6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you." 7 And Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man." 8 So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with." 11 So he said to her, "If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man." 12 Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread.
13 Delilah said to Samson, "Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with." And he said to her, "If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom"-- 14 So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom.
15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies." 16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, "No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man."
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, "Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart." So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" So he awoke from his sleep, and said, "I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!" But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. NKJV
Resting in the things of the world is a dangerous place to be! We can see from the scripture passage of Samson, that even though he was called and could do exploits, it was obeying God that caused Samson's strength.
We can see this today with those who ultimately follow to close to the world and find their extreme choice is to stop off at the lap of that which seduces and bring us closer to death than to the life God intends for His children to have today!
Resting when weary is important. But the scripture declares.........
Isaiah 40:28-31..............28 Have you not known?
Have you not heard?
The everlasting God, the LORD,
The Creator of the ends of the earth,
Neither faints nor is weary.
His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak,
And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary,
And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD
Shall renew their strength;
They shall mount up with wings like eagles,
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint. NKJV
We look into the life of Samson and see a man destined for what God called him to do for Israel. It was in the fourteenth chapter we see that Samson was wanting to marry a Pagan woman. She was a daughter of those who oppressed Israel. But it was God who purposed this secret against the Philistines.
We look into the life of Samson and see a man destined for what God called him to do for Israel. It was in the fourteenth chapter we see that Samson was wanting to marry a Pagan woman. She was a daughter of those who oppressed Israel. But it was God who purposed this secret against the Philistines.
There were many exploits that he performed due to the anointing on him. He could stand against many men and prevail to victory, but it was his love for women that caused his downfall. He found in Delilah a love that he thought he could have or needed. But he was proved so wrong! Samson fell to his fleshly lust for a woman. Her snares were such that she oppressed him with her mere words to gain information she needed to give to the princes of the Philistines. If Delilah was not a prostitute at the time she met Samson, she certainly gave in to prostitute for money given by the princes of the Philistines to gain the answer for Samson's great strength.
With her conniving tricks of words to deceive to gain the answer, he also lied, not once, not twice but three times that made her boiling mad at the time.
It is not a good thing to make light of the anointing God has placed on any one person. When saved, we are the "anointed" with the oil of the Holy Spirit residing in us. We are to take seriously that He is a Person and not a thing to exploit in any manner. He resides in us to resurrect us daily to the life God planned.
I also believe that Samson became weary after his sad dissolution of marriage to that "one" woman he married. Yet, in all that transpired and the acts of her family, and the community, Samson lost his wife. In all his doings for the Lord, he came up short with his longing to be in and of the world as well.
We see that in his relationship with Delilah.
Proverbs 21:16................16 A man who wanders from the way of understanding
Will rest in the assembly of the dead. .NKJV
In verse 19 of Judges 16, we should take note that in all his going and activity, he did not go back to his parents or to the Lord, but into the lap of Delilah. He went to rest in the lap of the world and be tormented by the same world that oppresses and destroys.
He goes into Delilah and falls down at her feet to lay his head in her lap!
It is important to remember the world had nothing in Jesus and it should nothing in us.
Acts 17:24-28...................24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' NKJV
It is in Him we have life, and it is in Him we have our being!
Our rest is to in the Lord!
Hebrews 4:11-13...................11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
NKJV
In verse 17 of Judges 16, he opened his heart and told her everything. He readily made the confession to this woman and God left him to do the foolish thing. We were told in Judges 13 and verse 5 that Samson's consecration was to God for his strength. Samson was to attend to God and His leading every step of the way ordained for his life. But he did not do that!
With all the deceit and lies flying, all the passion for the woman and lose his hair too, what a fallen condition to find yourself in the lap of the world and no power to go forward in it.
In a formidable condition as this, we see the man Samson removed from society to serve in grinding at the mill. Indignity brought shame upon his head, but while his hair began to grow, his heart had to have grown repentant of serving the things of the world.
We can find in Judges 16:28 that Samson called unto the Lord. And his prayer was simple. O Lord GOD remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.
It was a prayer that was accepted by God!
I believe Samson humbled himself under the mighty hand of God to prevail that day.
Father, today we seek to please YOU. It our faith that pleases YOU! We come to humble ourselves and pray and TO ultimately submit to Your plan and Word that speaks..........yes, exposes, sifts, analyzes and judges the very thoughts and purposes of our hearts. We will test our own actions that we might have appropriate self-esteem, without comparing ourselves to anyone else. It is the security of Your guidance that allows us to carry our own load with energy and confidence.
Father we run to Your wisdom and incline our ears to hear You speak Your words of truth to us. Today we desire not to be like Samson , but to see his example that pride and arrogance would be stripped away from us. We desire to humble ourselves under Your mighty hand that in time You may exalt us.
It is in the name of Jesus today, that we cast away the whole of our care [anxieties, all worries, all our concerns for the future,, once and for all] on You, for You care for us affectionately and care about us watchfully. We expect a life of victory and awesome deeds because our actions are done on behalf of a spirit humbly submitted to Your truth and Your righteousness.We stand being confident of this, that YOU who has began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
As Your words of spirit and truth are in living and active in us, we take our place to stand in power of the Holy Spirit and see exploits done for Your glory. Have Your way in our lives today and we will give YOU all the honor, all the glory and all the praise. We are humble and expect YOUR move on our behalf as humility and fear of You brings wealth, and honor and life TO US. Amen.
You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV
You can also visit my Youtube channel The Voice of Prayer for more teaching at http://bit.ly/1tNyBhV
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