I Put You First

Deuteronomy 4:23-24 New Living Translation (NLT)

23 So be careful not to break the covenant the Lord your God has made with you. Do not make idols of any shape or form, for the Lord your God has forbidden this. 24 The Lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God.

At this time, everyone is in a full on uproar about COVID, and I get it. It's a big deal, but you cannot make it your idol. I think it was Sarah Jakes Roberts that said we serve whatever thought that gets our time. So in this instance, if we're constantly thinking about what if we never get out of the quarantine, we have now made that our god. Whether we realize it our not, many of us have began to idolize that thing. To idolize means to worship something as a god. Scripture says that those who worship must worship in spirit and in truth. If we don't believe that we will be in quarantine forever, why would we worship that thought?

In the same token, we have idolized other things in our lives. I mentioned this in the Tuesday Talk last week (if you haven't checked that out, make sure you go to linktr.ee/youngsavedandfree). But as people, sometimes we get so consumed with life that we essentially make life and the things God gave us our god. 

So that brings us to the text

Judges 16:4-9 New Living Translation (NLT)

Samson and Delilah

4 Some time later Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice Samson to tell you what makes him so strong and how he can be overpowered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you 1,100 pieces[a] of silver.”

6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes you so strong and what it would take to tie you up securely.”

7 Samson replied, “If I were tied up with seven new bowstrings that have not yet been dried, I would become as weak as anyone else.”

8 So the Philistine rulers brought Delilah seven new bowstrings, and she tied Samson up with them. 9 She had hidden some men in one of the inner rooms of her house, and she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But Samson snapped the bowstrings as a piece of string snaps when it is burned by a fire. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

Here we are, the story of Samson and Delilah. If you know anything about Samson, he was a Nazarite from birth (Judges 13). Before he was even conceived, his mother was told that he couldn't drink or eat anything unclean. So from a very early age, Samson had a relationship with God. Basically--him and God were in it for the long haul. 

But here comes Delilah. Now here's the thing. We've all been in love before, right? If y'all are anything like me....listen. I love hard. I mean I put myself on the line for the ones I love. So here we are, Samson done found him a bae. 

Judges 16:10-20 New Living Translation (NLT)

10 Afterward Delilah said to him, “You’ve been making fun of me and telling me lies! Now please tell me how you can be tied up securely.”

11 Samson replied, “If I were tied up with brand-new ropes that had never been used, I would become as weak as anyone else.”

12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him up with them. The men were hiding in the inner room as before, and again Delilah cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But again Samson snapped the ropes from his arms as if they were thread.

13 Then Delilah said, “You’ve been making fun of me and telling me lies! Now tell me how you can be tied up securely.”

Samson replied, “If you were to weave the seven braids of my hair into the fabric on your loom and tighten it with the loom shuttle, I would become as weak as anyone else.”

So while he slept, Delilah wove the seven braids of his hair into the fabric. 14 Then she tightened it with the loom shuttle.[a] Again she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!” But Samson woke up, pulled back the loom shuttle, and yanked his hair away from the loom and the fabric.

15 Then Delilah pouted, “How can you tell me, ‘I love you,’ when you don’t share your secrets with me? You’ve made fun of me three times now, and you still haven’t told me what makes you so strong!” 16 She tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it.

17 Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. “My hair has never been cut,” he confessed, “for I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.”

18 Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth, so she sent for the Philistine rulers. “Come back one more time,” she said, “for he has finally told me his secret.” So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in their hands. 19 Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap, and then she called in a man to shave off the seven locks of his hair. In this way she began to bring him down,[b] and his strength left him.

20 Then she cried out, “Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!”

When he woke up, he thought, “I will do as before and shake myself free.” But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him.

Here's the thing...for some singles, love is their god. They want so badly to get married and have children and live happily ever after. Everybody has their own happily ever after and some people will do anything to get to it. For Samson, he was with someone who wanted to capitalize on his weakness. She kept asking him what his weakness was and then would try him.

 When I first read this, the song "I Wanna Know" by Joe came to mind. There's a line that says, "I wanna know what makes you cry so that I can be the one that always makes you smile." Basically, that's what Delilah did. In the words of Ronnie from the Player's Club, she was using what she got to get what she want. If I be honest, I was looking at Samson sideways because she tried 3 different times to break him. He was playing her, and she was playing him. 

Now let's pause here--this type of dysfunction is not healthy. Originally, I thought Samson was stupid because he was letting her manipulate him. But he was manipulating her too. I had to think back in my own life where I was in a situationship with this guy. We were benefiting each other but at the same time taking advantage of each other. I'm just going to be frank. He wanted sex and a relationship. I wanted my bills paid. So I obliged him. I compromised who I was for my own selfish reasons. I bet God was looking at me like


He was like, "I am Jehovah Jireh. I can provide way more than this guy, but you got it. "

God took a back seat in my life at that time. It sounds crazy, but we've all done it. How many of you have allowed what was going on in your life to overshadow God in your life. No matter how many times that thing tries to hurt, you keep going back and keep going back. Now, you've taken all you can take and the straw broke the camel's back and now you're looking for God. 

God has been there the whole time, but you wouldn't acknowledge Him. You wonder why you're fighting so much? It's because you don't really trust Him. Your relationship with Him is not strong enough that your faith can withstand trails and tribulations. Samson was so wrapped up in Delilah that he didn't even realize that God wasn't with him anymore. 

That's the most dangerous place to be. He lost all protection and guaranteed benefits because he abandoned God first. Is that man worth it? Is that woman relationship worth it? Are the drugs worth it? Is the anxiety worth it? Every time you acknowledge the issue before Him, you discredit who He is. Every time you worry about the corona virus, you insinuate that God is not a healer and that He is not able. 

Judges 16:21-30 New Living Translation (NLT)

21 So the Philistines captured him and gouged out his eyes. They took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain in the prison.

22 But before long, his hair began to grow back.

Samson’s Final Victory

23 The Philistine rulers held a great festival, offering sacrifices and praising their god, Dagon. They said, “Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!”

24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has delivered our enemy to us! The one who killed so many of us is now in our power!”

25 Half drunk by now, the people demanded, “Bring out Samson so he can amuse us!” So he was brought from the prison to amuse them, and they had him stand between the pillars supporting the roof.

26 Samson said to the young servant who was leading him by the hand, “Place my hands against the pillars that hold up the temple. I want to rest against them.” 27 Now the temple was completely filled with people. All the Philistine rulers were there, and there were about 3,000 men and women on the roof who were watching as Samson amused them.

28 Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me again. O God, please strengthen me just one more time. With one blow let me pay back the Philistines for the loss of my two eyes.” 29 Then Samson put his hands on the two center pillars that held up the temple. Pushing against them with both hands, 30 he prayed, “Let me die with the Philistines.” And the temple crashed down on the Philistine rulers and all the people. So he killed more people when he died than he had during his entire lifetime.

Even in spite of everything that Samson did, God still allowed him to see glory. He still gave him the desires of his heart. That's how faithful God is. It may sound like a punk move, but I serve a big God. He could've thrown Samson away. He had plenty other people to love on, but He didn't turn His back on Samson. He might've not been there with Him, but His love covered a multitude of sins. Why wouldn't you want to put Him first?