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When the Lights Go Out

In August 2003, fifty million people across the Northeastern United States lost power. From New York to Detroit, it was lights out, stalled trains, and elevators stuck between floors. The cause? A single transmission line in Ohio brushed against some trees, overheated, and shut down. The grid did the rest.

Samson knew that feeling. He was Israel’s deliverer, dedicated to God from birth, his uncut hair the visible sign of a lifelong vow. His strength was legendary, yet so were his compromises. After years of flirting with disaster, he finally told Delilah, a Philistine woman, the secret of his strength. While he slept, she had his head shaved.

Then comes the most haunting line in his whole story: he did not know the Lord had left him.

He still showed up and flexed, expecting to break free from trouble like every other time. He had no idea the power had been off for a while. The connection had been quietly disintegrating—one compromise, one shrug at conviction, one “I’ll deal with it later”—and he never noticed the lights had gone out inside.

This is the danger nobody warns you about. You can attend church, know the songs, and sound the part, but still be running on fumes from a relationship you stopped tending months ago.

Don’t wait for everything to go dark before you reconnect!

Pray

Jesus, I don’t want to coast on yesterday’s strength. Wake me up where I’ve drifted, and pull me back close to You. Amen.