Judges 16:20 “…But he did not know that the Lord had left him.”
Would you notice it if you lost the presence of God?
I recently jammed my finger, causing my ring finger to swell. Afraid it might cut off circulation, I managed to remove my wedding band. Since I almost never take off my wedding ring, after 50 years of marriage, it feels like part of my body has been chopped off. I keep reaching for my ring, but nothing’s there other than my lonely, naked finger.
I am acutely aware of my ring’s absence.
But it got me thinking about other, more significant absences. Like the presence of God. Would I be as deeply aware if I no longer sensed his presence? Could I go through the “motions” of Christianity—Bible reading, praying, going to church—without realizing he wasn’t in them? I’m not talking about feelings that can come and go. But could I get so immersed in my own agenda that I squeeze him out?
Samson did. I guess he took his unrivaled strength for granted. Or he forgot where it came from. Before Samson was born, an angel appeared to his mother with instructions that Samson was to be a Nazirite, dedicated to the Lord. As such, no razor was ever to touch his hair. But when he fell into Delilah’s trap and revealed the source of his strength, it indicated more than a momentary slip. He’d been following his own passions more than God’s for a long time.
You know the story. Delilah betrayed him and the Philistines slipped in while he slept and cut off his hair. When he awoke and found himself overpowered by his enemies, scripture records some of its saddest words, “he did not know that the Lord had left him.”
Friend, we don’t want to find ourselves in that situation. We don’t want to let our will start to take precedence over God’s. To neglect him to such a degree that we don’t even realize he’s missing. In the book of Galatians, Paul encourages us not to finish in the flesh what began in the Spirit (v. 3:3). Let’s be intentional.
Let’s not get accustomed to living without the presence of God.