I've Failed Too Many Times; God Has Given Up On Me

August 18, 2019 Speaker: Tara Detiveaux Series: The Lies We Believe

Topic: Failure Scripture: Judges 16:4– :31

Lies that we Believe Series

I’ve failed Too Many Times; God has given up on Me

1832 Lost job, defeated for state legislature

1833 Failed in business

1835 Sweetheart died

1836 Had nervous breakdown

1838 Defeated for Speaker

1843 Defeated for nomination of Congress

1848 Lost nomination

1849 Rejected for Land Officer

1854 Defeated for Us Senate

1856 Defeated for Nomination of Vice President

1858 Again defeated for Us Senate

1860 Elected United State President (with picture of Abraham Lincoln)

Failure can at times lead to success. So is the story with Samson.

As to why we ever tell Samson as a bible story to young kids is beyond me. Like who do you want to be when you grow up, Samson? Really. His story is rough around the edges to say the least.

His screwups are way more than his successes.

But to fully understand his story you have to understand the Nazerite Vow that Samson had

The Nazirite vow, described in Numbers 6, set people apart from the rest of society in three ways:

· They were not allowed to eat or drink anything made from grapes (especially wine, but also vinegar and raisins)

· They were not allowed to cut their hair.

· They were not allowed any contact with a dead body–even a parent or sibling who died.

Most often, a man or woman would take the Nazirite vow for short periods of time, special times of fellowship with God and separation from everyday routine. Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were called to a life-long Nazarite vow.

From that time on,

-we see Samson motivated by his own desires for women (marries, gives the woman away)

-for practical jokes, eats honey out of dead animals, ties 300 fox tails together with torches

-and for revenge (fits of anger, does crazy things during them)

He could not give up Delilah even though his own self-interest clearly demanded it.

Judges 16:4-31

4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.”

7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” 11 And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread.

13 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 14 So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web.[a] And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

15 And 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 you have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. 17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, 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 the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 19 She made him sleep on her knees. And she called 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!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him. 21 And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.

And it is over right, finally they got him, he really got himself.

The Philistines, though, had reckoned without one important clause in the nazirite vow: if a person broke the vow, he was supposed to shave head and let the hair start to grow back. One week later, he would start a new vow.

Start a new vow…

Start a new commitment…

Get up again…

22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Trying is Changing (telling story of Darell and his music, Johnathan and his poverty confession)

Finding the reason why you are like you are is changing

Showing Up is Changing

Confessing is Changing

The process is change (just ask the 76’rs and the Browns)

A step forward is a step forward no matter how small that step may be

A bit of change is still a bit

A little less anger problem is still a little less anger problem

Verbally forgiving is forgiving, it’s leaking into your heart

A step of saying less harsh words is a step

Crying out in repentance is crying out in repentance

Taking care of your kids and being a great mother is legacy building

Showing up to your job and being faithful to you wife means something

Fixing your marriage one day at a time is just that fixing it

Giving a little bit of the tithe is giving a little bit

Taking one step out of sin is one step out

Your problem didn’t take a day to get into, it’s going to take more than a day to get out of.

Hair doesn’t grow in a week (unless you are my oldest son)

The problem becomes when you stop, when you give in, when you lose focus and say that is the end. You give into the temptation and live in it. The enemy wants us to live in it, for it to become habitual.

Then he has you and the lie has worked!!!

The Philistines put him on public display for a feast so they could taunt him. He asked for his supernatural strength again in order to get revenge–his only recorded prayer.

The Death of Samson

23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”[b] 25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

28 Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. 31 Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.

God complied, and Samson broke two structural pillars. The entire temple collapsed, killing him and all the Philistines in it. At the end of his career, his success was measured in the number of Philistines he had killed. That’s all. He had not begun any kind of deliverance.

And again, you would think that is it…until the book of Hebrews 11

The only time Samson’s name appears outside the book of Judges is in Hebrews 11:32

Hebrews 11:32-38

32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two,[a] they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

the list of Old Testament heroes of the faith. Verse 38 says that the world was not worthy of him. How can a man who failed so completely to live up to his promise and calling make it into that list?

Samson’s life shows yet again that a man can make spectacular blunders and still walk in God’s blessing. God takes faith and commitment very seriously, and what faith and commitment Samson had was genuine.

His failures kept him from fulfilling his calling, but God never abandoned him.

That should give everyone great comfort. Every believer has a calling, whether we recognize it or not. If we recognize it in ourselves, we can allow the Holy Spirit to rise up in us not for our own selfish ends, but to redirect our lives to more holy living and more complete commitment.

If we recognize God’s calling in others but also see flaws and weaknesses that keep them from achieving it, we can prayerfully and lovingly minister to them and encourage them to redirect their own lives to more perfectly serve God.

If God did not give up on Samson, he won’t give up on me–or you.

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