When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. 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 16:18-19
LORD, my prayer today is that I can be like Christ and trust the untrustworthy. There are people in my life who have demonstrated through their actions and behaviors that they cannot be trusted. They have time and time again showed me that they do not have my best interest at heart and will, at the first opportune moment, sell me out for their own interests. My protective instincts tell me to write them off and have nothing to do with them. Then Judas comes to mind, a person who Your Word declares stole from the purse and who ultimately betrayed my Savior. Yet, Jesus kept him close to him, revealing to him with the other disciples His plans and Your will. Christ loved him in spite of him. I struggle with that. Through Christ’s example I recognize that You use even these people to advance Your plans for our lives. Yet, I don’t want to go through the pain associated dealing with them. Help me to surrender myself to them even as Christ has surrendered Himself to me, forgiving without holding a grudge, and welcoming back into the fold despite evidence of untrustworthiness and betrayals. Help me to see them as Christ did, as sheep without a shepherd, lost and in need of nurturing. I reluctantly ask You this morning to enable me to be that person today who loves until the end and sacrifices their life for those whom Christ has given His life for. This will be hard for me. I need for You to continue to remind me of what Jesus would do and grant me the courage and resolve to do it. I pray this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.