CHAPLAIN’S WORD
“THINK FOR A MOMENT, OF ALL THE GREAT MEN WHOSE STORIES ARE TAINTED BY RESTING IN THE WRONG LAP, TRYING TO FIND OUTSIDE THEIR HOMES WHAT THEY SHOULD’VE BUILT WITH THEIR FAMILIES.”
to bear any significance. We can look at Samson the same way we look at a Ben Simmons or a Jamarcus Rus- sell – brothers who never lived up to their potential. In fact, one scholar said that “Samson wasn’t the stron- gest man in the bible, but rather the weakest.” How could a brother with so much strength and so much possibility with so many opportunities be so weak and insignificant? That’s a great question to ask of Samson as we reflect on our own lives, lest we be another example of lives that didn’t matter, and we be added to the list of broth- ers who crossed our burning sands and never lived up to the calling of the powerful principles of Phi Nu Pi that give our lives meaning. Well, if you know anything about Samson’s story, I’m willing to bet your answer is another name, Delilah. We all know
Delilah and she is faulted as being Samson’s kryptonite. And truth be told there are a whole lot of brothers who have been hindered and handicapped by their own Delilahs. But may I suggest to you that Delilah is not the cause of Samson’s weakness, she’s merely a symptom of it. There are a few other things that are the real cause of Samson’s weakness, and these are the things we must be careful of in our own lives. One of Samson’s failures was his lack of commitment to family. Before there was a Delilah, Samson was married to a woman from a town in Timnah. But Samson never made a commitment or investment in his wife, his family, or his home. He enjoyed playing and battling and drinking with the Phi- listines, but he neglected the responsibility he had to care for the gift of the family God had given him. Samson was
more concerned with how his enemies viewed him than how his family did. He failed to see what I press on to you – that real significance is not simply estimated by what we achieve in the world but also by what we build at home. The true measure of a man is not simply found in the report and reputation he has among colleagues and co-workers, but also in the hearts and eyes of those he claims to love. Samson lost his wife to another because he never cared for her. And in reflec- tion of our own lives, I ask this paraphrased question from scripture – what does it profit a man to gain the world and lose his family? Samson’s vulnerability to Delilah was not primarily sexual. Every time we see Samson with Delilah, he’s asleep on her lap. He’s tired and has been trying to find a place to rest. We all tire, no matter how
strong we claim to be, we all need a safe place to rest. Think for a moment, of all the great men whose stories are tainted by resting in the wrong lap, trying to find outside their homes what they should’ve built with their families. Brothers let me caution you against Delilah’s lap. As one who made that mistake and paid the price, let me warn you against unsafe resting places, let me advise you about temp- tations that threaten your home, let me alert you to hobbies and habits that weaken your family. Delilah, as you may recall, was hired by Sam- son’s enemies to find out the source of his strength. After several lies, he finally tells her that the source of his strength is his hair. He honestly believes that what made him strong was his hair. Samson’s weakness was not only the result of his
SUMMER 2023 ♦ THE JOURNAL 13
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