Don't Be Triggered

Daily Reading: Judges 16

Scripture Focus: And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death. And he told her all his heart... She made him sleep on her knees. And she called a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. (Judges 16.16-17a)

Devotional Thought: One of the most important ingredients to successful sobriety is to avoid being 'triggered' by circumstances and friends. The sad, but irrefutable truth is that some friends will have to be left behind. That is true for more than just addiction. The wrong friends can drag you down.

Delilah was like that in Samson's life. Her tactics seem only too familiar as we deal with sin. The spiritual slide in Samson's life is a textbook case:

· She pressed and urged him. Temptation to sin increases in proportion to its proximity. The closer we are to it, the more pressing are its demands. "Sin is crouching at your door, but you must master it" (Genesis 4.7).

· Day after day. Delilah didn't take a break. She wanted Samson's defeat and kept working at it. That's why we are told to throw off the sin that so easily entangles (Hebrews 12.1).

· His soul was vexed. That was a good thing! It was God telling him "Get out!" God sends the Holy Spirit to convict us when we are getting too close to sin. We do well to heed those promptings.

· He told her his heart. Giving in to sin is giving away something most precious, something reserved for God!

· Sleep. We need to stay awake spiritually!

· Shaved off his hair. He never meant for it to happen, but while he slept, he was defeated.

· Strength left him. When we give in to one temptation, the others gain strength in our lives.

· She tormented him. You think sin is your friend? Satan will torment you, shame will grip you, and despair will rule you.

So, run from sin and do not play around the edges of temptation!

Prayer: Father, help me to be strong in the face of temptation. Thank you that you have made a way of escape for every sin that I face. Help me, O Lord, to take that escape route! Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 56.7-13

7 For their crime will they escape? In wrath cast down the peoples, O God!

8 You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? 9 Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call. This I know, that God is for me. 10 In God, whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, 11 in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?

12 I must perform my vows to you, O God; I will render thank offerings to you. 13 For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.