The Slow Fade of Samson

Scripture Link (0:01): Wake up. It's time to kick start your day. You are listening to Scripture Link's daily dose of inspiration. Let's go.

Host (0:14): Good morning and welcome to this brand new day. The description links daily dose of inspiration for Tuesday, 06/23/2026. And today is National Pecan Sandy's Day. Are you a pecan or pecan person? Whatever it is, it's that Sandy's Day.

Unknown Speaker (0:40): And those are a cookie. Of course, it's a real good cookie, but, you know, I can't eat a whole lot of nuts anymore. But, anyway, National Pecan Sandy's Day. Get yourself some and enjoy some today. It is also National Hydration Day.

Unknown Speaker (0:56): You know, it's one of the most important things here in the summertime. You know, days are gonna get hotter and hotter, and you gotta make sure that you're properly hydrated. So make sure you think about that today and every day in this National Hydration Day. It's a good it's a good reminder to make sure that you carry water with you and that you drink plenty of water. Not so much sodas, not so much energy drinks, or, you know, the Gatorade kind of drinks, but just plain ordinary water, does your body a lot of good.

Host (1:34): I've, you know, been in situations over the years working in warehouses like I do in the summertime. You get hot, and sometimes you don't you neglect to drink the water, and it doesn't lead to anything good. Our scripture reading today, we'll read through the New Testament this summer. Today, we're in Luke chapter five and six. Luke chapter five and six.

Host (2:03): And today, I want us to continue talking about the topic of spiritual preparedness. Over the weekend, there was a post on social media, I believe it was on threads, that somebody had made the comment, if the end times are upon us and if the end times are real, then why aren't Christians telling us how to prepare for the end times? You know, my first response my first answer to that is you're not gonna listen anyway. But, you know, that shouldn't be a a cop out reason not to get people spiritually prepared. I'm sure when Noah was building the ark that he was warning everybody each day about the coming flood, and people ignored his message.

Host (3:00): But just because they ignored his message and just because they ignore our message doesn't mean we need to keep it silent. So what we need to do to prepare for the end times, we need to be prepared for that. And we've looked at a few examples on the past few weeks here in the broadcast. One was the parable of the 10 virgins, where five brought extra oil in case of delay and five didn't. And when the time came, the five that were prepared went.

Host (3:33): The five that weren't prepared missed out. We talked about Peter and his denial of how Jesus had had told him and got him prepared to face his trial, and he still failed. And today, we're gonna look in the Old Testament at a a man named Samson. You all know the story, Samson and Delilah. You probably heard it since you were little kids in in Sunday school, but there's a couple of things that we need to pull out of the story to help us as we're talking on the subject of spiritual preparedness.

Host (4:15): The story of Samson is told in Judges chapters 13 and through 16. We're not gonna look at all of that. I'm gonna pull out one verse from chapter 13, and then we're gonna go to chapter number 16, and that's where we're gonna spend our the bulk of our time. But as some groundwork here to the story, Judges chapter 13 and verse seven refers to Samson as a Nazirite unto God. It's important for us to understand what this means, and we have to be able to comprehend.

Host (4:58): In order for us to comprehend what happened to Samson, we have to understand what the phrase being a Nazarite unto God means. A Nazarite in the Old Testament was an Israelite who took a special voluntary vow to dedicate their life or a specific period of time entirely onto God. They lived by three strict rules to symbolize their holiness and their distance from worldly desires. The first thing, the first specific rule or strict rule they they obeyed was abstinence. No alcohol, no strong drink, and they wouldn't even eat products that were made from grapes like raisins.

Host (5:52): The second strict rule they had was uncut hair. The third strict rule they had was ritual purity. They could not even go near the dead or attend the funeral even if it was for somebody in their family. So they lived by these three rules, to show their holiness unto God and to show their distance from worldly desires. You can read more about about this, about the the being a Nazirite unto God in Numbers chapter six verses one through 21.

Host (6:31): So we see that Samson was dedicated unto the Lord. And now in chapter 16 verse number one, we're gonna see now you could read in chapters thirteen, fourteen, 15 about some of the great things that Samson had done and how he was leading Israel as a judge. And we get to chapter 16, and we start seeing his downfall. Verse number one says, then Sam then went Samson to Gaza, and there and saw there a harlot and went in unto her. Gaza was a a Gaza at this point was a neighboring tribe, I guess you could say, neighboring nation.

Host (7:26): And that's where Delilah was living. And he saw, basically, verse one tells us he saw a prostitute and he went and had her. He went and had sexual relations with her. And this is the beginning of his downfall because that's a place he as as a ruler in in Israel, he shouldn't have been. So a lot of times our downfall, a lot of times our falling away from God isn't something that happens just boom.

Host (8:03): You wake up one morning and say, you know what? I've had enough. It's a gradual thing. He's gradually falling away. He went away into a place he shouldn't have been.

Host (8:15): He fell for a prostitute of that region. And and we jump down to verse number four. And it came to pass afterward that he loved a woman in the Valley Of Sorek whose name was Delilah. Let's read down through verse number verse number six. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her and said unto her, entice him and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him, and we will give thee, every one of us, 1,100 pieces of silver.

Host (9:02): And Delilah said unto Samson, tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. So we see here that Samson went go go over this this prostitute, fell in love with her, and and the people, the the rulers of the Philistines who's who they're trying to to they're trying to be able to overcome Samson. And they said, well, hey. He's he's with this prostitute over here. Let's get her to find out what it is that gives him strength.

Host (9:42): And so they promised her a great amount of money, and so she starts working on them. And we see here several times, twice, her going, three times actually, her going and saying, Samson, what is it that makes you strong? What is it that gives you your strength? And two times, Samson lied to her. Two times he gave her false information.

Host (10:12): But then we get down to verse number 16, and we're gonna read down through verse number 20. And it came to pass when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told her all his heart and said unto her, there has not come a razor upon mine head, for I have been a Nazirite unto God from my mother's womb. If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she said and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, come up this once for he had showed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up onto her and brought her money in their hand, and she made him sleep upon her knees.

Host (11:08): And she called for a man and caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head, and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep and said, I will go out as other times before. I will shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

Host (11:41): So he allowed the distraction of Delilah to cause him to fail. Delilah pressed on him. She kept asking, what is it that gives you the strength? What is it that gives you your power? And finally, he had he had been so fed up with hearing these questions over and over again that he finally gave in and told her the truth and told her what caused him to fail.

Host (12:07): You know, there he was in a place he shouldn't have been with a woman he shouldn't have been with, and twice he danced around the edge of sin until he was consumed. We can't play with sin. You know, there's there's one one of the big things today, and it seems to be getting worse in our society and in our world today, is drinking, is is alcohol. And, you know, I used to love to go to Pigeon Forge and go to the restaurants up there, go to the shops up there, go to Dollywood. And Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, that area is nothing more than moonshine shops alcohol venues anymore, so we haven't been up there in a long time.

Host (12:55): But one of the biggest tragedies I see is people drinking this non alcoholic beer or these nonalcoholic drinks. They call them virgin drinks. Friends, you can only drink those so many times before you fall into the real thing. Sampson found that out. You can only flirt with sin so long until you fall for the real thing, and you can't play around with that.

Host (13:27): In verse 19, she says that she began to afflict him. That means a gradual gradual draining of his physical strength. His drifting away from God didn't happen overnight. It happened over days, and that's what happens to us. We have to be spiritually prepared so we don't fall into these situations, so we don't fall into these temptations.

Host (14:06): And at the end, Sampson didn't even realize what he had done. He didn't even realize that the Lord had departed from him. When she told him in verse 20 that the Philistines are here, he got up figuring he's gonna do what he's always done and overcome them, but he couldn't because he he he allowed his strength to be drained. Friends, we have to be spiritually prepared. Had he been spiritually prepared, he wouldn't have went to Gaza.

Host (14:45): He wouldn't have went with Delilah, and he wouldn't have given in to her constant begging to find out what gave him his strength. We had to be prepared for these things. And when we're not, that's when we fall victim to drifting away from god and drifting away from his ways. What are these small little we see in his story here that there was a lot of small compromises that he made. But think about this as we finish this up today.

Unknown Speaker (15:28): What are some of the small compromises that you allow in your life. You know, if you're allowing small con con small compromises to come into your life, it's only a matter of time before they pull you away from God. Don't allow don't allow them to pull you away from God. Don't drift from the strength of the Lord. Don't drift from the strength of the Lord.

Host (16:11): There was a meme I'm looking for here real quick that I wanna finish up today's episode with because I I thought it would fit in real perfect here, so I saved it here. So let me see if I can find it here. Here it is. This is from a Facebook group called Rough Cut Men, and they use different portions of movies to drive home the point of scripture. And he had said Sampson lost his vision long before he lost his eyes because of what he allowed to distract him.

Host (16:52): Friends, what are you allowing to distract you today? Think about that as you go through this day. And remember, get into God's word and allow God's word to get into you. Then share that word with someone today. Have a blessed day.

Unknown Speaker (17:10): And I'll have three glazed doughnuts, two chocolate covered doughnuts, two maple bars, and a cinnamon roll.

Sam (17:16): I got it. Sam, long time no see. How you doing?

Unknown Speaker (17:19): Hey, Bill. Doing okay. Hang on a second, will you? Excuse me. Can you put extra frosting on that cinnamon roll?

Unknown Speaker (17:25): No problem. Thanks. I appreciate that.

Sam (17:27): So how's the diet coming along?

Unknown Speaker (17:29): Really good. The doctor's been really strict, but I eat everything he tells me to eat. Hey. You want a doughnut?

Sam (17:34): No. Thanks. The doctor tells you to eat doughnuts?

Unknown Speaker (17:37): Oh, no. No. No. That's something I allow myself to do. You can't be a 100% faithful with everything.

Unknown Speaker (17:42): Even a diet? Especially a diet. Really?

Sam (17:45): So have you lost any weight?

Unknown Speaker (17:46): You know, come to think of it, I think I've gained a couple of pounds. Man, this diet is worthless. I just knew that doctor didn't know what he was talking about.

Bill (17:56): If you allow sin to have a little space, it will grow. If you truly want to grow in Christ, be obedient to God in all areas of your life. Another message from Lifeline Productions, the comic strip of radio at lifelinepro.com.