Judges 16-18 / April 4 (Day 95)

Chapter 16
Judges 16:16 & 17a says, “…when she (Delilah) pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, that he told her all his heart.” It’s been said, “It’s not what you do once but what you continue to do;” that is certainly true in this case. Sampson wasn’t emotionally ready for what he was getting into. The LORD wanted him to take his consecration to Him very seriously during his life so he would be able to stand in trials. Although Sampson failed with Delilah, his hair began to grow (a sign of his consecration to God) and now he was willing to die. Judges 16:30b says, “the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.” The church will do more damage to the kingdom of darkness as we die and Christ lives in us. Also, the church will experience its greatest victory of people won into the kingdom when it looks like defeat from a natural standpoint in these end days.  

Chapter 17-18
I don’t have much to say on these chapters except they show what happens to a people (cultures, nations, etc.) when they only have a remnant of religious truth, but have forsaken seeking the truth. You can see this all over in churches and denominations today; (not all, but far too often). They have some basic framework and ideas that come from God’s word, but they are filled with the ways of man. The Levite wasn’t really interested in serving God; he was interested in serving man for his gain. The people didn’t want someone who would be God’s mouthpiece to them; they wanted someone to channel blessings to them.