Flattery and Deception

Satan can use these two things to bring the strongest man or woman to their knees and ultimately destroy them.  I think everyone knows how to flatter and deceive others to get what they want and most of us have used these tactics at some point in our lives.  Parents use these tactics on their kids to get them to do what they want them to do.  People in relationships and married couples also use these tactics to get their way.  Business people use them to sell their products and governments use them against other governments and even against their own people.

Flattery and deception are not anything new; they have been used since the beginning of time.  Think of Lucifer, he used them on the angels in heaven and a third of them fell with him.  The serpent in the garden deceived Eve, then Adam chose to sin, which affected the whole human race.  Then on and on it went and here we are in the 21^st century and these tactics still continue.  

Flattery can be used in a good way, depending on the person’s motives.  You can flatter someone by saying kind words to them by way of encouragement, or complimenting them from a sincere heart in all honesty, or it can be done in a way to deceive also.  But I think any kind of deception is sinful.

The reason I thought about this subject today was because I was thinking and reading about Samson and Delilah this morning and thinking how Delilah flattered and deceived Samson who was, as far as I know, the strongest man that ever lived because of the Holy Spirit moving in his life.  Because of their sin, the Israelites were in bondage to the Philistines at the time and God was going to use Samson to start the deliverance of His people from their grasp.  God’s purpose was to start a confrontation with the Philistines, using Samson.  It seems like Samson may have deceived himself in some ways also, forgetting where and whom his strength and gifting came from and also losing all perspective.  When we think too highly of ourselves we get into trouble.  When we don’t flee from sin, we usually fall into it.  If Samson would have remembered it was the Lord that set him apart for this purpose, and acted accordingly, He would not have had to suffer like he did.  When we take things into our own hands we usually end up devastated.

The Bible says this in Proverbs 3: 5-7, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil.”

                                                                 

When we try to work things out in our own strength and not include the Lord, we can easily be deceived and that seems to be what happened to Samson.  Samson should have guarded his secret at all cost, but he caved into Delilah’s flattery and her deception which cost him dearly.  He lost his eyes and became a slave to the very people that he was supposed to start delivering God’s people from.

This can happen to any one of us, we can start out strong and end up totally defeated if we allow ourselves to think more highly of ourselves than we should.  When we allow ourselves to think that way, pride can easily set in and be our downfall.  Then the evil one can use flattery and deception to overtake us and render us harmless to his kingdom because of our inflated egos and our judgmental attitude.  

Let’s learn a lesson from Samson’s life and try to avoid these sinful attributes in our lives.  Let’s allow the Lord to lead us and not make the mistake of thinking that we can handle things on our own because we can’t and that is the truth. Something to think about!  May the Lord bless you and your family and may you have a super great day!!