A Word about the Frog in the Kettle

Today I want to share a word about the frog in the kettle, as I comment on Judges 16:18-20.  This passage reads:

And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. 

It is a common saying that, “Ignorance is bliss.” Another familiar sentiment is, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” Both of these old saws are often false, as we find in our Scripture passage for today. What Samson did not know came back to bite him, hard.

WHAT HAPPENED TO SAMSON?

He was a Nazarite and God had been with him. He had been set apart from the time of his birth, and he had judged Israel for 20 years. God had done some mighty works through him to protect His people:

• He had killed a Lion with his bare hands.

• He had killed 30 men of Ashkelon.

• He had killed another 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey.

• He broke the strongest ropes the Philistines had.

Yet, at the time he needed it most, his strength left him, and he was taken by the Philistines. To understand what happened, we must understand what Samson had become.

SAMSON WAS THE FROG IN THE KETTLE:

Christian researcher George Barna once wrote a book entitled, The Frog in the Kettle. This title comes from the idea that if a frog is placed into a kettle when the water is cool, it will not notice how the water grows ever hotter when the heat is turned up under it. Eventually the frog will be boiled to death without ever knowing what was happening to it. Whether or not this is actually true or only a fable, it is a great parable to illustrate how our consciences can become hardened by small and gradual compromises over time. 

Josh McDowell, another noted author, has commented on this tendency in the lives of Christians, and he calls it the “law of diminishing returns.” A little indiscretion (sin) is thrilling for a time, but then it begins to pale and become boring. That prompts us to go a little more over the line to get a thrill or satisfaction, and then even more. 

Even secular writers have observed this phenomenon. In his book, Delinquency and Drift, David Matza promoted the thesis that most felons simply drift, little-by-little, into a life of crime. If the chain of seemingly random and often minor events could be broken, then such an outcome could be averted.

A look at Judges 16 will reveal Samson’s step-by-step into the abyss of failure.

• He associated with a harlot.

• He foolishly misused his great strength.

• He loved an untrustworthy woman.

• Three times he teased Delilah, like a moth dancing over the flames of a candle.

• He had fallen so far that he did not even know it when a man cut his hair.

When he awoke, he didn’t realize that God had removed His power from him. He discovered, to his dismay, that there is a difference between a fire-fighter and a firebug and there is a difference between a trash man and a trashy man.

CAN THIS HAPPEN TO US?

The New Testament says it can, as in 1 Timothy 4:1-2:

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron . . .

Also, 2 Timothy 3:1-9 says,

 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;  but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

Blessedly, the Scriptures also tell how us to avoid this type of gradual fail-ure as in 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 which says:

Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.  But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

Also, in Ephesians 4:17-23 Paul taught us this: 

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind,  having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Finally, the writer of Hebrews in chapter 3:12-15 urged:  

Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;  but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:   "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."

CONCLUSION:

One of the most painful memories of parenthood for me was the time my son went on day trip to the beach with the youth group from our church. He spent all day shirt-less in the broiling sun, without realizing how badly sun-burnt he was becoming. When he got home that evening, he had to lie shirt-less on his stomach in bed for a couple of days until the pain became more bearable. When we play with sin, we get burned!

Too often, our young Christian leaders grow in talent, skill, and acclaim faster than they grow in maturity, integrity, and discretion. In the end, the result is disaster, as we saw in the life of Samson. In the words of Jesus, “he who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Every blessing!

Dr. Otis Corbitt