The Downward Spiral of Moral Compromise

Talk about sleeping with the enemy. Samson was comfortable enough with Delilah to fall asleep in her lap. That’s amazing to me. But then there is this sad statement: “But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him” (Judges 16:20 NKJV).

If Samson had not been in this sinful relationship with Delilah, he wouldn’t have found himself in the mess he was in. But Delilah wouldn’t give up. She kept tormenting him and nagging him. And then she went in for the kill: “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies” (verse 15 NKJV).

In the end Samson told Delilah his secret. He confessed that his hair had never been cut and that he had been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. Then he told her that if his head were to be shaved, his strength would leave him and he’d become like anyone else.

Delilah realized that Samson had finally told her the truth. So she sent for the Philistine leaders and then lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap. She called for his hair to be shaved off, making his capture certain. Samson didn’t realize the Lord had left him, and the Philistines overpowered him.

Any person who would ask you to compromise your principles as a believer to prove your love doesn’t really love you. The fact of the matter is that if someone loves you, they’ll tell you the truth. Proverbs 27:5 says, “Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed” (NKJV).

Moral compromise always makes us vulnerable. And if we’re not careful, we can come under the sway and the intoxicating effects of sin.