Spiritual Blindness

Verse of the day: Judges 16:20, And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

Some would say that Samson being physically blinded in verse 21, when the Philistines took out his eyes, was the greatest tragedy of his life. However, I would say that the spiritual blindness he suffered from in this verse was the greatest tragedy in Samson’s life. Samson lived a compromised life. He deceived himself in thinking that he could continue living a life of sin and compromise and suffer no real consequences for it. Sadly, too many of us today think that God’s grace equals God’s acceptance of our sinful behavior. When we sin and nothing drastic happens right away, we act as if God is winking at our sin. However, God’s mercy and grace is what should bring us back to Him. Romans 2:1-4 tells us, “Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” When we read how Delilah deceived Samson, we can’t help but ask, “How in the world could he not see what she was up to?” This is exactly what happens to our spiritual eyes when we insist on living like the world and compromising our consecration to God. We become spiritually blind. What is obvious to others becomes far from obvious to us. Lot was another example of what happens when we take God’s grace for granted. He first pitched his tent toward Sodom, putting himself in a position to be tempted to move there. Shortly thereafter we find him there. He is later captured when war breaks out, and God is gracious and merciful, allowing Abraham to rescue him. The Bible tells us that Lot was rescued and came back losing nothing. It was not long after that we find Lot and his family right back in Sodom. God later decides to destroy that place and this time Lot lost everything. His wife was turned into a pillar of salt and he ended up having an incestuous relationship with his daughters who got him drunk in order to bare children from him (Genesis 13, 14, and 19). We only fool ourselves when we think that we can continue in sin without dire consequences. I am sure that many of us, once we have fallen hard because of sinful living, can look back and see God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness, and patience working to get us to turn back to Him. Eventually, God will have to resort to disciplining us for our rebellion and sinfulness (Hebrews 12). Samson should have seen the warning signs while having the conversations with Delilah leading up to this tragic moment, but the truth of the matter is that the real tragedy was that Samson was already spiritually blind before he suffered the fate of being physically blinded. If we today are compromising in our walk and relationship with Jesus, it is high time to repent, confess and turn back to Him before it is too late.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).