Thursday, July 30, 2009

Today's Passage: Judges 15-16

Who says the Bible is not exciting? I love movies and my goodness, if done well I think the story of Samson and Delilah could be a box office hit. This passage has love, fighting, betrayal, and a great ending. I think this is probably one of the most popular stories in the Bible. In fact, I would say that this story has transcended Christian culture and is of pop culture knowledge.

This story always confuses me a little. Each time that Samson “lies” to her she gets upset and gets him to tell the “real” weakness. After the first time did he not catch that something was up? If not then, was the second time not enough? I think this story confirms that women have fooled men since the Old Testament times. We just have a weakness I guess.

Seriously though, for me the take away in this story is that we must be careful of the relationships we enter into. I want to be clear that I am speaking of all relationships: friendships, dating, marriage, and business. It is clear from this story that Samson’s choice for a relationship was not a wise decision. I am not saying that you should not have relationships with people that are shady. Someone eventually has to have a relationship with them for them to come to know God, what I am saying is be careful on how close those relationships are. I am convinced and will swear by the fact that I believe you will become like the people you surround yourself with. Samson surrounded himself with shady people and because of it he fell from God’s grace. For us we can only be around shady for so long before we let it creep into our lives. My prayer for us today is that God will put people in our lives that will provide healthy close relationships, and that God will put people in our lives that we can share the love of Christ with, but not be pulled down by.