The Secret to Strength

I was reading Judges 16:20 where Samson was subdued by Delilah and "he did not know that the Lord had left him". I was always curious to find out why the shaving of his head led to the loss of his strength. After all, he had broken his Nazirite vow in other ways. He had touched a dead animal, murdered men with a mercenary motive, and his morality choices with the opposite sex were far from being typical of a consecrated life.

The story of Samson has the underlying theme of "Secrets". The is the secret riddle at the center of his botched marriage ceremony, and of course Delilah's relentless pursuit of the secret to his strength. Gaining access to secrets is part of intimacy. Delilah used her exclusion from a secret as leverage to challenge the depth of Samson's love for her. It was all a ploy, but Samson fell for it.

Why did the Lord "leave him", albeit for only a season? Well, until Samson told Delilah about his Nazirite vow, and his hair untouched by a blade. That was an intimate secret between the Lord, Samson and his parents. By telling all, Samson broke open a lifelong secret that damaged his intimacy with God. It was the last straw in a deteriorating relationship. The Lord in his wisdom felt there was a better chance of ultimate restoration if Samson was deprived of his strength and faced an immediate catastrophe. We know the story. There was redemption in the end.

To avoid the level of catastrophe that Samson faced, we should learn from his story. Our intimacy with God should involve secrets. If you are tweeting every time you pray, if you a blogging every time a verse impacts your heart, if your spiritual highlights only take place in large to medium size groups, you have work to do. Cultivate a "secret place" with God, Psalm 91:1. Have spiritual disciplines of prayer, worship, meditation and acts of unseen service that only God and perhaps a spouse or close family member know about.

These secrets will cultivate your intimacy with God, increase your sensitivity to His voice, enhance your large group worship experiences and most of all, become the source of your strength.