with the godless, and then we feel bound to go along with them, and we find our selves at last in the Devil’s Barber Shop. Samson made his first step of surren der when he told Delilah, his wife, that if he were bound with seven green branches that were never dried, he could be bound and taken captive by the Philistines. But breaking easily the seven green branches, he told her that if he were tied by new ropes that were never occupied, never used for any other purpose, he could be bound and captured by the Philistines. He was playing at being captured by the Devil. He was playing with his Nazarite vow of devotion to God. He was beginning to treat his vows of consecration lightly. Then, the third step, he told Delilah that if he were bound by the seven locks of his long hair to the beams of the ceiling, he could be taken captive by the Philistines. He was getting very near the real secret of his great
three times, and hast not told me where in thy great strength lieth . . . 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” (Judg. 16:15-17). Wearied with resisting, a compromise in his heart, Samson yielded to the tricks of Satan. How often the Christian is tempted, under pressure, at last to compromise his dedication, and yield to Satan. “Just to keep peace in the family” or “Just to get along in business.” Now, the final step. “ She made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him” (Judg. 16:19). Shorn of power in the Devil’s Barber Shop! The unsaved, even if they be our loved relatives, are no friends to God. There is an eternal divine cleavage between loved ones where one is a child of God and the other a child of the wicked one! I know a wife or husband may be kind and considerate and morally upright, and loving, but if that eternal chasm exists within the home, one saved and the other a lost soul, the contest of the ages is on in that home. Shall the child of God be true to God and without com promise witness to his unsaved partner, or shall he yield step by step to the subtle and Satanic appeals which come through the unsaved partner until at last he is shorn of his Christian testi mony, and of his spiritual power! It is the first step of compromise which is apt to be fatal to one’s Christian testi mony. That is the first compromise of the heart. Satan does not get us into his chair all at once, only step by step. “And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him” (Judg. 16:20). Defeated! Disobe dience to his vow of separation unto God had shorn him of God’s blessing and strength! He had to learn in bitter ex perience that his strength was not his own, but only God’s might channeled through a yielded life. Soon he was to grind meal, chained by the Philistines. His eyes were to be put out. Servitude now, under Satan’s cruel bondage, awaited him. Have you ever experienced freezing? A cold night, bitter winds, a long trek ahead, a sense of weariness, a desire just to rest for a few moments and then to complete the journey. I have known this experience. Once I sat down amid the high snowdrifts to rest. A strange sense of warmth came over me. It was like an inner glow, or as if I had by magic come near a warm stove. The biting cold was no longer there. I was beginning to feel comfortable. Then suddenly the thought startled me. This might be the beginning of freezing to (Continued on Page 26) T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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Samson Staying the Lion (Num. 6:8-10). Death is the evidence, the sign of God’s uttermost dealing with sin. “ Sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (Rom. 5:12) . . . “ dead in trespasses and sins” . . . “ dead while she liveth.” God’s devoted servant is to have done with sin. His is the victorious life. “ If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:36). “ Sin shall not have' dominion over you” (Rom. 6:14). The proof of forgiveness of sins is to be seen in de liverance from the power of sin! Every Christian should be a Nazarite in this respect, and in all three phases of Naza rite separation unto God. We do not mean that consecrated Christians should wear long hair. But every Christian is called to know the true intoxication of the Spirit-filled life, the willingness to be different and bear reproach for Christ’s sake, and real victory over sin’s power. But, our Adversary, the Devil, will lure us into his barber shop by every subtle device to break our dedica tion of life to God. Samson goes into the Devil’s Barber Shop! Samson took five steps, fatal compro mises, and landed in the Devil’s Barber Shop. Samson’s life-record is not free from stains, from mis-steps. God never covers the record of our lives except by the blood of Christ. David’s sin was ex posed before all the nation, Israel, and is written for us to read. But David learned that the mercy and forgiveness of God covered sin out of God’s sight. Samson’s first mistake (Judg. 16:1-9) came through one very near and dear to him, his wife. She was a Philistine at heart. He married the wrong woman. A Nazarite joined to a Philistine. A Christian married to a non-Christian. A devoted and consecrated Christian mar ried to a worldling! That sets the stage for a possible spiritual collapse. Satan gets at us through other people. We enter into agreements, into relationships Page Ten
The Death of Samson strength, the long hair. Are we to un derstand that the long hair itself gave Samson his strength? Never. The long hair was the visible sign of his Nazarite vow. Touch that visible witness to oth ers, compromise it, and power for Christ with others is gone. Samson’s great strength was in his separation unto God, and the long hair was the outward evi dence of it, under the Nazarite vow. When Christians begin to treat lightly the visible, tangible evidences which an unsaved world can see in a believer’s separation (unto God from the sinful idols and pleasures of the world) he is almost in the chair in the Devil’s Bar ber Shop. Now comes the real test. Should we love God more than we love those who are dearest to us, the sweetheart, the wife, the husband, the children? Delilah put on the pressure, “How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these
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