Judges 16:20, Jeremiah 29:12-14

Sean Smith

Have you ever thought about, if you had to lose one of your senses which one it would be?

Our senses are possibly our most under valued things that we have.

What would life be like without the taste of your favourite comfort food; chocolate, crisps, Chinese, celery (for those who may be a bit strange).

What about not being able to hear the voice of someone that you love or your favourite songs.

How would it make you feel if you were not able to smell freshly baked bread or fresh ground coffee (they are 2 of my favourite smells, you probably have other ones).

How must it feel to have no sense of touch, to not feel when you have hurt yourself, I remember watching the film about Bob Champion who was the jockey that suffered from cancer, one part you saw him running bare foot on a horse track and when he sat down he noticed the bottom of his foot was bleeding and he pulled something from it about one inch long and he didn't even feel a thing.

Have you ever actually thought about your eyes? You see something it goes into your eyes upside down and then you transfer that the right way up, and then all the colours that we see, I don't profess to understand it all but I think it is truly amazing.

People who have lost one or more of these senses have my utmost respect I don't know how I would cope without them. Today I want to talk about one sense which I feel is even more important than all of these, and that is our "spiritual sight".

In the book of Judges we read about Samson and we all know about the stories and the amazing things he did with a jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:14-16) but there is one thing as I was studying his life, that jumped out at me and scared me and it was this passage:

'Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!"
He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.' Judges 16:20

Samson, because of his lifestyle choices was not aware that "the Lord had left him". Out of all the senses that I have, I think I would rather lose one of those than lose the ability to sense the Holy Spirit at work in my life. Samson had become so blasé about Gods power in his life that he thought his actions didn't matter.

From this event and onwards Samson got dragged seemingly further away from God, but all was not lost, because something amazing still happened. When Samson was at his lowest God gave him his greatest victory - Read Judges 16:23 onwards.

If you are in a place like Samson was after he was captured, take one thing from his death, that as a blind man Samson saw God move in a way like never before, and as you begin to search for God again you can be confident of one thing.

'Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."' Jeremiah 29:12-14