The Weak Strong Man

Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,

            When I was in fourth grade I was hospitalized with pneumonia.   In those days I was required to stay in bed for over a week. Finally a nurse walked into the room and said, “Today I could get out of bed.”   I was so excited, that I jumped out right away.   To my surprise I fell flat on the floor.   In those few days my strength had left my legs and I could not stand.   Today people are amazed that you can have heart surgery and they make you stand by the side of the bed as soon as possible after the surgery. They can’t afford to let a person get that weak. As much as we can identify with physical weakness, we all can suffer from spiritual weakness also.   Our text today is the story of The Weak Strong Man, Samson.   As we keep his life’s story before us, may we reflect on our own spiritual weaknesses. 

The Physical Strengths

            Our text takes us back to the time of the Judges, a time when there was no king in the land.   The Lord would raise up certain individuals to be judges or deliverers of his people. In the book of Judges you will read the stories of Gideon, Deborah, Barak, Ehud and Samson. Now before Samson was born an angel had told his parents that he was to be set aside for the service of the Lord.   He was to be a Nazirite. You can read the impact of this dedication in the book of Numbers chapter 6.   This meant he was not to drink alcohol, was not to have the hair on his head cut and was not to touch dead bodies; he was to be dedicated to the Lord. 

            The Holy Spirit would come upon Samson and gave him special strength to get the Lord’s work done. You can read the amazing stories of his strength. Let me refresh your mind of just a few of them.   One day a young lion attacked him and he was able to kill it with his bare hands. On the cover of the bulletin there is the picture of the time when he was attacked by philistines, 1000 to one. He defeated them with the jaw bone of a donkey. Another time he carried the door posts and doors of a city and carried them to the top of a hill. Another time they tried to tie him up, and the ropes fell from him as if they were ashes.   All this was done against the Philistines who were causing troubles for God’s people.   For twenty years God used Samson’s strength as a punishment against those who opposed the Lord’s kingdom. 

            Samson was physically strong.   But he also was horribly weak spiritually. When God’s word warns against walking, standing and sitting with the ungodly, the writer could have been thinking of Samson. He was to bring judgment on the Philistines, but their women got his attention. The Bible records his weakness, his desire for women who lived contrary to God’s word and took him down into sin also.   His emphasis was on himself rather than God, on pleasure rather than obedience, on what was forbidden than what God commanded. He made light of Delilah’s pressure to tempt him, he was playing with sin.    He was strong; surely he could handle her little temptations.   But he was the weak strong man. 

            Then came the day his playing with sin, disobedience and defiance caught up with him.   She found out the area of his weakness.   While he was sleeping, the Philistines cut off his hair and were able to bind him.   So the last chapter of his life he was an object of ridicule and mockery, a source of entertainment on how they captured and controlled one of God’s people.   The idols got the glory and the true God was mocked. 

            Do we gain any insight to our own spiritual journey as we reflect on Samson?   Have we ever thought we were so strong, that we could handle everything and anything?   Did we figure we had the physical and mental strength to endure and succeed in the challenges of life?   Did we ever think that we could handle a little temptation? Did we find ourselves all of a sudden in situations of life we thought we couldn’t handle? The Bible has warning for us in 1 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV84) — 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! Anytime we think we are stronger than the temptations of this world and the evil plans of Satan, we have underestimated our enemy.

            I had a man once walk into my office with a broken nose and two black eyes.   He had lost his first bar room fight in his life. He was wondering if religion is what he needed. What does it take to get us to depend on God and not ourselves?   That man did not learn his lesson.   But a number of years later he realized that he was not the one in charge of life.   One deer hunting season he followed an ambulance to Bemidji, MN. His father was dying from a heart attack.   He was gone before they got to the hospital.   Finally he recognized he was weak. 

            Another area that can make us extremely weak, are the troubles of this world which build up in our lives.   Some of you know exactly what I mean, when you wonder how can I take one more thing. I am reminded of Pastor Carl Henkel when he was told his wife had four days to live. Those four days turned into forty days.   Each morning there was the question, how do we go on? The heart and the soul were just extremely worn out. 

            No doubt Samson had many hours in the prison of the Philistines. Here he had time to reflect on all his failures. We could put it this way, though he was blind, yet he lifted his eyes unto the hill from where his help would come. As Samson stood before the crowd, he realized that his strength came from the Lord. We find him say that prayer of our text: “O Sovereign Lord, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” He prayed, “Remember me.” This was not a prayer to remember everything that he had failed to do.   This was not a prayer to remember all the wrong he had done.   This was not a prayer to the few good things he might have done for the kingdom.   This was a prayer for mercy, that he would have strength to do the work God had set him aside at his birth.   He was to be a judge for God’s people and bring glory to the name of the Lord God of Israel. What is amazing is that God had not abandoned him.

            In the New Testament there was another man who was utterly helpless. He also prayed, remember me.   That was the thief on the cross.   Here he was dying for his sins. He had no one to plead his case.   He had a past life of crime. He could not appeal to the great loving things he had done in life.   He could only pray for mercy.   “Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” In the darkness of Good Friday the voice of the Savior would promise, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”   The writer of the book of Hebrews reminds us: Hebrews 4:15 (NIV84) — 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.   Our Savior understands why he came into the world. He understands how weak we are. He knows how we make promises and still fall into sin.   What is amazing is his unconditional love. That is what Samson experienced.   That is what each one of us experiences in our lives when we turn back to the cross of our Savior.

            Jesus also encourages us not to treat lightly sin, but to find our strength in the Lord. Luke 22:32 (NIV84) — 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”  Peter would later in life write these words to Christian brothers and sister: 1 Peter 5:10 (NIV84) — 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

            The Apostle Paul wrote what he experienced his life between being weak and strong: 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 (NIV84) — 7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.   With Christ working in his life we hear Paul give us insight: Philippians 4:13 (NIV84) — 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

            Pastor Henkel would learn that the Lord was his strength when he was weak, and also strengthened him.   Where did he find his help and strength, where all God’s people do, in the word and sacraments!   God’s word is powerful. God works through his word in our hearts and minds. 

            My prayer for you, is Paul’s special prayer: Ephesians 3:16–17 (NIV84) — 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.   Amen.