Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2 – How to Discern True Love audio video notes. In the natural, Delilah was a woman, but I’ve met male gender ‘Delilahs.’ In fact, in all the wicked women we’ve discussed, I’ve met their ‘girly men’ counterparts. Delilah’s ‘girly man’ is greedy, only interested in himself, and willing to use anyone’s trust, love, and godliness for their profit.
WICKED WOMEN OF THE BIBLE
By Pastor Delbert Young
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2 – How to Discern True Love
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Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2 – How to Discern True Love
Scriptures: Judges 16:4-5, Ephesians 6:12, Judges 16:6, Judges 16:7-9, Judges 16:10-12, Judges 16:13-14, Judges 16:15-17, Judges 16:17-18, Judges 16:19-20, Judges 16:20-21, Judges 16:22
We’re talking about the wicked woman Delilah, but to understand her wickedness, we first need to look at her victim, Samson, and why he became a Delilah victim. Delilah lures in a person’s trust. She convinces them she loves them and only uses them for personal greed. She is relentless in obtaining what she wants and will wear a person down until she gets it.
Because of the comfortable feeling of trust she creates, Delilah will, as it were, get a person’s head in her lap, lull them to sleep, emasculate their supernatural strength, and gouge out the vision they have for life. She makes a mockery of them. In the process of regaining strength, they die. Delilah is deadly.
Samson had a supernatural birth.
The angel of the Lord came to his parents. He was to live a supernatural life. God gave him supernatural power, but Samson also had a supernatural weakness – women. As a Christ follower, you’ve experienced a supernatural birth. You were born again of the Spirit. God gave you supernatural power and gifts from the Holy Spirit, but we each have a supernatural weakness. Like Samson, our supernatural births and powers are no match for our supernatural weaknesses if we succumb to them. Why did Samson become a victim of Delilah? He followed his supernatural weakness. It leads to Delilah.
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2
Delilah, in the natural, was a woman, but I’ve met male gender “Delilahs.” In fact, in all the wicked women we’ve discussed, I’ve met their “girly men” counterparts. Delilah’s “girly man” is a greedy man only interested in their own greed and willing to use anyone’s trust, love, and godliness for their greed. Delilah is a deadly wickedness ready to emasculate anyone’s supernatural power and gouge out their vision for life.
Samson went from city to city checking out the enemy Philistine chicks (Jdg 16:1). Then we read,
Judges 16:4-5 Some time later, HE FELL IN LOVE with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose NAME WAS DELILAH. THE RULERS of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can LURE HIM into showing you THE SECRET of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may TIE HIM UP AND SUBDUE HIM. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver.”
Samson fell in love with Delilah. Obviously, the rulers were aware of Delilah’s alluring abilities and already knew her weakness – greed. They offered her a fortune in their economy. She could live like a queen for the rest of her life. The rulers also knew Samson’s strength was supernatural. His power didn’t come from his daily workouts, healthy diet, or steroid injections. The rulers also knew the big boy had a supernatural weakness – women. The rulers would use his supernatural weakness to emasculate his supernatural power.
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2
Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but AGAINST THE RULERS, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
The rulers of darkness do the exact thing with you and me. They use our supernatural weakness to overpower our strengths, tie us up, and subdue us. Samson’s weakness was the only thing capable of stopping him. The only thing capable of stopping you or me is our weakness.
Judges 16:6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
Delilah was as discrete as concrete. She didn’t say, “What makes you so strong, my big hunk of man?” Surely, she was not dumb enough to blurt out her deceitful plan. Certainly even Samson still had eyes enough to see through this. Maybe Samson was well drunk. Something had to be going on. Were they laughing and teasing? “Ah, come on. Tell me the secret of your great strength…” Was it pillow talk? With Samson, we can be relatively sure it was pillow talk, but how did she get him to buy into this?
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2
I know Samson enjoyed riddles, games, and women (Jdg 14:12), but maybe it became an adult game for Samson.
Judges 16:7-9 Samson answered her, “If anyone TIES ME with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” Then the RULERS of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and SHE TIED HIM with them. WITH MEN HIDDEN IN THE ROOM, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered.
Samson wanted to be tied? It certainly seems this was an adult bedroom game. Samson was the strongest tool in the shed, but no one ever said he was the sharpest tool in the shed. We can be strong in the Lord and the power of his might, but we are weak as water when weakness takes over.
Judges 16:10-12 Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied.” He said, “If anyone TIES ME securely with new ropes that have never been used, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So Delilah took new ropes and TIED HIM with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads.
Again, Samson seems to enjoy this “tie me” game. I don’t know why he would continue allowing Delilah to tie him up other than she was good at this game and found it pleasurable.
Judges 16:13-14 Delilah then said to Samson, “Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied.” He replied, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I’ll become as weak as any other man.” So WHILE HE WAS SLEEPING, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric and tightened it with the pin. Again she called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.
At least this time, Samson was sleeping or passed out. Samson was allowing Delilah to get close. She has her hands on his supernatural power – his hair. How close do we allow Delilah to get? How close do we get to greed? Does greed ever get its hands on your God-given supernatural power? It does with many.
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2
Delilah was and is relentless
Judges 16:15-17 Then she said to him, “HOW CAN YOU SAY, ‘I LOVE YOU,’ when you won’t confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven’t told me the secret of your great strength.” With such NAGGING she prodded him DAY AFTER DAY until he was tired to death. SO HE TOLD HER EVERYTHING…
Like Potiphar’s wife, Delilah was relentless day after day. Delilah will not give up. Her mind is on the fortune of her greed. She wants it. Finally, after her nagging, Samson gave up. There is a limit to what any of us can resist.
Remain around Delilah, and you will break down even if you had a supernatural birth, the Spirit of God, and have supernatural power. Delilah will wear you down. Samson’s first wife did this concerning the lion and honey riddle (Jdg 14:17). Delilah’s charms finally won. “How can you say, ‘I love you’ when…?” Notice Delilah didn’t say she loved Samson, but she used Samson’s love for her personal greed. Samson’s supernatural strength was no match for his supernatural weakness in the hands of wicked Delilah.
Judges 16:17-18 SO HE TOLD HER EVERYTHING. “No razor has ever been used on my head,” he said, “because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God SINCE BIRTH. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man.” WHEN DELILAH SAW THAT HE HAD TOLD HER EVERYTHING, she sent word to the RULERS of the Philistines, “Come back once more; he has told me everything.” So the rulers of the Philistines returned with THE SILVER IN THEIR HANDS.
How did she know he’d told her everything? Samson went back to his birth and told her about it. He obviously told her about the lion, the honey, the riddle, the first wife, the jawbone, the gates, the prostitutes, and everything. Delilah called the rulers back once more. What Samson said was convincing enough that they came with the silver in their hands and drooling from their mouths.
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2
Judges 16:19-20 HAVING PUT HIM TO SLEEP ON HER LAP, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And HIS STRENGTH LEFT HIM. Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free…”
Samson, with a full tummy, all needs met, likely thoroughly exhausted, probably intoxicated, with a warm blanket, laid his head in her lap, trusting this wicked woman. After her constant bombardment concerning where he got his strength, we asked how he could. Answer: The cliché births Love is blind. Delilah convinces people to trust her. Her fake love and care for people are in her web.
People put their heads in her lap only to wake up captured. She lures them to sleep. She does her work and uses Samson as Judas used Jesus centuries later. Money and personal greed were all Samson was worth to Delilah. The silver didn’t buy Samson; the silver bought Delilah. Do you know any “Delilahs”? They sell anyone for their greed.
“Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” Shaking himself, thinking all would work out as before,
Judges 16:20-21 Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that THE LORD HAD LEFT HIM. Then the Philistines seized him, GOUGED OUT HIS EYES and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison.
We won’t have a theological discussion about whether the Lord can or will leave us. There’s no need. It’s obvious the Lord will, at least, leave us to our sins. These sins will gouge out the vision we had for life. We become seized, shackled, taken to places in life we don’t want to go, and forced to do things we don’t want to do.
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2
Supernatural Power Returned
Judges 16:22 But the hair on his head began to grow again AFTER IT HAD BEEN SHAVED.
His hair grew, and his supernatural power returned. Samson prayed, and we’ll discuss this in a moment. He restored his relationship with God, but his vision for his life never returned. The loss of vision is what happens when Delilah does her wicked work.
I’ll tell you quickly what happened. The Philistines were having a grand celebration, saying the capture of Samson proved their god Dagon defeated Israel’s God. They brought Samson out to display, mock, and possibly kill before three thousand Philistines. You’d have thought they’d have given Samson one more haircut before the big show. Instead, Samson had one more earthshaking superhero scene left in him.
Standing between two pillars, Samson prayed, asking God for his supernatural strength one more time. He pushed the pillars, and the building fell on all there. Samson died with the Philistines, whose women he used and one he loved so much. Was Delilah there? We don’t know. It is likely, and it would be fitting. I hope she was.
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2
The name Delilah disappears from scripture, but the personification of Delilah lives on in women and Delilah-type girly men. She lives in paintings, writings, and songs. She is a legend and a one-name phenom, speaking a thousand words about a wicked, wicked woman.
Women, the love of a man is to be treasured.
Don’t trample a man’s heart. A man’s heart is a precious thing. His heart is worth far more than silver. Don’t hide his enemies in your closet. Keep your scissors put away. Don’t shave off or even snip away at your man’s sense of worth, masculinity, and power. Instead, allow it to grow and become even more. Don’t be responsible for gouging out his vision. Help him have a vision. He desires you and your children heavily included in his vision. The more you help his strength grow, the more you help yourself, your family, the world, and the kingdom of God. Don’t be Delilah.
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2 – How to Discern True Love
Wicked Woman Delilah Part 2 – How to Discern True Love
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