“And she [Delilah] said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ And he awoke from his sleep and said, ‘I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.’ But he did not know that the LORD had left him.” – Judges 16:20
Yesterday we looked at the first “test” Samson took in his life, salvation. Today we will discuss the second test, sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. To be a Christian is to have the powerful presence of the person of the Holy Spirit in your life. As Christians, we are supposed to cultivate a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. Does He speak to you? Does He lead and guide you? Does He convict you? The more you are sensitive to the Holy Spirit, the more you will mature and grow as a believer. As you become more sensitive to His presence, He will speak to you even before you sin. He may remind you of a scripture that forbids the action you are about to do. On the other hand, over time, you can become so insensitive to the Holy Spirit that you don’t even acknowledge Him and may not even be aware that you’re living without the presence of God. This was the case with Samson. By the end of his life, he was used to being empowered by the Holy Spirit, but as a result of not cultivating a deeper relationship with God, the Holy Spirit left him, and he didn’t even know it.
Throughout the New Testament it talks about grieving, quenching, and resisting the Holy Spirit. Quenching is like the Holy Spirit trying to ignite a passionate flame in your life for God, holiness, and the things of God but you’re putting water on that fire. What you’re doing is quenching or resisting it. It’s God speaking to you but you’re fighting Him. In addition, the book of Ephesians says, “don’t grieve the Holy Spirit.” Sadly, Samson does all three. He grieved, quenched, and resisted the Holy Spirit and he did it for so long that when the Holy Spirit left him, he didn’t even recognize His absence. Let me say that if anybody becomes this insensitive to the presence of the Holy Spirit, he/she is in a dangerous place.
I want you to remember this. You can’t lose your salvation, but you can lose your anointing and a sensitivity to the presence of God in your life. Tragically, Samson fails this test too. Come back tomorrow where we take a look at test number three, personal holiness.
Is there anything that used to bother you that no longer does? Take some time to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any areas of your life where you may have grown insensitive to His presence.
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