Day 14 of Illumination: The thief will exploit weaknesses found in unenlightened areas.
- araratchurch
- Oct 14, 2022
- 3 min read
So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me what makes you so strong and what it would take to tie you up securely.”
Then Delilah pouted, “How can you tell me, ‘I love you,’ when you don’t share your secrets with me? You’ve made fun of me three times now, and you still haven’t told me what makes you so strong!” She tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death of it. Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. “My hair has never been cut,” he confessed, “for I was dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else.””
Judges 16:4, 6, 15-17 NLT
There have been many elaborate bank heists; as a matter of fact, there have been very entertaining movies made, based on actual thefts.
The heist holding the Guinness Book record for largest “pure” heist (no insiders used or embezzlement), happened in 2006 at Banco Central in Fortaleza, Brazil.
The heist was carried out by a gang of dozens of criminals. The gang posed as landscapers working nearby, while digging a 250 foot tunnel to their intended target: the foundation of the bank. Over the course of a weekend, they bored into the bank, taking off with an estimated $70 million.
Although a majority of the gang was eventually rounded up and brought to justice, only 10 percent of the stolen funds were ever recovered.
It doesn’t matter what security systems or barriers exist, if there is a vulnerability, a clever thief will exploit it. In this case, the otherwise well-protected bank was entered and looted through a place of weakness.
The fact is that we are up against a would-be thief we cannot see.
“For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
Ephesians 6:12 NLT
This enemy is a very clever thief who never tires of seeking out vulnerabilities to exploit in order to rob us of our joy, our peace, our health, our substance, or even our soul.
“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
John 10:10 NLT
As we are seeking the deep things of God we must remember that failing to receive enlightenment in any area of our lives, leaves a vulnerability to the enemy of our soul. Nothing is insignificant. Ignorance in any area of your daily walk is automatically a vulnerability for the thief to enter.
“Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith….”
1 Peter 5:8-9a NLT
Paul—in speaking to the church at Corinth—explains to them that the reason he is being so specific about how to deal with a person who is being forgiven and reinstated, is because he doesn’t want to leave any openings for the devil to exploit. He explains his rationale this way:
“so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes.”
2 Corinthians 2:11 NLT
In our opening scripture we see portions of the famous story of Samson and Delilah. As you probably know, Sampson was gifted by God with supernatural strength and had won many mighty victories against the enemies of his people. But Sampson had a vulnerability: women. His enemies were not ignorant of the fact that Sampson was a womanizer and they used that fact to get the secret of his strength and cause his covenant with God to be broken. Thankfully, in the end, Sampson had one final great victory. But not before being captured, blinded, and enslaved by the enemy.
Only the enlightenment that comes through the Holy Spirit can enable us to become aware of—and “harden”—our vulnerabilities which Satan may be using to rob us!
We light a fourteen candle of illumination today by knowing this:
The thief will exploit weaknesses found in unenlightened areas.
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