by Josh Moody Today’s Bible Reading: Judges 16, Psalm 89:1-18, Mark 7:24-37, 1 Corinthians 12:14-31 Judges 16: The famous story, beautifully traced out in Milton’s Samson Agonistes, is a lesson to all who think that morality does not matter if you have ability. Samson “went,” “saw,” and then “went in” (v. 1). At each step he had an opportunity to reverse his decline. Do not hesitate on the threshold of sin, do not gaze at it, and even at the last moment refuse to go in. Then comes Delilah. Here he was really in love (v 4). How tragic is the picture of him being wooed to sleep on her lap, sleeping like a baby, trustingly, all the while being betrayed (v. 19). Many a reader has asked how Samson could possibly have been so foolish as to have kept on trusting Delilah when she was obviously up to no good (v. 6-16)? Perhaps she portrayed it as a lover’s game each time she almost betrayed him. Most likely, Samson really was that foolish: that is, he was blind. When later he was physically blind (v. 21), he at least began to see, whereas before when he had physically seen, he had been spiritually blind. How often it is that a person who commits adultery wakes up and realizes that the one he thought was so beautiful is now ugly in his eyes. It goes down sweet, and it returns bitter as vomit. Sin blinds, and Samson appeared to not be able to see what Delilah was up to. Even this, though, God used. When the Philistines taunt him in captivity (v. 23), they use some of the same trash-talking mockery that Samson had used against them. But in their greatest victory comes their greatest defeat (v. 25-30), and in Samson’s death there is victory for the cause of God. Do not think that evil is the end or cannot be turned, or that when things are bad they are always going to get worse. God is the Master of turning evil into good, even taking the cross and making it the resurrection. Trust God today for he is in control of all the events of your life—good, bad and indifferent—and has a plan of cosmic scope to give him glory by redeeming his people for their great good. To receive God Centered Bible devotionals directly in your inbox, sign up here.]]>