10/27/12. Judges 16:1-17. BEWARE OF FELLOWSHIP WITH THE WORLD-my devotional

Judges 16:1-17                                                                               Kevin Jesmer NIU  UBF

Key Verse 16: 17                                                                          10/26/12

^“So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.”

 Dear Lord Jesus Christ. Thank your great love for us. Thank you for looking out for us and helping me to keep my job in these tough economic times. Your help is more than we can imagine. I also pray for some extended family members who experienced a loss in their family. I pray that the Lord of Love and hope may comfort their hearts and their minds. May they be strengthened through all of these trying events. Please Lord, help me also to pass my oncology class. Grant me your word through this devotional. I thank you and I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

 Part 1:  A Reckless Man of God (1)

Samson was a man who could not control his sinful desires. Look at verse 1, “One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her”

Samson could kill a lion with his bare hands; he could fight a battalion of Philistines, but he could not tame his lusts. He was powerful in so many ways, but so weak in others. This must not be for a person who espouses faith. We need to be in control of our mind, body and soul. I know that this is almost impossible because of our sinful nature. But when we have a desire, we can be overcome this world our sinful nature. Proverbs 4:23 reads, “²³ Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”   Hebrews 12:1-3, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ² Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (NIV 1984)

Temptation is all around us. The Bible says that it is like a roaring lion, ready to devour us. It is like a tiger ready to pounce on us. Gen 4:7, “If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” Martin Luther said that sin is like birds trying to build a nest in your beard. The fact that they are trying to do this is not the problem. The problem is letting them sit in the beard can actually building the nest.

1 Peter 5:7-9 reads, “⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. ⁸ Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” (NIV 1984)  We need to self controlled and alert. Samson was not self controlled and alert. He was reckless and careless and did not seem to care about what was going on.

Paul, the Apostle, really struggled hard to overcome his sinful nature. He stated in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, “Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. ²⁷ No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.”  We may not be in such control of our heart, mind and soul, but I do know one thing. We have all the powers of the universe, all the power that Jesus possesses and he is willing to help us.

Samson also needed to flee from sin and not just walk into the home of a prostitute. Joseph in Genesis, when tempted by Potifer’s wife, fled from her, even though she was enticing and could have been the key to his freedom. (Gen 39:11) Paul encourages Timothy to have the same attitude. 2 Timothy 2:22 reads, “Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” Samson needed to flee. We need to flee and not think in our hearts that we can stand against the temptations on our own. We must never be that proud.

In the past, even after becoming a Christian I was not always weak in controlling my sinful nature. What really helped me is knowing the love of God. When the grace of God was always in my hearts, that love, inspired me to turn from the things of the world and helped me to follow Jesus. Luke 1:68-69, reads, ““Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,  because he has come and has redeemed his people. ⁶⁹ He has raised up a horn  of salvation for us  in the house of his servant David” and Luke 1:74-75 reads, “to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear ⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”

Samson should have been following God in holiness and righteousness before God all of his days. He should not have been running off and going to a prostitute’s house.

There is only one way to stop doing the things that Samson did, if not in his/her heart. There is only one way to overcome. The believer must believe that Christ and the cross is the source of all that we need to overcome. We must anchor our faith firmly in Christ and the cross. We must hold onto the grace of God. God will help us through his spirit to be victorious over these temptations of the flesh.

Recently I was not overcome my depressed feeling; my despondent anger; my fatalism towards life as home and relations with those close to me. I was living in depression and anger every day. I could not overcome even though I have been in Jesus for 26 years. I pride myself in being a very disciplined person. But I could not get out of this on my own. I was helpless. But God worked a miracle in my heart and mind. He freed me, through the counseling and prayers of many servants of God, but especially through my experience through the Family Life conference. It was the Gospel of God’s forgiveness that broke the wall between Julie and I. It is the power of the Gospel that gave us freedom and strength to start again with a real hope and expectation that God has changed things and will move our marriage from “Now” to “Wow!” God will create among us a family where the character of God will be revealed to a lost world.

Part 2: Seduced Into Captivity (2-17)

Verses 2-16, “² The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.” ³ But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. 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. ¹³ Delilah then said to Samson, “All this time you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.” He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric¹⁴ and^[b] tightened it with the pin. Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric. ¹⁵ Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength. ” ¹⁶ With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was sick to death of it. ¹⁷ So he told her everything. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite dedicated to God from my mother’s womb. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.””

Samson was seduced by a Philistine woman named Delilah who lived in the valleyof Sorek. She betrayed the secret of this strength to the Philistines who captured him and led him away to Gaza. The seduction began in verses 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 of silver.”The Philistines were ruled by five rulers. Each one ruled from a different city.  Each of these cities was an important center for trade and commerce. They were very weary of Samson. They knew that he was a growing threat against them. And so they went to great lengths to get rid of him. They were even willing to pay a thousand pounds of silver or more. Given Delilah’s personality, it is not surprise that she betrayed Samson when these rich and powerful men paid her a personal visit.

Delilah’s influence was very devastating. A person’s accomplishment may well be in helping other people accomplish great things. Likewise, a person’s greatest failure may be preventing others from achieving greatness. She was devastating because she influenced Samson to betray his special calling from God. She was motivated by greed. She used her persistence to wear Samson down. Her infatuation with her made him a target. He was no match for her. Her unfaithfulness to Samson brought disaster to her and her people.

In light of this, we must ask ourselves, am I being like Delilah? Are people helped by knowing me? Does knowing me challenge others to be the best that they can be?” Does knowing me help in their relationship with God? Am I willing to be God’s instrument in the lives of others?

We can see the fruit of Samson’s reckless spiritual life.  Samson was deceived because he wanted to believe Delilah’s lies. Although he could kill a lion with his bare hands, he could not defeat the power of lust that had blinded him to the motives of Delilah. The question is, “How can you keep your desire for love and sexual pleasure keep you from being deceived? The truth is that when a believer is governed by self will can fall deeper into sin and folly even more than a man of this world.

Samson needed to marry the right woman. Likewise we must decide what kind of person we will love before passion takes over. A spouse’s personality and temperament and commitment to married life and to faith in Jesus must be more important factors than sex. We must be patient. It is imperative to take a second look at what lies behind that attractive appearance.

In verses 16-17, Delilah kept asking Samson for the secret of his success until he finally grew tired and gave in. This was the second time that Samson allowed himself to be worn down like this. (14:17) We must never allow anyone, no matter how attractive or persuasive, to talk us into disobeying God.

      Samson was eventually taken captive by the world. It was not possible to have a close relationship with the world without eventually becoming part of the world. What happened to Samson will happen to anyone. God does not change and the dangers of the alluring things of this world do not change. Fellowship with the world is one of the greatest dangers, if not the greatest danger of the Child of God. 1 John 2:15-17, Jesus says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”  This is an imperative for every believer.

Prayer: Lord, save me from reckless faith. Help me to be spiritually alert and not become a prisoner to my sinful nature nor this world.”
One word: Be spiritually alert