The Lord had Departed from Him

 Samson was used by God to defeat the Philistines in several ways according to God's purpose for his life. However, he broke God's will at various times because of his desire to be with pagan women. Finally, one of those women, Delilah, found the source of his great strength and had his hair shaved while he slept to weaken him. (Judges 16:20) She did this at the request of the Philistines, who wanted to get back at Samson. It was a very sad scene as Delilah told him, "The Philistines are upon you." Samson thought he would defeat them as he always did, but he couldn't. He did not realize that Lord had departed from him.  Of course, that meant his great strength was gone. I pray this never happens to any of us, but it could happen to any of us.

God has a purpose for each of us, as we said in yesterday's post. God blesses us to accomplish that purpose. However, his blessing is based on our obedience to Him. Samson had been commanded to never shave any hair on his head. When he told that secret, and his hair was shaved, God withdrew from him. When we know the commands of God and we fail to follow them, we are in danger of the Lord departing from us. This doesn't mean we lose our salvation. It means His power to accomplish our purpose is removed because of our sins. The good news is that God can forgive us and restore us, even if this happens, but we must confess our sins and cry out to Him, like Samson did. Then, God can bless us again to fulfill His will for our life.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Judges 17-19.