Judges 16:20

New International Version (NIV)

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

For Meditation

They said it was a hands down victory. After all the damning allegations leveled against him, the Judge Moore was defiant. Sexual misconduct against children is a very serious offense, not only against the state, but more so, against our Holy God. For the candidate to profess and hide under the name of Jesus with no sense of repentance, reveals his heart. Yet, he shamelessly plowed on. His party, which claims the badge of high moral ground, stood by him. They needed another vote to carry their agenda in the Senate, so they would bury their heads in the sand and hope for him to win. Maybe, God would allow this one also. The President went campaigning for him with vigor. Why not? He carried a heavy load of dirt through his campaign for the presidency and won all the same. God will look the other way again. After all, He doesn’t care about morality! The press could shout as loud as they wanted, but what could they do about it? God was on their side, and who could be against them.

It reminds me of one of the saddest commentaries in the Bible. Samson was a man anointed by God to “take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines” (Judges 13: 5). His strength was proverbial. However, he was careless, puffed-up, and very fleshly, with an insatiable appetite for Philistine women. It didn’t matter if the woman was a prostitute. No one could conquer him. But Delilah lurked in the shadows. Samson played his game against her, and lost in a painful and disgraceful manner.

Don’t underestimate the power of a woman’s nagging. Delilah displayed it so well on Samson until his knees buckled. If anybody knew this so well, Solomon did. Was he not the one who wrote, “Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and nagging wife” (Prov. 21:19)? Her nagging is like the constant dripping of a leaky roof (19:13).

Presuming on the grace of God, Samson revealed his dedication as a Nazirite from his mother’s womb. “If my hair were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man” (Prov. 16:17). So, the Philistines came, and Samson said, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free. ‘But he did not know that the Lord had left him.’”

Humans are very interesting beings. We characteristically become heady with wealth, power, authority, and position. With these, we claim invincibility. We’ve seen this played out many times with its inescapable dire consequences. Yet we do not learn.

President Trump and his candidate, Roy Moore, tasted the truth of Samson’s debacle in the December 12, 2017 Alabama Senatorial elections. They thought they could go out there as during the presidential elections and shake themselves one more time and take the winner’s prize to the Senate. But they did not know that the Lord had left them.

1. So, how have you presumed on God?
2. How could you even think you have Him figured out?
3. How could He be God if you knew everything about Him?
4. Or, do you think you’re wiser than Him?
5. How could you even think you know better than the Almighty God?

I pray you realize that God’s agenda is not man’s agenda. His judgments are unsearchable and His paths beyond tracing out (Rm. 11:33). He is God. We are humans. He is infinite. We are finite.

A hard lesson for us all.

Shalom