How could I be so stupid?

What is the stupidest thing you can remember doing? The bible has a poster child for this topic

Judges 13

Samson

When someone took a Nazarite vow they committed to three things. They wouldn’t cut their hair, they wouldn’t drink wine or even grape juice and they wouldn’t touch anything dead, like a dead human or animal carcass. I’m not sure what the ruling is on leather car seats That’s kind of a gray area. Most of the time the Nazirite vow was a temporary vow made by adults who wanted to commit themselves to God. This is the only time in the bible when it was a lifetime commitment. Kind of feels like parents who vow to never let their kids eat at McDonalds.

Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” Judges 13:8

The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, 25 and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him. Judges 13:24,25

This kid could not have had a better start in his life. Great parents. The blessing of God. And still the title of this message is “How can you be so stupid?”

Our topic today is “How can you be so stupid.” We are going to look at the stupid things that Samson did to mess up his relationships.

I was at a men’s retreat once and this question was asked. What was your worst date? I will always remember one guys response. “It was my first date with my second wife. I never should have married her.”

We once had a guy come to Canyon Springs who was part of the power team. On stage he ripped a telephone book in half and he bent a frying pan on stage. How many of you would come to church more often if I could do that? That’s what church needs more of. Feats of strength. Samson did better than rip a telephone book. He tore a lion apart with his bare hands. It’s stories like these that lead us to believe that Samson looked like Duane Johnson.

If Samson looked like the rock, it would not be hard for people to understand how he did his feats of strength. The bible never says that Samson was shredded. What is says is the Spirit of the Lord came on him powerfully. It was God that gave him the power not Bowflex.

4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

Let’s stop right there. If you wanted proof that Samson made stupid sexual decisions, here it is. Delilah comes right out and says to him not only, what is the secret of your strength, but how can you be tied up and subdued. That seems to me like a relational red flag.

7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.”
8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.

I won’t go into all the details, but this happens 4 times. The next time he tells her to tie his hair with new rope. The next time he says to weave my hair in a loom. Finally, Delilah starts putting the real pressure on.

15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” 16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it. 17 So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

Samson finally told the truth. Why would he do that? It leaves us all asking this question. How could you be so stupid? Let me explain how. This is what happens when we what we want, when we want, with who we want. Over time whatever that passion is starts calling the shots. Samson wasn’t thinking. He was just reacting. He wanted more. His sex addiction had gotten the best of him. He finally paid the price.

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. 20 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes.

Which was a lot of the problem in the first place.

We look at Samson and think, “What an idiot” but if we are honest with ourselves, some of the stupidest things we’ve ever done have been for sex.

This is where I can do what I want, when I want, with who I want winds up. You’re brokenhearted. You’re empty. You’re abandoned. You’re hurt. I’m guessing this room is filled with people who have walked this path. You may not be Samson stupid, but when you look back at the bad decisions of your life sex was at the center of them.

What kind of hope can you give someone who’s made a stupid decision like Samson?

Do you need forgiveness?
Do you have a stupid decision that haunts you from your past?
Have you made decisions for passion that have got you into trouble?
Do you need someone else to call the shots for you?

All of that can come with one simple prayer. Jesus forgive me. I put you in charge of my life. Help me do what you want, not what I want.