A life of victories.

in #steemchurch23 days ago


LINK

Do you want to resist temptation? God is a great, inexhaustible source of hope and, above all, strength for you.

After this, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 Then the lords of the Philistines came to her and said, "Deceive him and find out the nature of his great strength, and how we may overcome him, so that we may bind him and subdue him. And each of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver." 6 Then Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me the nature of your great strength, and how you may be bound and subdued." 7 And Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven green withes that are not yet dry, then I will become weak and become like any other man." 8 And the Philistine lords brought him seven green withers that were not yet dry, and she bound him with them. 9 Now she had men lying in wait in the chamber. Then she said to him, "Samson, the Philistines are against you!" So he broke the withers, as a cord of tow breaks when it touches the fire; and the secret of his strength was not known.

Judges 16:4-9

To understand this a little better, I invite you to read the entire chapter 16. In this case, Samson is a great example of someone who somehow strayed from the Lord or turned their eyes away from Him. He had a godly upbringing and upbringing from his parents, as they taught him everything about God, especially obeying God, but over time, worldly temptations presented themselves, and this became too attractive for Samson.

The Word of God emphasizes those occasions when Samson gave in to sin, as well as simply desiring a pagan woman, and not only that, he agreed to marry her, disobeying God.

Samson went down to Timnah, and there he saw a woman of the daughters of the Philistines. 2 So he went up and told his father and his mother, saying, "I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines; please take her for me as a wife." 3 And his father and his mother said to him, "Is there no woman among the daughters of your brothers, or among all our people, that you should go and take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?" So Samson said to his father, "Take this woman for me, for I delight in her."

Judges 14:1-3

On one occasion, clearly manipulated by his wife, he killed more than 30 men. Perhaps this is an extreme example, but the worst part is that he disobeyed God and sought another Philistine woman. This is where Delilah comes into play when, due to her betrayal, Samson was captured and, above all, blinded.
Apparently, Samson's sin was something insignificant, but when left unchecked or overlooked, it will take control of our lives, bringing side effects and impacting many other aspects. Just as we have Samson's example of victory, it shows us that the first step is to become aware of our exact weaknesses, and then we must recognize them in order to act and overcome them on our own. It's not a struggle with our own strength, but a choice. Once we decide, it's key to recognize God's sufficiency to rescue and restore us.
Note that in the end, Samson recognized his weakness and his need for God; he prayed for strength to take revenge on the Philistines.

28 Then Samson cried out to the Lord, "Remember me, O Lord God, and strengthen me, I pray thee, just this once, O God, that I may at once take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes."

Judges 16:28

The sooner we become aware of our weakness and make the decision, as Samson did, the sooner we will learn to live in obedience to God. This translates into a constant search for and recognition that in our weakness we are strong in God, and thus we find victory over sin.