“Then ____________ was the best Christian, because he said that God just came and fixed it.”
This comment by my daughter, as we drove home from an “us girls” only shopping trip to the Paper factory, BOTHERED ME!!! She was telling me about a story that she and her classmates in a Drama class had made up, that day. She felt less spiritual than another child, because HE believed that God could just come and “Fix it.”
He’s the best Christian because he said that God just came and FIXED IT???? Excuse me?!?
So, I took a deep breath, counted to 10, and initiated a little talk.
“Shalom, saying that didn’t make him the best Christian.”
“It didn’t?”
“No, honey. You see, God CAN just come and fix things, but usually, he asks us to do it.”
“He does?”
“Yes, honey. God can be the hero, anytime He wants. But God likes to let us be the heroes.”
“Is that why, in movies, they always show PEOPLE being the heroes?”
“That’s right! God being the hero, and a person being the hero is the same thing. God likes to make us the heroes.”
“That’s like Joshua and the Battle of Jericho, and those nice people, who hid those men.”
“You mean Rahab, honey. Rahab hid the Israelite spies, and it saved her life.”
“Yeah, HER!”
“Shalom, do you believe that God could have hidden those spies by Himself?”
“Yes.”
“Yes, he could. But what would have happened to Rahab, if God hid the spies?”
“She would have died, like everyone else…. And Joshua won the battle, and so did God.”
“Right. God is the hero, and so are we, when we obey Him. Why do you think God lets us be the heroes?”
“He loves us.”
He loves us, indeed.
I LIVE for conversations like this one.
My daughter has just been empowered. She sees herself as an instrument of God’s will. She believes that she is a blessing, and can be the hero. She will not sit back, allow Evil to triumph in her life, and wait for God to come and save her. I am teaching this precious woman of God how to bring the Glory of God’s Love and Will to bear in her own life, and by extension, in the world.
I will, I must empower women. I will release the feminine side of the Divine Image upon a desperate world that needs us. I will start with my daughters.
Delilah was a heroine. Kind of. At the very least, she’s a fantastic example of the power women hold over the men who love us. That’s a whole lot of responsibility.
Seriously. Go back, and read the story, again. It’s in Judges 13-16. Samson was a wicked, selfish, womanizing shame to his parents. He used his God-given strength for his OWN glory, and to seek vengeance upon HIS OWN adversaries. Rather than being the strong leader and hero he was created to be, Samson was all about self-gratification.
Then he met Delilah. And everything changed. Suddenly, someone mattered more than he did.
According to the record, Delilah never LIED to Samson. She wheedled, and nagged the man that had been slaughtering her neighbors, in order to learn the secret of his strength, bring him under submission, and collect a hefty reward. Each time he told her a false secret, she tried it. Each time she tried another method, she risked her own life with her betrayal. Personally, I have a hard time picturing myself being this brazen. I mean, can you imagine repeatedly demanding the secret of a man’s strength, when you’ve tried to emasculate him, time and time again? Shameless.
Delilah must have been quite the woman, because he gave it to her, knowing that she would use it against him. Why? Do you ever wonder? I do. Maybe Samson was tired of the nagging, and preferred prison to her arms. Maybe Samson was sick with guilt over his own pathetic character. Maybe the poor guy just couldn’t deny her anything. The story doesn’t tell us. Delilah’s motivation, as a Philistine woman, makes perfect sense to me, here. (Stop the crop-burning, Philistine-slaughtering foreigner, and collect a bunch of money? OKAY!) Do I understand Samson’s actions? Not so much. I guess it’s because I’m a woman. Notice that the story never once says that Delilah fell in love with Samson. Samson loved Delilah. Period.
And this love changed him, and changed the world around them. Presumably, it killed them both, because we never hear from Delilah, again. (“Good riddance,” my male readers are saying. I hear you.) You will notice, however, if you go and read Judges 16, that after Delilah humbles Samson, he becomes a man who prays to God to give him strength, rather than a man who assumes that the strength is his own to do with as he wills.
The story concludes by pointing out that Samson killed more of Israel’s enemies in his death than his life, and that he killed over 3000 people, including the Philistines’ Lords, or leaders in his final, suicidal attack.
So, tonight, I’d like to point out that Delilah was a patriotic, brave woman, who brought an out-of-control, murderous loose cannon down to his knees before his God. And like it or not, she was an instrument of God’s will in Samson’s life. Sometimes, a man just has to learn the hard way.
