The Lure of Love.
It’s barely 10 days to the most misunderstood holiday of all time, and for some reason Nat King Cole’s L-O-V-E is on repeat in my head. And this story has held my attention for quite some time, so I figured why not? And with that, I welcome you to the ultimate story of a City Boy and a Business woman.
As always, when we consider the major and most popular stories in the Bible, we highlight one character’s role and leave the other or others in the background. So, here I am to flip the script. If you haven’t already figured it out, we’ll be dwelling on the infamous story of the man with the strength of thousands, Samson and his final babe, Delilah. Or rather, we’ll be focusing on Delilah, the ultimate weapon.
A little bit of history on Samson before he meets his last lady love. In case you’ve never heard of Samson before, although I find that very hard to believe regardless of religious background, he was one of the judges of Israel in the time before Samuel the prophet, King Saul and King David, and he judged for about 20 years (Judges 16:31). Quite a while, so one would think that he would be wise beyond his years right? Well, we’ll see. You see, Samson was born blessed by God, his birth was even announced to his own mother and father by an angel of the Lord (Judges 13:1-25). He was the definition of a special child, and he knew it. From Judges 14 through to 16, it becomes pretty clear that Samson was not only strong, as in physically stronger than any other man, but he was also very stubborn and impulsive. Not exactly a reassuring combination.
So yeah, he initially married a Philistine chic, which was weird considering that the Philistines were the enemies of Israel at that point, not that they ever made up afterwards. At the wedding, this man decided to mock his new wife’s people by giving them a riddle to solve. They eventually did, by threatening the answer out of his wife, and to fulfill his promise to them he had to kill people. Then he vexed and left his wife in her father’s house, and her father sharply gave her to his best man.
Some months later, Samson decided he wanted this babe back, and thought visiting her with a baby goat would work. First of all, a goat? Really? That’s what you thought would work? Anyway, it didn’t work as she was already married to someone else. In retaliation, he burned their entire harvest. Talk about having anger issues. Shaaaa, that’s how he used to beat Philistines and defeat them left and right, whenever they decided to fight him. Even the time he went to visit one hook-up girl like that, and they surrounded the place, that’s how Samson vexed at midnight and carried their city gate o (Judges 16:3). As in, he helped them to rearrange their city borders. To say that he had his own in his body, was an understatement. But that was how he was living his life, before love hit him.
Cue the entrance of Delilah (Judges 16:4), and although the Bible never described her, I have this mental image of a drop-dead gorgeous, dark haired beauty. Again, Delilah was Philistine, so I think we can see that Samson had a thing for them, and God was really using him to cause trouble for them (Judges 14:4). Anyway, my oga fell in love. And that was the beginning of the end for him. Because you see, although the Bible makes it clear that he loved her, It never says the same about her. And this babe, Delilah, was a business woman at her core. So when the lords of the Philistines went to meet her, and offered money in exchange for the secret of Samson’s strength, she had to do some checking and balancing. You see, they offered eleven hundred pieces of silver each, and they were five. Eleven hundred pieces of silver was already a lot of money, more than a lot actually . Because if they could betray my Lord and Savior for just thirty, I’m not even remotely surprised that she didn’t think twice about betraying Samson. Now multiply that by 5??!! Solve the maths now… I’m even surprised she didn’t offer to bring his full clan if that’s what they wanted.
She didn’t even waste time. The very next verse tells us that she went to start her hustle immediately, she went to ask him sharp sharp, no need to wait. Time waits for nobody. Now this is where I have a problem with this our Judge. Someone is asking you for information that keeps the air in your lungs, and he didn’t even give her one bombastic side-eye and ask if she was okay in the head. No dear, he actually answered her because he loved her. But I guess he hadn’t completely lost his senses yet because he lied to her. This babe didn’t waste any time, she set the stage s for his downfall and when it didn’t work, she had the mind to be angry with him for lying to her. Just imagine it, someone is vexing for you because you had the effrontery to save your life and not let them kill you. In the name of love? Wahala. But let me reduce my volume, because many of us are currently on this table, in dangerous situations that can kill us. Why? Simply because we’re in love.
As they say, love makes people do incredibly stupid things, because help me ask Samson why he remained there after attempt number one? He stayed o, even after Delilah made attempts two and three. This man actually stayed there, one step away from the grave, because he was in love. Delilah must have been something else because I truly can’t understand it. Even if it’s jazz, haba. That type of love. And she was determined to get that money, committed to securing the bag at all costs, so she was not going to rest until she got it. And she sure as heck wasn’t going to let him rest either. She pestered, guilt tripped, and gas lighted this man to infinity and beyond. She utterly destroyed his peace. And yet, he stayed. Beware of a love that destroys your peace, because it will definitely destroy you. The Bible says his soul was vexed to death, to death o, that’s how much he was annoyed and frustrated by the situation, and still, he remained there! If I say he didn’t have anything in his head now, you people will say I’m angry. You too, consider the situation for yourselves. But then again, it’s easy to see the flaw when you’re on the outside looking in. How many of us have been in similar positions and done worse, stayed longer, endured more, all in the name of love?
Eventually, as with almost anything you do consistently, Delilah succeeded in her quest. She wore him down so completely that he told her the whole truth. I’m sure she heard the clink of those silver pieces ringing in her ears as she looked at him and realized that she had won. Because she had. She knew his secret, the true secret, and she was going to use it to destroy him. It wasn’t enough that he loved her, and it couldn’t be clearer that she did not share his feelings. Hear me, it is not enough to love someone “enough for the two of you”, whatever that means. They do not love you, and you know it, but because you and Samson are in the same WhatsApp group, you won’t hear. Receive sense and deliverance from bondage this year, Amen.
Delilah was a calculating woman who had her own interests at the forefront of her life. Now, do not misunderstand me, she might have even cared about Samson at some point, but she did not love him. How do I know? Because the ultimatum example of love is before me, before us all. God’s love is the yardstick against which all others are measured. And I know you’re probably tired of reading this, but 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 gives us a pretty clear answer of what love is and isn’t. Years ago, I heard of this idea of substituting the word “love” with the name of whoever it was you were interested in, and safe to say that when that is done in all honesty, you have a pretty good idea where you stand with that person. But have we ever considered substituting the word “love” in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 with another name, “God”? We say God is love, but I haven’t found another Bible passage that tells me so clearly about the character of my Father. Try it, do the substation on your own sometime, and then see.
I particularly love verse 7 that says,
“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
(1 Corinthians 13:7 NLT)
Isn’t that what characterizes our relationship with God? He calls us His beloved, and tells us that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38). He saved us, sacrificed His divinity to become human , suffered the very painful and demeaning death on the Cross, on the off chance that we would somehow, someday pick Him and pick His love. If that isn’t the very definition of hope, then I don’t know what is. His love, His forgiveness and mercy endure through all our struggles, situations and selfishness. He is always there, always. Never leaves us, never needs a break from our foolishness and impatience. Christ is literally the fulfillment of this Scripture, and our shining example of what true love means, and just how practical it can be in our lives. And I’m not just talking about the romantic sort, because it extends to everyone and every area in our lives. How do we love our families? How do we love our friends? What about our “enemies”? Are we waiting for their downfall, praying for them to “fall down and die”, instead of interceding for their souls? Because it’s easy to love who you like, but what about when the person’s very existence pisses you off to the depths of your being? What about the one who breathes around you and you want to plank them into 2050? Yeah, what about them?
Believe me when I say this one is definitely for me, because I’m not the most social person, and tbh I don’t really care for people in my space. Lol, I can already hear a couple of friends sniggering when they get to this part. But if I’m to be the reflection of God’s goodness on this earth, if we’re truly made in His image, then doesn’t it follow that we, as believers in the Gospel of Christ, be the very vessels He uses to pour out His love on this earth? How do we do this? Easy. The cheat code is already here. Become love.
What does that mean, exactly? Simple.
Love is patient, become patient.
Love is kind, yup, you’ve guessed it. Become kind.
And now that you’ve gotten the idea, let me tell you plainly. You cannot do it on your own. Because human beings will test you. Lmao, they will try you and push you, and generally make you want to simultaneously pull your hair out and beat the living daylights out of someone’s child. But guess what? Here we have help again. Because we don’t need to do it on our own. God never intended for us to even try. He gave us His Spirit to teach, counsel, and most importantly, help us not commit assault and violence every time someone does something incredibly dense. The Holy Spirit teaches us, not only about ourselves and our own issues, but also about the people and situations around us. He counsels us about God and the truth and everything else. He helps to transform us from people who are affected and reactive to everything and everyone, to people who focus more on what we have to give to the circumstance than what it gives to us. Because that is what love does. It Gives. And if God, who is love, gave us His own Son, then what can we do but follow his example and give of ourselves?
In the beginning of this post, I referred to Valentine’s Day as the most misunderstood holiday of all time, and that is because we’ve somehow turned something that was meant to be a celebration of our ability to love each other in honor of a man’s reflection of God’s love, into a competition of oppression. Who gets what for whom, and who doesn’t. Who goes where with who, and who doesn’t. Matching outfits that sometimes hide dysfunction and pain, pictures and videos of pretense, and in all these things we’ve forgotten what it’s truly about. Love. God.
Believers, beloved of God, while He’s willing to cause rivers to flow through the desert for you, are you willing to be the tap to your fellow man? Are you willing to sacrifice for someone else? To be honest and fair to those you don’t even like? Are you truly willing to be Christians, Christ-like in your dealings with men? As sure as I pose these questions to you, I put them to myself as well. Am I? Because in order to so let our light shine before men, we cannot pick and choose when to be obedient and listen to the Holy Spirit. We cannot select the scriptures that make us happy and ignore those that speak truth. We cannot claim to come from Love, to be of Love, and have restrictions for the Love in our hearts. Clanging cymbals, Paul likens these to (1 Corinthians 13:1).
As we all learn to walk and live in Love, by the guidance of the Spirit of God, I wish you the very same steadfastness and strength that I pray for, and ask that our feet be firmly planted on the Rock of our Salvation.
Calvary Greetings to you and yours this season of Love,
…Gabrielle.
