19^th May

“Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.”

2 Timothy 2:22

Paul’s advice to Timothy, as shown in today’s verse, is not only a lesson for the early church, but a lesson we can implement in our own lives. Today’s story of Samson’s final fall, highlights the importance of running away from situations that make us vulnerable and surrounding ourselves with God fearing companionship, so we may encourage one another when we are weak and pursue righteous living together.

In verse 4 of chapter 16, we read that Samson again falls in love with a philistine woman, whose name this time was Delilah. This is probably the most famous story of Samson’s life and one which we should take extra care to learn from. In exchange for 1,100 pieces of silver, Delilah is enticed by the Philistine rulers to find the secret to Samson’s strength. However, instead of realising Delilah’s conniving schemes and running away from temptation, his lustful and sinful nature again dictated his lifestyle and decisions.

So Samson decided to play a game with Delilah. Rather than reveal the truth to her, he deceived her three times and told her lies about the reason he was so strong. After the third time of being deceived, Delilah finally gets what she wanted, the secret to Samson’s strength.

“She tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it. Finally, Samson shared his secret with her….” (verse 16-17a)

Samson, instead of running away from Delilah’s crafty plan (although it seems like quite an obvious plan to today’s reader), decided to stay in the situation where his weakness and vulnerabilities were exposed. He had so many opportunities to run away, yet because he thought he was indestructible, he ended up being caught out and the secret to his strength finally revealed.

When we are faced with situations that lead us to temptation, we shouldn’t stick around to see if we can outwit it, but instead run away. Moreover, it is better not to even put ourselves in situations whereby we can we tempted. Let us repeat the words of our Lord Jesus, in His model prayer for our lives, “lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.”