When God Abandons a Nation | Judges 16:18-20; Judges 10:13-14; Proverbs 1:24-31 | J. Allen Mashburn

One of the most tragic scenes in the Bible (and yet one of the most familiar to us) is the scene of the strongest man who ever lived, a man by the name of Samson, finding out he had no strength.
Judges chapter 16 records this. “When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, ‘Come up once more, for he’s told me all that is in his heart.’ Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands. And she made him sleep on her knees, called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair. 

“Then she began to afflict him and his strength left him. And she said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson,’ and he woke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’” And here’s the telling line written by God the Holy Spirit. 

“But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him, so the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, bound him with bronze chains, and he became a grinder in the prison.” Sad. He didn’t know that the Lord had departed from him. I can’t imagine anything worse than being abandoned by God. 

To the sons of Israel, earlier in the book of Judges in chapter 10, God said this, “You have forsaken me, you have served other gods; therefore, I will deliver you no more. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your distress.” This was God saying to Israel, “I’m done with you” - abandoned by God. 

Proverbs chapter 1 records a similar sentiment. “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hands and no one paid attention. You neglected all my counsel, you did not want my reproof. I will even laugh at your calamity. 

I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind. 

When distress and anguish come on you, then they will call on me but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently. They will not find me because they hated knowledge, did not choose the fear of the Lord. 

“They would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof, so they will eat of the fruit of their own way and be satisfied with their own devices.” Again, being abandoned by God, turned over to the inevitable consequences of sinful choices.