were priests to the tribe of Dan down to the time of the land’s captivity. All during the time that there was a sanctuary of God in Shiloh, they kept for their private use the god-figure that Micah had made. (Judges 18.30, MSG, emphasis mine)

This went on “down to the time of the land’s captivity…” as long as there “was a sanctuary of God in Shiloh…” I don’t know if this practice kept up until the temple was built in the days of Solomon or until the Assyrian conquering of the northern tribes (which would include Dan) but either way, a long time. Actions have consequences – this chain started by one guy and his mother.

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. (2 Kings 17.6 – 9, ESV)

I had planned to write the follow-on blog on the events of Judges 19 – 21, but this is a G-rated blog, and the text is nearly R-rated. Suffice it to say that it’s ugly, a picture of what happens when…

Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

And there’s no question that we’re living in such an age now. An X-rated age if you look hard enough. The Internet, built for scientific collaboration, has become, by any measure, a vast storehouse of readily available pornography, and that’s not counting how accessible it’s made gambling.

God includes five ugly chapters in the sacred text to remind us of the folly of doing what is right in our own eyes. We need to reject today’s common “follow your heart” mantra – the same thing.

Still reflecting on Bill Mowry’s upcoming ministry to seniors in which he wants to help them be “flourishing, fruitful, and faithful,” I’m fascinated by this recent article in our local paper: Softness through strength: Retired-surgeon-turned-sculptor captures raw beauty of Christian suffering, by Debbie Kelley, February 18. 2024. Here’s how it starts:

For 36 years, the strong yet tender hands of ear, nose and throat surgeon Dr. Joel Ernster aided patients to hear better, breathe easier and rid their bodies of cancer. A year and a half ago, he retired and traded his scalpels and scopes for clay scrapers and smoother.

The transition from performing surgery on human bodies to sculpting three-dimensional busts felt natural, he said. “There are common traits,” he said. “Art is a very tactile thing that uses fingers and sensation and understanding the anatomic relationship.”

Known in his field as southern Colorado’s preeminent otolaryngology cancer surgeon, Ernster’s career also included serving as chief of medical staff for Penrose-St. Francis Health Services and medical director at Penrose Cancer Center. “This is a lot of work,” he thought in his 37th year and decided to step aside.

It’s not that Dr. Ernster slaved away for 37 years as a doctor when he really wanted to serve God with his art. He knew he was working with God all along:

The same feelings of being God’s assistant in the operating room envelop his body when making what’s become his forte: religious-themed art.

“Joel has shared with me that he has felt God’s presence working through his hands, especially when he was involved in a critical surgery. I believe that he has found a new outlet for those same gifted hands,” said Colorado Springs resident Randy Cloud, who owns one of Ernster’s pieces.

It’s clear that Joel considered his work as a surgeon as a ministry of helping people physically. Now he considers his art as helping people spiritually:

The thing that I want to portray is to show a dramatic pose and engage the onlooker and try to have them have an emotional response to the event that’s happening with the human body…I think Christian suffering creates a story that’s compelling and dramatic. – Dr. Joel Ernster, surgeon turned sculptor as reported by Debbie Kelley, Colorado Springs Gazette, February 18, 2024

Bravo to Dr. Joel! An example for us all.

Good people will prosper like palm trees, Grow tall like Lebanon cedars; transplanted to GOD’s courtyard, They’ll grow tall in the presence of God, lithe and green, virile still in old age. (Psalm 92.12 – 14, MSG)

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3.17, NIV)

A day that comes only once every four years ought to be celebrated! At least noticed and remembered. Here’s the best and most succinctly written technical reason for Leap Year that I’ve seen:

The Earth takes exactly 365.24219 days to rotate around the sun. Adding an extra day every four years makes the average length of a year 365.25 days, slightly too much. The Gregorian calendar eliminated leap days in years ending in 00 and that made the average year 365.24 days, a bit too short. The solution: add a leap day in years divisible by 400 which makes the average year 365.2425. – Elliot Eisenberg, February 29, 2024

In our lifetime, we didn’t miss a leap year. 1900, however, was not a leap year as Elliot explains.

Seth Godin is one of my inspirations for the daily blog, and he wrote a nice piece for today pointing out the value of “leap:”

In action movies, there’s a lot of leaping. Brave shifts in which the hero gets from here to there, all at once.

It’s easy to imagine that sudden leaps are how we make our impact.

This is blog post #9000 (give or take).

When did the leap happen?

It wasn’t an external leap. The first hundred blog posts were read by fewer than a dozen people. It was an internal one. The decision to be a blogger. And then redeciding, each day, not to stop. [I can relate to that!]

Every four years, we have a worldwide holiday to celebrate this sort of leap. The leap of choice. Not to suddenly get from here to there, but to choose to go on the journey.

It’s only once every 1,460 days, you can do it.

Leap today.

Perhaps we begin by visualizing it. In the most concrete terms you can find, write it down. If you took a leap today, what would it look like? Who would benefit? And then, share it with just one other person.

Often, the act of physically writing it down is the most difficult part. – Seth Godin, February 29, 2024

A good challenge. I decided to write a daily blog beginning January 6, 2019. By Seth’s definition, a “leap.” Now perhaps it’s time for another one. The leap is “Not to suddenly get from here to there, but to choose to go on the journey.”

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. (Genesis 12.1 – 4, ESV, emphasis mine)

My friend Bill Mowry gave me another idea in our conversation last week. He has just assumed responsibility for launching a ministry for the senior members of his church. Often, when we think of ministry to seniors, we think of care, but that’s already covered at Bill’s church. We also think of entertainment: a monthly luncheon with a speaker or trips to places exotic and local.

Not Bill. He wants to help these older members be flourishing, fruitful, and faithful. I like that.

Flourishing: physically, mentally, emotionally, financially flourishing.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. (3 John 1.2, ESV)

Fruitful: if I were doing that ministry, I’d be teaching them the six ways God uses us as defined by Mark Green in Fruitfulness on the Frontline.

• Model godly character
• Make good work
• Minister grace and love
• Mold culture
• be a Mouthpiece for truth and justice
• be a Messenger of the gospel

In my book Everyone on the Wall, I added a 7th M: Making Disciples!

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (John 15.16, ESV)

Faithful: I wonder if this is the hardest one in an age when there are so many ways to get off track.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15.58, NIV)

I wish Bill well in this new endeavor. “The harvest is plentiful and the laborers are few,” and some of those laborers may be older with their potential contributions locked up inside. (More about that tomorrow.) Overall, Bill’s goal is to raise up people like this:

¹²  The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon;
¹³  planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴  They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
¹⁵  proclaiming, “The LORD is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him.” (Psalm 92.12 – 15, NIV)

My friend and fellow Navigator staff Bill Mowry, author of Ways of the Alongsider, sent me his “Life Rules” before a one-to-one Zoom meeting a few days ago.

When I saw the file title, I thought it was a list that included these words of wisdom that I’ve heard Bill articulate often:

• Life is too short to work with people you don’t have good chemistry with.
• Life is too short for one more meeting.

Those are good rules! But not the ones he calls “Life Rules.” He has nine, and they are good ones, reproduced here with his permission:

• I’m enjoying God’s presence and I’m faithful to His purposes in the rhythms and routines of life.
• I will grow a marriage with Peggy marked by fun, intimacy, and an ever-growing faith.
• I will live generously — giving away my gifts, wisdom and time to write, teach, and coach.
• I will cultivate a wise and thoughtful life through the wisdom of God’s word, mentors, books, and lifelong learning.
• I will invest in and enjoy a small circle of friends while growing my local circle of acquaintances and new friends.
• I will practice living within limits, caring for my body so that I’m physically, mentally, and emotionally able to serve God and others.
• I will slow down to savor God’s goodness in creation, culture, and life’s routines avoiding analysis, criticism, and complaining.
• I will practice creativity by thinking, writing, gardening, and pioneering.
• I will invest in the local, loving my neighbors and my neighborhood — pushing back the darkness and bringing in the light.

Both in our 70s, we discussed the importance of “living within limits” and “slowing down to savor God’s goodness…” Bill would be honored if any of us integrated one or more of these “rules” into our lives.

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90.12, ESV)

Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: (1 Peter 4.10, MSG)

We saw in Judges 14 and 15 that the Philistines threatened to and later burned Samson’s wife and her father to death. These were not nice people! I thought the same when I heard about the death in prison of the Russian opposition leader. Here is another set of not-nice people: the gambling industry.

I am stunned by a February 18, 2024, article in the Wall Street Journal: A Psychiatrist Tried to Quit Gambling. Betting Apps Kept Her Hooked. It’s worth the read in its entirety. Here’s how it starts:

Kavita Fischer couldn’t believe her luck.

She started with $750 and hit a hot streak last summer that stretched over six days. She played round after round of online casino games until her winnings hit $500,000. The windfall would make up for every bad bet and pay off all she owed.

Fischer, a 41-year-old mental-health professional and suburban homeowner with two boys, was by then in debt by six figures from online gambling losses. For nearly a year, she lost again and again, complaining to at least one gambling company that she had a problem but couldn’t stop. As a psychiatrist familiar with human impulses and addiction, Fischer knew better than most what she needed to do.

Yet she was up against an industry skilled in the art of leveraging data analytics and human behavior to keep customers betting. Gambling companies tracked the ups and downs of Fischer’s betting behavior and gave bonus credits to keep her playing. VIP customer representatives offered encouragement and gifts.

After her six-day hot streak, Fischer made several requests to start withdrawing the half-million dollars from the PointsBet gambling app. But she kept changing her mind and plowed the money back into play. Within a day, she lost nearly all of it.

As I said, these are not nice people. Here are some snippets from the rest of the story:

Online casino gambling, which became Fischer’s habit, is legal in six states and has been an industry gold mine…Soon after Fischer started playing, a customer representative sent an email introducing himself. At DraftKings and other online betting companies, they are identified as VIP hosts. “I look forward to working with you and building a great relationship!” Jamyl Cogdell wrote on Dec. 9, 2022. Over four months, Fischer said they exchanged dozens of emails and text messages…

DraftKings and other gambling companies doled out tens of thousands of dollars in credits that kept Fischer playing long after she wanted to quit. With a real-time view of a customer’s gambling activity, VIP hosts keep in close touch. They can track when customers last used the app and offer credits and other incentives to persuade their most-valued gamblers—by definition, the biggest losers—to return.

In the first four months of 2023, she lost about $141,000 to the company. During that time, DraftKings gave her more than $36,000 in gambling credits. Overall, she lost more than $190,000 to DraftKings in 2022 and 2023…

A member of DraftKings’ Player Protection Team said in an email that she couldn’t get a refund for her losses. “We are sorry to hear about your experience with our platform and the financial issues you now are facing,” a representative of DraftKings’ Player Protection wrote. The email included phone numbers for gambling hotlines and links to gambling addiction websites.

As I have written before, the real message here is that just because society’s standards are changing doesn’t mean that something that used to be considered wrong or unwise is now OK. We need to be careful not to get sucked in, especially when we are fighting not only our own weaknesses but also a Satanically-inspired industry that preys on those weaknesses. These are NOT nice people!

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6.12, ESV)

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5.15 – 17, ESV)

But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. (1 Timothy 6.9 – 11, ESV)

We continue our Lenten meditations with stanzas 9 – 18 of George Herbert’s poem “The Sacrifice.” Note that many of the stanzas contain what some analysts have called a paradox. Opposites. For example, in the fourth stanza below: “I suffer binding, who have loosed their bands.”

(Bullets allow me to single-space the lines.)

• Arise, arise, they come.  Look how they run!
• Alas!  what haste they make to be undone!
• How with their lanterns do they seek the sun!
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• With clubs and staves they seek me, as a thief,
• Who am the Way and Truth, the true relief;
• Most true to those, who are my greatest grief:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Judas, dost thou betray me with a kiss?
• Canst thou find hell about my lips? and miss
• Of life, just at the gates of life and bliss?
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• See, they lay hold on me, not with the hands
• Of faith, but fury: yet at their commands
• I suffer binding, who have loosed their bands
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• All my Disciples flee; fear puts a bar
• Betwixt my friends and me.  They leave the star,
• That brought the wise men of the East from far.
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Then from one ruler to another bound
• They lead me; urging, that it was not sound
• What I taught: Comments would the test confound.
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• The Priest and rulers all false witness seek
• ’Gainst him, who seeks not life, but is the meek
• And ready Paschal Lamb of this great week:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Then they accuse me of great blasphemy,
• That I did thrust into the Deity,
• Who never thought that any robbery:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Some said, that I the Temple to the floor
• In three days razed, and raised as before.
• Why, he that built the world can do much more:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine?

• Then they condemn me all with that same breath,
• Which I do give them daily, unto death.
• Thus Adam my first breathing rendereth:
•                                               Was ever grief like mine? -“The Sacrifice” by George Herbert, stanzas 9 – 18.

“Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. (Matthew 26.46 – 50, ESV)

Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, “This man said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.’” (Matthew 26.59 – 61, ESV)

OK, let’s wrap this sordid Samson story up. Chapter 16 opens with just a little vignette involving Samson, a prostitute, Philistines, and the city gate:

Samson went to Gaza and saw a prostitute. He went to her. The news got around: “Samson’s here.” They gathered around in hiding, waiting all night for him at the city gate, quiet as mice, thinking, “At sunrise we’ll kill him.” Samson was in bed with the woman until midnight. Then he got up, seized the doors of the city gate and the two gateposts, bolts and all, hefted them on his shoulder, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. Judges 16.1 – 3, MSG)

Just a day in the life… Then Delilah comes on the scene:

Some time later he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek (Grapes). Her name was Delilah. The Philistine tyrants approached her and said, “Seduce him. Discover what’s behind his great strength and how we can tie him up and humble him. Each man’s company will give you a hundred shekels of silver.” (Judges 16.4, 5, MSG)

It must be that Samson wasn’t that big of a guy, not muscle-bound like, say, Arnold Schwarzenegger (two mentions in two days!?), or they wouldn’t be looking for the secret. At any rate, Delilah is on board with it, betraying Samson for money. His first woman was motivated by fear. I can’t figure out why Samson stays. He offers her three lies:

• Seven bowstrings
• New ropes
• Seven braids of my hair

And each time, she tries to subdue him and turn him over to the Philistines. Again, why does he stay? Aren’t her intentions obvious? Maybe the answer is in the first sentence of her story:

Some time later he fell in love…

Of course, the inevitable happened:

She kept at it day after day, nagging and tormenting him. Finally, he was fed up—he couldn’t take another minute of it. He spilled it. He told her, “A razor has never touched my head. I’ve been God’s Nazirite from conception. If I were shaved, my strength would leave me; I would be as helpless as any other mortal.” When Delilah realized that he had told her his secret, she sent for the Philistine tyrants, telling them, “Come quickly—this time he’s told me the truth.” They came, bringing the bribe money. When she got him to sleep, his head on her lap, she motioned to a man to cut off the seven braids of his hair. Immediately he began to grow weak. His strength drained from him. Then she said, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He woke up, thinking, “I’ll go out, like always, and shake free.” He didn’t realize that GOD had abandoned him. (Judges 16.16 – 20, MSG)

A sad verse. May it not happen to any of us: “He didn’t realize that GOD had abandoned him.”

But he gets one last chance, praying one last prayer, and goes out with a bang:

Then this: Everyone was feeling high and someone said, “Get Samson! Let him show us his stuff!” They got Samson from the prison and he put on a show for them. They had him standing between the pillars. Samson said to the young man who was acting as his guide, “Put me where I can touch the pillars that hold up the temple so I can rest against them.” The building was packed with men and women, including all the Philistine tyrants. And there were at least 3,000 in the stands watching Samson’s performance. And Samson cried out to GOD: Master, GOD! Oh, please, look on me again, Oh, please, give strength yet once more. God! With one avenging blow let me be avenged On the Philistines for my two eyes! Then Samson reached out to the two central pillars that held up the building and pushed against them, one with his right arm, the other with his left. Saying, “Let me die with the Philistines,” Samson pushed hard with all his might. The building crashed on the tyrants and all the people in it. He killed more people in his death than he had killed in his life. (Judges 16.25 – 30, MSG)

Samson’s life was characterized by a complete lack of self-control yet he killed A LOT of Philistines and is mentioned, as we’ve said before, in the Faith Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11.32 – 33).

You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally. I don’t know about you, but I’m running hard for the finish line. I’m giving it everything I’ve got. No sloppy living for me! I’m staying alert and in top condition. I’m not going to get caught napping, telling everyone else all about it and then missing out myself. (1 Corinthians 9.24 – 27, MSG)