Judges 16:4-5 And it came to pass after ward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. And verse 18 says: And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath showed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.19 And she made him sleep upon her knees (laps); and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.
The church today has become a sleeping giant, sleeping a sleep of compromise right on the laps of a Delilah. Samson here is a type of the CHURCH and Delilah is the type of the systems of the WORLD. Although Samson could strangle a lion, but he could not keep his burning desire under God’s control and see Delilah for who she really was.
How Do You keep Your Desire From Lust And Sexual Pleasure From Deceiving You?
(1) You must desire what kind of a person you will love before passion takes over. Determine whether a person’s character and faith in God are as desirable as his or her physical appearance.
(2) Because most of your time you spend with your spouse will not involve sex, your companion’s personality, temperament and commitment to solve problems must be as gratifying as his or her kisses
(3) Be patient, because time and observation often reveal what is beneath the present appearance and attentive touch. Samson, the mighty warrior, became a slave.
Rather than kill him, the philistines preferred to humiliate him by gouging out his eyes and making him grind grain. This is exactly what the world systems have done to the church because the church decided to open her door wide for the gospel of materialism and quick rich syndrome without God. The world is now using their wealth to gouge out her spiritual eyes , so that she can no longer see the vision 0f God. Can you now see what lust can actually done to sons and daughters [Christians] of God? Remember Samson left Israel and went to the valley of Sorek, he did not go to the mountain [the realm of the spirit in God], but valley [the realm of the flesh], and you can see how it ended him. Any time a Child of God leaves the presence of God [mountain], automatically he must be in the valley [the realm of the flesh].
As a result of compromise and disobedience Samson went into an unholy alliance (an unholy union) with a strange woman, and he lost, his consecration, anointing, kingship and everything. The strength of the church today is gone through the unholy union with the world and its systems. The seven locks in the head of Samson that was shaved represent his CONSECRATION and SEPARATION TO THE LORD that has been watered down through the deceitfulness of riches.
The seven locks represent the church he LOSS OF THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF THE LORD which ought to guide and strengthen the church as reflected in Isaiah 11:1-4
“ And there shall come forth a rod out of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears: But with righteousness will He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth :and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall He slay the wicked”.
The saddest and most painful thing is that the church is not aware that her strength is gone despite all her crusade here and there with mind blowing theme like: Christian explosion, Operation naked the devil and so on. What a terrible sleep that has come upon the church and she is busy making frantic efforts with all her activities, church expansion projects just to do her work in the nation, her primary job of saving the lost souls which in the real sense is not, but like Samson she wist not that the LORD has departed from her. Samson woke up from his sleep, and stood up and boasted, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him (Judges 16:20). No wonder the church has become ineffective in setting a standard of righteousness for a dark and decaying society like ours. The true is that our nation is in darkness today because the church is in darkness. Ironically, we probably have more churches, groups and ministries today than we’ve ever had in the history of the world. Our streets are littered with churches and the list of Bishops, Archbishops, Reverends [Both Right & Left], Pastors [Both senior & junior] and other church titles that they have made for themselves are endless: almost every celebrity in our countries are claiming to be born-again. Why are we not feeling the impact of this great “Christian explosion” on the fabric of our nation life? Something is definitely wrong.
(matt.5:13-16) 13 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”.
May the LORD JESUS CHRIST that great shepherd of the sheep cause us to return to our first LOVE. Shalom!
