Judges 16:23-31

This chapter starts with Samson spending the night with a prostitute and then sneaking out in the middle of the night.  What an odd way to start the chapter!  But what really caught my eye was verse 20, after Delilah had cut his hair and the Philistines were ready for him and he was ready to fight them back, the verse ends:  "But he did not know that the Lord had left him."

There is such emptiness in those words.  Going from the world's strongest man to the man without a friend and more importantly a man without God.  When did God return to Samson?  Or did he ever really leave?  Verse 22, out of nowhere just says "But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved."  Its almost the author's way of saying that there is little that one can do that God can't forgive.  Even if you try to cut yourself down through sin, God will restore you to strength if you just let him.

Yet, even though God "returned" immediately, Samson still felt alone because of sin.  Samson's prayer is his way of asking for God to return to him and be on his side of the battle.  God was always there, God always is.