Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!”

1 Samuel 4:21

Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple

Ezekiel 10:18

So he {Samson} awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

Judges 16:20

I remember the old Popeye cartoons where Bluto would do all sorts of stuff to Popeye and the gang.  Although he tried to be patient, Popeye had a limit to what he would take.  And often just before taking his spinach and letting Bluto have it, Popeye would say, “I’ve had all I can stands, I can’t stands no more.”

We know our God is loving and merciful and longsuffering and patient. But even God gets to a point where His people are so blatantly sinful and disobedient that He “can’t stands no more.” But instead of taking spinach and flexing His muscles, His glorious presence is taken from the people, and the people live in defeat.

It happened in the days of Eli the priest and judge, who allowed his wicked sons and the evil nation of Israel to run wild in sin. God allowed national and personal defeat causing one of his grandsons to be called Ichabod (“where is the glory?”).  In Ezekiel, during the Babylonian captivity (before the destruction of Jerusalem) the prophet was given a vision by God showing God’s glory leaving the temple complex and out of Jerusalem completely, leading to defeat and destruction. What sad shape Samson was in when God’s glory left him, and he didn’t even know it.  The once indestructible Samson was brought to defeat.

Oh church! God can’t stands no more. And I fear without faith and true biblical repentance the glory of God will leave us, and we too shall taste defeat. Defeat spiritually as a famine of God’s Word comes upon us. Defeat economically as our luxuries are taken from us. Defeat nationally as this once great nation turns to chaos and anarchy. Let us pursue God.  May we Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. (Isaiah 55:6) If we don’t, when God’s glory leaves, so goes our victorious Christian living.