Judges 16:16-20: a reflection

16When she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, his soul was troubled to death. 17He told her all his heart and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me and I will become weak, and be like any other man.” 18When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19She made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that the LORD had departed from him.

Samson, the strong man set apart to God, finally gives in to Delilah's persistent pressure and tells her the secret of his strength: his uncut hair, the sign of his consecration to God. While he sleeps, she has his head shaved, and when the Philistines come, Samson rises, saying, I will go out as at other times and shake myself free. But the passage adds a chilling line: he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. His strength was gone, and, most tragically, he did not even realize it.

Notice the tragedy in that line: he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. Samson presumed he still had his old strength, that he could shake himself free as before. But the source of his strength, the LORD's presence, had quietly departed, and Samson was unaware. He had drifted so far, compromised so much, that the withdrawal of God's presence went unnoticed; he acted as if all were well when in fact the LORD had left him.

That is a sobering picture of unnoticed spiritual loss. It is possible to drift from God, to compromise and disobey, until his presence quietly departs, and, most dangerously, not even to realize it, presuming we still have what we have in fact lost. We can coast on past spiritual strength, unaware that we have drifted from its source. Examine whether you are still drawing near to God, or coasting on the memory of past nearness. Do not presume you still have God's presence while quietly drifting from him. Stay close to the Lord, the source of all true strength, lest, like Samson, you one day rise to act and find, unknowing, that he has departed. Guard against the unnoticed loss of what matters most.

Lord, Samson presumed he still had his strength and would shake himself free as before, but he did not know that you had departed from him; his loss had gone unnoticed. Guard me from such unnoticed drifting. It is possible to compromise and disobey until your presence quietly withdraws, and, most dangerously, not even to realize it, presuming I still have what I have in fact lost. Keep me from coasting on past nearness to you while drifting from its source. Help me examine whether I am still drawing near to you, or living on the memory of a closeness I have let slip. Keep me close to you, the source of all true strength, and let me never presume on a presence I have quietly grieved away. Hold me near, lest I drift and not know it.