#882

Blind to The Battle

We Aren’t Seeing Clearly

I could give you so many instances of times when we think we know what’s happening is true or that we have all the information about them but we really don’t. I know that I thought one pastor I knew was growing in his faith when in reality he was cheating on his wife with a teen in our church. My view of him obviously changed once I knew that. But history also tells us the same thing. A classic example was that of British politician Nevelle Chamberlain who thought he had averted another war between England and Germany when he got German Fuhrer Adolph Hitler to sign a nonaggression treaty with him. According to an article on it from history.com we see how that agreement aged:

For days, dread had blanketed London like a fog. Only a generation removed from the horrors of World War I, which had claimed nearly one million of its people, Britain was once again on the brink of armed conflict with Germany. Hitler, who had annexed Austria earlier in the year, had vowed to invade Czechoslovakia on October 1, 1938, to occupy the German-speaking Sudetenland region, a move toward the creation of a “greater Germany” that could potentially ignite another conflagration among the great European powers.

Chamberlain got Hitler to meet with him two days before that invasion where a peace agreement was reached:

Just two days before the deadline, Hitler agreed to meet in Munich with Chamberlain, Italian leader Benito Mussolini and French premier Edouard Daladier to discuss a diplomatic resolution to the crisis. The four leaders, without any input from Czechoslovakia in the negotiation, agreed to cede the Sudetenland to Hitler. Chamberlain also separately drafted a non-aggression pact between Britain and Germany that Hitler signed.

The Prime Minister even uttered these now infamous words:

“My good friends, this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honor. I believe it is peace for our time.”

Chamberlain came back apparently triumphant with that pact in his hand as Britain sighed a sigh of relief. Another world war was averted. Or so they thought.

Reading The Room Wrong

It wouldn’t be the first time that a world leader pulled the wool over the world and in the case of Hitler Chamberlain apparently thought he was right. But, as Paul Harvey would say we now the rest of the story:

Then he added, “Now I recommend you to go home and sleep quietly in your beds.” As Britain slept, the German army marched into Czechoslovakia in “peaceful conquest” of the Sudetenland. The bombers did not roar over London that night, but they would come. In March 1939, Hitler annexed the rest of Czechoslovakia, and two days after the Nazis crossed into Poland on September 1, 1939, the prime minister again spoke to the nation, but this time to solemnly call for a British declaration of war against Germany and the launch of World War II.

Chamberlain would shortly resign 8 months later and was then replaced by Winston Churchill. The rest is literally history. If Chamberlain knew then what he knew later he could have gotten more support from the international community and certainly wouldn't have worked with Hitler the way he did. Being deceived by a man who was killing millions of people for the crime of not being German is a stain on Chamberlain’s legacy, a stain that his relatives are still trying to fix. But there is a much bigger and longer battle being waged now and unfortunately many who should know better are not reading the spiritual room correctly. Unlike the pact Chamberlain signed with Hitler, this one has both earthly and spiritual implications. And like Chamberlain, another great leader didn’t see clearly the full nature of the situation he was in until it was too late. His name? Samson.

The Strongest Physically

Then one day the Angel of the Lord appeared to the wife of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, who lived in the city of Zorah. She had no children, but the Angel said to her, “Even though you have been barren so long, you will soon conceive and have a son! 4 Don’t drink any wine or beer and don’t eat any food that isn’t kosher. 5 Your son’s hair must never be cut, for he shall be a Nazirite, a special servant of God from the time of his birth; and he will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.” (Judges 13:2-5. TLB)

Those of us who know the Bible know all about Samson. And we know that Samson was a full of inconsistencies as we read in an article about him from gotquestions.org:

Samson’s life is one of contradiction. He was a man of great physical strength yet displayed great moral weakness. He was a judge for 20 years and “a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth” (Judges 13:5), yet he continually broke the rules of a Nazirite. The Spirit of God came upon him many times, giving him great strength to fight the Philistines, the oppressors of the Israelites. This in spite of the fact that Samson was a womanizer and a vengeful man. Samson’s life illustrates the necessity of saying “no” to fleshly temptation, God’s use of even flawed, sinful men to accomplish His will, the consequences of sin, and the mercy of God.

But it was his almost intentional blindness to his enemies that ultimately led to his downfall:

God’s purpose of defeating the Philistines was advancing through Samson, but Samson was still held accountable for his sin, and he experienced consequences for his foolishness and disobedience. Samson met and fell in love with a Philistine named Delilah. The rulers of the Philistines bribed Delilah to discover the secret of Samson’s strength and betray him into their hands (Judges 16:5). Delilah began to beg Samson to know the secret of his strength. After telling her some lies, Samson finally revealed that his strength was due to his separation to the Lord; specifically, the fact that his hair had never been cut (see Numbers 6:5). Delilah informed the Philistine rulers of Samson’s secret and then waited until Samson was asleep, and she called for someone to come shave his head. She woke him with a cry: “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” (verse 20). Samson stood up to fight, “but he did not know that the LORD had left him” (verse 20). Samson’s continual, willful disobedience had reached an end. He had grown confident in his strength to the point that he felt he could spurn any law; it seems he finally reached the point that he thought he did not need God. As a result, “the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding grain in the prison” (Judges 16:21). Samson finally had to face the consequences of his actions.

He Didn’t Know

One of the most revealing and yet heartbreaking verses in the life of Samson is Judges 16:20:

And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. (NKJV)

How did he not know that Deliah didn’t have his best interests in mind? Three times she not only tried to get him to tell her the secret to his strength but three times Philistines came to capture him. The pattern was obvious but so was Samson’s arrogance. He toyed with her constant deception and like playing with a poisonous snake he eventually played too much. She broke him down and as we see in verse 16 Delilah vexed him to death. Figuratively and literally. He should have never been with this prostitute who was also a Philistine that he knew God wanted him to rescue Israel from as part of the prophecy given to his parents. The only reason to explain that he was in this predicament was him thinking that he couldn’t be overcome by them. He was invulnerable to even sin. If we recall, Samson avoided being captured by the Philistines back in Judges 16:1-3:

Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2 When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” 3 And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. (NKJV)

He abused God’s grace by thinking that he could sin and get away with it. What he seemed to ignore is that sin blinds before it binds and then grinds your life. Eventually the snake you don’t properly deal with will come back one last time to bite you. Samson is proof of that.

Chamberlain Underestimated Hitler

And we might also say that he also trusted Hitler to keep his word. The former Prime Minister knew about Hitler invading Austria and also knew that he had designs on taking over the rest of Europe since he announced he was taking over Czechoslovakia. His intentions were clear just like Delilah’s desires. We aren’t told it but Samson may have also known about the $5,000 bounty on him by the Philistines and if true, it was puzzling that he allowed them to try three times to capture him. Delilah got her money. The Philistines got their man. But they forgot that hair grows back if not maintained. Hitler banked on Britain getting relaxed by the pact he signed with them and maybe he counted on Chamberlain to also get lax. However, he didn’t count on a man like Winston Churchill to replace Chamberlain and galvanize a nation against him. Allow me to connect the dots for you now. Satan was behind taking Samson out. Samson had a target on his back before he was ever born since the Devil knew all about that Nazarite vow. And he banked on the pride of a man who was so strong he couldn’t be overcome. He kept good records of Samson breaking all the rules and knew eventually he would make a fatal mistake. Then Satan hoped that the Philistines wouldn’t forget to keep track of Samson as he blindly ground their grains. However the same blindness to the obvious that doomed Samson also doomed these arrogant Philistines. Sin does that to people.

Bringing It Home

There is a battle being waged in the Heavenlies. It is between Satan and God and it is over earth and its inhabitants. The first shots were fired in the Garden of Eden. While we can see thousands upon thousands of examples of this war we know that overall the battle for men’s souls is a spiritual one long before it is an earthly one. And we’re naïve to think that we can just ignore it simply because of God’s grace by saving us. Chamberlain knew enough about Hitler to know that a little piece of paper wouldn’t stop him and yet he tried anyway. Samson knew that the Philistines wouldn’t stop trying to capture him and still allowed Delilah to tempt him. His life is one of great triumphs and the prophecy given to him was fulfilled in the end. I like how the article from gotquestions.org summarizes the rest of the story:

The Philistines thought they would celebrate their great victory over Samson, and the rulers assembled in the temple of their god, Dagon, to praise him for delivering Samson into their power (Judges 16:23). During the festivities, they brought Samson from prison to entertain them. Leaning against the support pillars of the pagan temple, “Samson prayed to the LORD, ‘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’” (verse 28). God mercifully granted Samson’s request. Samson “pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it” (verse 30). Samson killed more when he died—about 3,000 Philistines—than while he lived.

Samson was a man of faith—he is mentioned in the Bible’s “Hall of Faith” (Hebrews 11:32). At the same time, he was a man of the flesh, and his many mistakes serve as a warning to those who would play with fire and expect not to get burned. The life of Samson shows us the importance of relying on God’s strength, not our own power; following God’s will, not our own stubbornness; and seeking the Lord’s wisdom, not our own understanding.

I pray that we see clearly what is happening in the Heavenlies on all levels, but most importantly our individual lives. The fighting is going on even as I write these words and while we may make it to Heaven, we will cry tears over missed opportunities because we were too smug about things. We care more for our safety and security to address the coming storms for those less fortunate. By not getting in the fray we waste precious opportunities to win the lost at any cost. Chamberlain should have taken on Hitler when he could and Samson should have defeated the Philistines instead of the way he did it in the end. Are we seeing things clearly now? I pray we do sooner than later.