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Samson

April 13

Judges 16:4-6, 18-22

The trap

Some time after Samson had killed the thousand Philistines, he fell in love with Delilah, another Philistine woman. A group of Philistine kings got together and offered her a big reward if she could find out the secret of Samson’s strength. So Delilah nagged Samson to tell her the secret of his strength. Three times he told her what would make him weak, but each time she tried to make Samson weak, he broke loose without any effort.

Day after day she nagged him and said, “If you really love me you will tell me the truth.” Finally, he got so tired of her nagging that he said: “I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite, and if my hair were cut, I would be as weak as anyone else.”

Later, while Samson was asleep, she cut off his hair. When she woke him up, he was truly as weak as anyone else and the Philistines captured him.

Can love make one blind?

Samson loved Delilah so much that he didn’t realize how the Philistines were using her to find out the secret of his strength. Every time she would try to make him weak, the Philistines were right there to capture him. He was using his strength to tease the enemy, but sadly he didn’t use his mind. He should have known better than to fall in love with one of the Philistine women. Selfish ‘love’ made him blind to the devil’s trap.

God’s kind of love makes us blind too, but in a good way. God’s love makes us blind to the imperfections and faults in others (Proverbs 10:12), while His love in our hearts helps us see the hidden traps of sin.

Verse for today

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8