Judges 16:4-12
New International Version
4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels[a] of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.” 7 Samson answered her, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” 8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the bowstrings as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered. 10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.” 11 He said, “If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” 12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
Thursday - July 29
Samson fell in love with a woman who conspired to trap him. Then she actually trapped him, but he escaped. THEN he goes back to her! One of the greatest dangers of SIN is that we delude ourselves into thinking that we, like Samson, are strong enough to overcome anything. In other words, we place our faith in our own strength and abilities. Remember that SIN is fundamentally the lack of faith in God. Sure, we might believe in God in theory, but in our daily lives we are “functional atheists.” We do what we want, when we want, in whatever way we want because WE are in charge! But also notice that the things that we “love” and give ourselves to don’t care about us. Wal-Mart doesn’t care about you, they just want to separate you from your money. But we “love” all the stuff! The more we give our hearts to anything other than God the more dangerous our situation becomes. But Jesus forgives us and sets us free! Thanks be to God!