DCLM Daily Manna 2025: DCLM Daily Manna 30 May 2025: The Bane of Beauty
Text: Judges 16:10-21 (KJV)
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.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.
21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.
KEY VERSE: (Judges 16:20) And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.
The Australian predatory little plant, the sundew, is delicate and cunning. Although its attractive clusters of red, white, and pink and delicate blossoms are harmless, the leaves are deadly. The shiny moisture on each sundew leaf is sticky and easily imprisons any bug that touches it. As an insect struggles to free itself, the vibration causes the leaves to close tightly around it. This innocent-looking plant then feeds on its victim.
Delilah was a cunning sundew in the Philistinian countryside. What she lacked in physical strength, she compensated for by her temerity, doggedness, and possessive devilishness to tempt and trap one who was a thousand times stronger than she. In her, we see the bane of beauty. However, in her victim, Samson, we see the folly of a hunting dog destined to be lost and who will always ignore the hunter’s whistle. Delilah’s beauty was irresistible for a prodigal Samson. As a potent tool in the arsenal of an oppressed nation, Samson underestimated the power of consuming evil and the conspiracy of hell against his destiny and that of the people he was created to deliver.
Severally and continuously, Samson carelessly walked the boundaries of good and evil, hoping to come out stronger. However, his human weakness and lack of personal discipline destroyed him. So it is for everyone who is bankrupt of spiritual convictions, tottering on the edge of faith and fatality. In Delilah, we understand the persistence of evil to overcome good. In Samson, we see the end of a life lived recklessly outside the boundaries of godly convictions. No believer should ever roam in territories where constant temptation is the order of daily living. God expects us not only to flee youthful lusts but also to tenaciously follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace, purity, and perfect relationships that will prolong our lives (1 Timothy 6:11,12).
Samson never learned the lesson of not being unequally yoked with unbelievers. His attempt to be a hero for Israel ended up in him becoming a zero in godly example. Those who call on the name of the Lord must know and believe in His holiness and His aversion to polluted offerings. God expects us to live above sin and be separated unto Him so that our end will not be like Samson’s.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: A moment’s sinful indulgence reduces one from the zenith to zero point.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 1 Samuel 19-20
Daily Manna 30 May 2025
Comments 1