What's the secret of your strength?

Today: Judges 16-18

"What's the source of your strength?"

It was the main question Delilah posed to Samson in today's passage. Delilah was definitely deceptive and her quest to know the answer led to the his downfall. He hid the truth from Delilah three times. Here was her response:

She said, "How can you say 'I love you'

when you won't even trust me?

Three times now you've toyed with me,

like a cat with a mouse,

refusing to tell me the secret of your great strength."

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."

This section of the story caught my attention today. I may be overanalyzing, but when I read this, I realized that Samson's last answer--that his strength came from his hair--wasn't true, either. Ultimately, Samson's strength came from God. It came because of a commitment he made to God and that God made to him. The long, Fabio-like hair was just a symbol of that promise--the hair didn't make Samson strong.

I wonder if Samson's final answer caused God to have some of the same emotions as Delilah. I wonder if God thought, "How can you say 'I love you' when you won't even trust me?" By giving away part of the secret and wrongly saying that the hair was his source of strength, Samson showed God that He wasn't first in his life. Samson valued his relationship with a manipulative woman more than he valued his promise to God.

The good news for Samson is that he later realized his mistake and asked God for forgiveness. In his final moments, God used him to destroy his enemies and a city filled with evil. To me, this signifies that there's always hope when you know where your strength truly comes from.

Tomorrow: Judges 19-21