It struck me this morning how evil corrupts good. Samson got involved with Delilah and she nagged him over and over again. He gave in. This man dedicated to God let his secret slip…. and disaster struck. This made me think back to Paul conversation with the Corinthians when he told them that bad company corrupts good.
Judges 16:15-19
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.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 After putting him to sleep on her lap, she called for someone to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.
Nagged Him
If you read the whole story of Samson and Delilah you would quickly see the Samson got involved with a lady he shouldn’t have. This woman did not have his best interest at heart, instead she was after ways to to defeat him in order to help her national people out.
She asked, then she asked again, and then she nagged him. Tell me the truth! How can you be defeated? And for some odd reason (perhaps a blind love) he told her! And then he was defeated and Israel’s champion was imprisoned.
Relationships are so hard aren’t they?
But gives me cause to say hey… take a take a close look at people you want to be involved with. Will they lift you up or cause you to betray the trust between you and God? Doesn’t mean to stay away from non-believers, but to make sure you have people in your life who will shore up your faith.
It doesn’t say in the text that Samson took the time to talk with other people of faith before he gave into Delilah’s nagging of him. If he had, perhaps things would have turned out differently eh? He needed more people in his life to remind him of the truths of God eh? Just like we all do as believers. Do we remember to talk to God before giving into the worldly pressures around us?
I know I don’t always, sometimes just making snap of the finger decisions. I need so much to be more cognizant of God in all aspects of my life. How about you?
I can be so easy to skip over prayer and go straight to trying to deal with things on our own. I have recently been reminded that God can open doors that I don’t even know exist when I rely on Him through prayer.
yes, he’s been reminding me of that too. 🙂