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As alluded to in last week's devotional, it is almost impossible to mention Samson without mentioning Delilah- as it was his relationship with her that ultimately led to his downfall. So, once I finished researching his mother, I must admit that I found myself looking up Delilah.
For those who may be unfamiliar with Delilah, she can be found in Judges 16. Prior to meeting her, Samson had, had quite a few altercations with the Philistines (Judges 14:19, Judges 15:4-8 and Judges 15:14-17), meaning that they wanted to destroy him. The only problem was that his great strength prevented them from doing so. As such, sensing that his love for Delilah might be the chink in his armour, the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her:
"Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you you eleven hundred pieces of silver" (Judges 16:5)
In order to get this done, Judges 16:16 says that "she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death!" It was this persistence that caused Samson to finally open up to her and reveal the source of his strength, causing his demise. When I read that, not only was I amused by the turn of phrase, I was struck by something- a parallel between Delilah and the lady in The Parable of the Persistent Widow.
The Parable of the Persistent Widow can be found in Luke 18:1-8. Like, the parable of the lost coin, Jesus told this story as an illustration of the way things work within the Kingdom of God. This particular parable was to demonstrate to His listeners that "men always ought to pray and not lose heart".
Just like Delilah, the poor widow in Jesus' story managed to get a judge "who did not fear God nor regard man" to grant her request through her persistence. Therefore, both Delilah and her fictional counterpart show us that:
- Like Achsah, we must be audacious with and in our prayer requests
- In line with 1st Thessalonians 5:17, we must pray without ceasing because-
- As Jesus said, God will answer "His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them," just like He did with Rebekah
Now what about you, lovely? Do you have a prayer request that God seems to be taking a while to answer, like the 2 men in the stories that we explored today? I want you to model yourself on Delilah and the widow- don't give up, remember to P.U.S.H (Pray Until Something Happens) and do what you can in the natural to add actions to your faith, so that God can do His part to bring it to pass.