Judges 16:20 “And she said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ And he awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.”
Observation: As a Nazirite, Samson had vowed to never let his hair be cut. He served as a judge in Israel for twenty years, and although he possessed superhuman physical strength, he none-the-less was not one who walked righteously before the Lord. He was a powerful warrior, single-handedly slaying Israel’s enemies by the thousands, yet he was a man easily tempted by lusts of the flesh. Ultimately his doom was sealed when he began an affair with a harlot named Delilah. Five Philistine lords promised her 34 pounds of silver each if she would discover the source of his strength. Weakened by her persistent badgering, he finally revealed the truth…that his strength would leave him if his hair were cut. As he slept a drug-induced sleep with his head in her lap, his head was shaved, after which she awakened him by telling him that the Philistines were upon him. Startled awake, assuming his strength would deliver him as before, then came this awful truth: “But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.”
Application: What a horrifying realization he must have had. He was seized by enemies he would normally have been able to easily defeat, only to have both eyes gouged out and to be taken as a slave.
Is Samson’s story all that unique? Is he the only person to have been jolted to the conscious realization that God had abandoned him? Sadly, no. His story is replicated today in the lives of multitudes of believers. So how does his journey parallel my own? Having once begun strong in my faith walk with gifts flowing through increasing revelation, there was a season when I was going for a deep dive into the heart of God. But gradually, imperceptively, my attention was drawn away, tempted as was Samson by the pleasures of the word. Over time my spiritual edge became dulled as pursuit of the pleasures of this world gradually supplanted my once-determined focus on advancing the kingdom. But I awoke suddenly from my stupor to realize in an instant that God had departed. The once sweet intimacy I used to revel in had been replaced by encroaching dullness and I found myself blinded by the attractions of this world.
Thankfully, it is possible to experience a resurrection of faith. Just as Samson’s hair grew long again, so my heart pushed through fleshly distractions and comfort to once again experience fresh waves of intimacy with the father. But it required my death. As surely as Samson gave his life to destroy partying Philistines, so I had to displace my own pleasure pursuit to gain new life from my own death. Doing so required more an act of will than of faith.
Prayer: Heavenly father, Samson’s story is chilling precisely because it has at times been my own. I have realized with profound sadness that my comfortable lifestyle had supplanted my once-breathless pursuit of you. Thank you for restoration. Thank you for your faithfulness to me even when I strayed. Renew a right spirit within me, Lord, and hold me close. In Jesus’ name, Amen.