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For I know the plans I have for you,declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jer 29:11 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :Samson, Part 8 — Samson Meets Delilah Bible Verse:Judges 16:1-8 (ESV) "Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her. The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron. After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Seduce him, and see where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to humble him. And we will each give you 1,100 pieces of silver.” So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and how you might be bound, that one could subdue you.” Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had men lying in ambush in an inner chamber. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the bowstrings, as a thread of flax snaps when it touches the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me and told me lies. Please tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If they bind me with new ropes that have not been used, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” So Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And the men lying in ambush were in an inner chamber. But he snapped the ropes off his arms like a thread. Then Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you might be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web and fasten it tight with the pin, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.” So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web." Message:
We saw before, that the Spirit of God rushed upon Samson and he killed “a thousand men” wielding a jawbone from a dead ass. But Samson’s sheer strength, the characteristic for which he is best known, first appears in Gaza. The Philistines intend to trap him inside Gaza until morning, when they will kill him. But Samson basically laughs at them — he pulls the heavy city gates right out of the ground and carries them up a hill!
But having discovered Samson’s prodigious physical strength, we immediately discover Samson’s weakness — sex. We gasp in disbelief at his blockheaded stupidity. Every time he tells Delilah a fake way to destroy his strength, he wakes up to find that exactly what he has told her has been done to him, and there are Philistines attacking. Does he need a road map?
But this very stupidity in the face of sexual desire repeats itself time and time again, over the course of history and in the world today. Men and women both will commit absurd acts of potential self-destruction in the heat of lust. Why would a sitting President of the United States risk his position for a sleazy encounter with a marginally-attractive intern? Why would near-billionaire Jeffrey Epstein lose his life, simply because he couldn't wait until girls turned 18 to lure them into prostitution?
It seems incomprehensible. Lust, especially when combined with power, has the ability to override cognitive function to the point of self-destruction.
Meditation : Prayer : I pray to you, dearest Jesus, for all the graces I need to know you, to love you and serve you faithfully unto death, and to save my soul. Give me a tender and fervent devotion to your sacred passion by which I was redeemed, venerating you each day in prayer, and teach me how to unite sorrows and sufferings of my life with your own........Amen |
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