Paying Attention to the Clues

I’m not a game player (in more ways than one), but on the rare occasion I end up playing a board game, I enjoy it.

Last night at a gathering, we played a game called “Code Names.” Twenty-five code name cards, each bearing a word, are laid out in a 5×5 rectangular grid, in random order. The words are understood to be the code names assigned to twenty-five people.
The object of the game is to give teammates a one-word clue and based on the clue, your team has to determine which word or words apply. The frustrating part of the game is that no matter how obvious the answers seem to you, your teammates don’t always come up with all the words you have in your mind.

As I read through the story of Samson and Delilah this morning, I thought, Samson didn’t understand the clues. He received warning after warning about Delilah’s evil intent but it didn’t register.
Delilah, trying to deliver Sampson into the hands of his enemies, the Philistines, asked, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued” (Judges 16:6).
That question alone makes me suspicious. Sampson lied to Delilah the first time telling her if anyone tied him with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, he’d become as weak as any other man. So what did Delilah do? She tied Sampson up with the bowstrings that he easily broke out of.
Delilah asks him again, “Come now, tell me how you can be tied.” Sampson fibs again. “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man” (Judges 16:7).  So with the Philistines hiding in the room, Delilah ties Sampson with new ropes. The Bible says Sampson snapped the ropes like they were threads.
By this time Sampson should be thinking, Truth or not, I tell Delilah what my weaknesses were, and she proceeds to exploit them. Maybe something’s not quite right here.  But that is not what happens. This game has another round before Sampson reveals the truth. His hair is his strength. Cut his seven hair braids and he’s a weak man.

After Delilah learned this, she has someone give Sampson a crewcut while he sleeps like a baby in her lap. The Philistines then capture him and gouge out his eyes. They say love is blind. Maybe that saying originated with Sampson.
Before we judge ol’ Sampson, we might want to do some introspection. Often times the Holy Spirit tries to warn us, but we also ignore the clues.
Why?
Because we aren’t paying attention.
Like love sick Sampson, we don’t want to hear the truth.
We want to go our own way.

When things don’t go right once, our antennas should go up.
If it happens twice, then we should ask the Lord, “Are you trying to tell me something?”
If it occurs three times, it might be time to re-navigate.
In Sampson’s case, the fourth time was his undoing.
We have to daily listen to the clues the Lord gives us, and if we can’t figure them out, ask for his wisdom and discernment about the situation. That’s how you win the game of life.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says” (James 1:22). (LBW)