The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 5 June 2020 – TOPIC: DANGEROUS INTIMACY

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DATE: FRIDAY, JUNE 05, 2020
TOPIC: DANGEROUS INTIMACY
READ: JUDGES 16:1-14 (NKJV)

1. Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.
2. [When] the Gazites [were told,] “Samson has come here!” they surrounded [the place] and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.”
3. And Samson lay [low] till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put [them] on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
4. Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name [was] Delilah.
5. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength [lies,] and by what [means] we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred [pieces] of silver.”
6. So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength [lies,] and with what you may be bound to afflict you.”
7. And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any [other] man.”
8. So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them.
9. Now [men were] lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines [are] upon you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
10. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.”
11. So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any [other] man.”
12. Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines [are] upon you, Samson!” And [men were] lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread.
13. Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom” —
14. So she wove [it] tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines [are] upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom.

THE MESSAGE:

In our text today, we see Samson being entangled with the opposite sex; this time, with a harlot and another woman named Delilah. He had problem with lust: He saw a harlot and went in to her. This time again, without divine guidance, he saw Delilah and loved her. The choices of the three women that he went after were not based on his consecration as a Nazarene Israelite or the desire to please God. The flesh governed his relationship with women; he gambled with his anointing and the secret of his uncommon strength.

The result was dangerous: He lost his anointing and even his life. It is one thing to be anointed, it is quite another to sustain the anointing. Concerning taking for granted relationships with the opposite sex, the Bible notes: “Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned?” (Proverbs 6:27). We are being charged to flee from all appearances of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:22) and our relationship with the opposite sex should be with all purity (I Timothy 5:2).

To sustain divine anointing, we must be deliberate about holiness and avoid dangerous intimacy with the opposite sex.

PRAYER: Lord, deliver me from unwholesome entanglements.