Hello All!

It’s been a snowy tundra around here, and I don’t love it. I am never one to complain about the weather, but it’s becoming personal now. My dog doesn’t like the rain which seems to come between snow storms. That’s upped my struggle a bit. Plus, my hubby and I are planning an anniversary getaway for later in the year, and there is sun involved. It’s hard to look out my window and see all the white stuff when I know sandy beaches are on the horizon.

Thank goodness I have had you all on here and Instagram to keep me company. Oh, And Delilah.

Sampson fell in love with Delilah. That sounds serious. But then,

“The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, ‘See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him.'” Judges 16:5

I keep reading this verse in different voices to see if the rulers could have said it in a way that confused Delilah. Like, maybe they were chipper in tone and that confused her into thinking this was a good thing.

Haven’t read this story yet? Check it out

Did you enjoy looking deeper into her story, or were you like me mumbling, “oh dear. Oh my. Oh gosh, girl. What are you doing??”

I’ve spent plenty of time thinking of my super hero name, but Delilah took the cake with the Female Judas. Ouch. It got me thinking, did Judas think of her story when he took that fatal step forward? Was he just thinking, “That won’t happen to me,”?

Well, he’s not alone. We have centuries of human nature to tell us we too often believe we are invincible. We got this. Just once won’t hurt. No big deal. But we also have centuries of consequences to prove those are lies we tell ourselves to justify what we feel like hearing.

Can I just throw something out there? This is why church is so important. I don’t mean in a building or with a program. I mean people. side by side people walking out life with us and with the permission to lean in and whisper, “this feels crazy and like it’s not going to turn out like you’re thinking. Can I pray with you about this?” Delilah needed a church.

Can I say something else? While these two were not married (they were just playing at it without the real commitments), Delilah failed miserably as a wife. Not because she made mistakes. That’s a given for anyone. Delilah chose to wear down her man instead of building him up and pushing him to God.

This is what it means to be a wife. Or any role in any relationship. When we press toward God we can see more easily how to pull others closer to Jesus. The minute we focus (like our girl here) on money or worldly gain we lose and we bring others down with us. We never go alone. It’s that simple.

In this chapter of Remarkable Housewives of the Bible, Hollis talks about lying. I call it justifying lying. We think there’s some good reason to do it. We assign it the color white and call it reasonable. Well Jesus called some ridiculous humans “white washed” and there was nothing reasonable about them.

Hollis refers to Matthew 12:36 that says, “Everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoke.”  “oh dear. Oh my. Oh gosh, girl. What are you doing??” This is me talking to myself now. What am I doing?

Are my words toward others empty? Or are they full of promise and encouragement and life? I’m familiar with all of those things, so what’s keeping me from passing them on? Especially when I stand next to people who are hurting or maybe who need me to take the first step in loving well.

And is it enough to just love better than Samson and Delilah did? Or is it more important to love like Jesus does? Willing to love even if we don’t get anything in return. Being willing to reach out even if it means we are the only one reaching for a time? To truly honor someone in relationship means we love the way God wants us to and obey when he calls us to speak up or hold our tongue or reach or stand or kneel.

How about you? What is your biggest take away from this week’s story?

If you don’t have the book The Remarkable Housewives of the Bible, it’s not too late to order it and join us. Each week is stand alone, so you don’t need to back track. And you don’t even need the book to weigh in on this conversation.

Next week we are discussing Hannah and it is OH.SO.GOOD!! Check back here next weekend for this chit chat.