Other Times Before

Judges 16:20 KJV
And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

It struck me as I read this familiar passage again, how Samson kept doing the same dumb thing over and over again. The first several times he told Delilah how to take his strength from him he was able to do it without any lost benefits. But there finally came the day when he had told her what she really needed to hear and the Lord had departed.

How could Samson not have known the Lord was departed?

• Perhaps he had assumed the strength really was his own
• Perhaps he had grown so accustomed to getting his way that he thought even the Lord would not deny him his wishes
• Perhaps He did not believe that his strength came from the Nazarite vow his parents had raised him in.

We see it all the time today. A person gives in to sin the first time, with no apparent consequence; the second time and the third time he appears to have gotten away with it. Over and over again he makes choices contrary to the Word of God and the things his parents taught him. But there comes the day when the protection of the Lord is in fact gone.

We must be very careful not to mistake the grace of the Lord for the blessing of the Lord. The fact that we get away with something does not mean it is right and there will come a day when God's grace ends. When that day comes, the price may be far greater than we could ever have imagined.