The ‘Superman’ in the bible whose name is Samson, was known to be a man with superhuman abilities.  That is how the modern world conjured up the idea of Superman being portrayed in Hollywood movies nowadays. Nevertheless, every superhero has his weakness, just as Samson in the book of Judges 16:15-19.

This is the problem with many of us today, that we fail to identify our weak spot, which consequentially leads to our pain, bad experience, and suffering. Learn to keep track and pay attention to our fleshiness, as Satan will often find crack in some areas to create an opportunity to attack us.

The Disregarding Superman

Judges 16:17-18 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.

Usually, we see a consistent pattern from Samson to the modern-day fictional character Superman, who often place a lot of emphases and focus on their strength, but totally disregard their weakness. Samson went to the extent of revealing his kryptonite to his lover Delilah, who had the intention to use it against him along with the Lords of Philistine.

Similarly, this applies to all of us today, as we tend to give way to our sin, to the world, and to the devil. We know that Satan is constantly trying to look for an Achilles heel in us so that by revealing our weak spot, we also become more vulnerable to satanic attack.

We know that following these Satanic attacks, we are bound to suffer and experience afflictions and pain. Then we start to blame others and ask why God never answers our prayers, etc. However, have we pointed the finger back at ourselves, and examined our hearts? For instance, a lot of us attribute our health issues and use them as a valid excuse for laziness and not to serve God. Sometimes the way we lived in our past contributes to our current health condition.

The key message is to take away is, to examine the root cause of suffering. Are our actions the cause?

Similar to financial issues, what is the cause of our financial struggle? Are we using our wisdom given by God to manage our finances, or are we using our emotions and flesh?

It is important to know that the acts we sow now, whether good or bad; we will reap the fruit in the future. This is clearly stated in the bible. Also learn to think wisely and ahead of time, because if we put wisdom in our actions, it will save us a lot of time not making unnecessary mistakes.

Nevertheless, even when we have to go through afflictions, give thanks to the Lord. Yes, attacks may come from Satan, but God has to allow. The reason is because in 1 Peter 1, the Bible mentions that God puts us through pain and struggle so that He can remove the dross from us, and that we become anew.

Do not disregard our sins, take some time every day to identify our sins, as sins are often a reflection of our weaknesses. When they unravel, it becomes easier for us to work on improving them. Even though our souls are saved, our flesh still constantly battles with sins, and the devil will always be watching us, seeking to set us up if we are not careful with our walk.

The Distressed Superman

Judges 16:15-16 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

The number one reason why we keep making the same mistake or committing the same weakness is because we keep falling back to grief. Grief blinds us from our own weakness. So how is grief being represented in this context? For example, we complain we have no time to serve God because of our busy schedules or worldly activities, which actually gives Satan a great opportunity to amp up the volume and intensity of these sins, which subsequently hinder us from serving God more.

One important note to take away from this second point is that the rationale behind our seemingly legitimate reason has a lot to do with fleshliness, and it subsequently turns into grief to cover up our reason that merely justifies our inability to serve God willfully and also why suffering occurs to us.

Dont ask ‘Why God?’, but ask ourselves ‘What did I do wrong?’. Constantly examine our walk, are we walking right with God, or with the world? Let’s be reminded that our distresses and trials in life usually are usually branching from our weaknesses. First of all, work on our weaknesses and we would not even have to face the distress. Secondly, in the midst of our distress and affliction, find out through our prayers what is it that we have to work on in order to improve our walk with God.

We should not attribute our affliction to worldly factors like job, busyness, or issues from someone else, because that puts us in a situation of being dependent on those factors, and Satan will often manipulate those factors to worsen our affliction and problems in life.

If we simply improve our own sanctification, it will ultimately improve all the other outer matters.

The Drained Superman 

Judges 16:19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 

When afflictions happen to us, our weaknesses are revealed.  Hence the best way to know if we have overcome our weakness is to see whether we pass the test of affliction that God allows to happen to us. Let’s face it, different people are prone to be discouraged, prickled, triggered by different worldly factors.

When that happens, our weaknesses will hinder us from making the right choice or taking the right action that is pleasing to God. If we choose to please our own selfish needs instead of pleasing God, then God will continue to allow the same problem to happen to us again, until we finally conquer our weakness. God is just trying to show us His mercy by shaping our character through the experience. When we are weak, His strength is made perfect in us as Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:9.

One great way to help us overcome our weakness during trial is to be watchful and pray with fervency (Matthew 27). After watching our actions and thoughts, and praying to God for protection; the next course of action which is vital, is to have an enormous amount of self-control.

The Bible (Ephesians 6) mentioned that we are in constant spiritual warfare with the world, resisting temptation is a constant battle. We should not go with our feelings, but simply with the word of God. Romans 12 indicates that it is uncomfortable to go against our flesh because we are so used to feeding our fleshly desire, but embracing discomfort while letting go of sin is the basis of our duty as a Christian.

The Default Superman 

Judges 16:20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. 

We can see that Samson failed in his part in doing his duty for the Lord. By default, Samson thought that as long as he depends on his super strength, he could overcome the Philistines. But by only focusing on his strengths, he overlooked his weaknesses that eventually caused him pain and consequences.

To avoid falling back to sin, we need to get rid of our usual way of doing things. The best way is to listen to God and all the good advice that He provides us with. Most often His advice will challenge our thought processes and tap into our weaknesses, which is why it makes us so uncomfortable, we should resist our own discomfort and flesh instead of God’s words.

Judges 16:21 But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

Samson’s suffering while his strength was cut off literally applies to many of us, that we are blinded by a lot of things, including our grief, and grinding through the same problem over and over again. Are we urged to let the Holy Spirit lift us up and revive our strength to conquer our weaknesses? Notice we say Holy Spirit because trusting God and knowing that we can do it through Christ is the best way to overcome our weakness.