Hosanna Restoration Church

Have you ever felt like Samson? Have you ever felt like everything has gone dark? Have you ever felt weak and helpless? I think that everyone can say yes to these questions. The depth and reason for our despair will differ, but at one time or another we have all felt weak and hopeless because we could see no way out of our circumstances.

This was a strange position for Samson. It was a new beginning for him. After all, he was born dedicated to God. The Spirit of the Lord had always come over him when he needed it. The sad thing is that Samson seemed to be unappreciative of all that God provided for him. It may be that he ultimately came to the place where he thought he no longer needed God’s help. That is of course pure speculation, but the fact is that he told Delilah how he could be rendered powerless.

The truth is, that his hair was the symbol, His strength left because the Lord left him. (Just a short side note here. May our nation quickly remember all that God has done for us.) So now, Samson is in a mess and it is a mess of his own making. He blew it! I think that many of us come to know Jesus in a state of desperation for something more in life. I also believe that we come to Samson’s state because we lose our focus on the Lord and that many of our dark times are of our own making. Fortunately for us, we know that Jesus said He would never leave nor forsake us.

The power most certainly left Samson, but God’s love for him never did. There in that prison, Samson had the time to look back. He had time to consider all that he wished he would have, could have, and should have done. During this time, scripture says his hair began to grow. I don’t think Samson spent his time wishing that his hair would grow. I think he spent time feeling sorry for himself first. Hey, who wouldn’t feel sorry for themselves with their eyes gouged out. Admit it, even when we make the mess, we still feel sorry for ourselves for a bit.

However, I think once Samson got over that he began to look for something good. Personally, I think he could have come up with a better final plan but at least he called out to the Lord. As he considered God and as he ground the grain in prison his strength returned along with the presence of God. He began to imagine a time when he might get revenge. I think he would have done better to seek his sight back and some more years of serving God, but at least his focus returned to doing what God sent him to do and that was to deliver Israel from the Philistines.

It is quite possible that long before his final act of vengeance he could have broken his chains and left that prison, but he could not see that. He could not look in a mirror and see how long his hair was either. But as he spent time seeking God, some hope rose up in him and then perhaps he could feel his hair on his shoulders. As they were bringing him out to mock him and in a way to mock God who strengthened him, Samson asked for one more chance. He wanted one more opportunity make the Philistines pay for poking out his eyes. I don’t believe that God honored Samson’s request so Samson could have revenge but because it was God’s plan to deliver Israel.

Samson did a lot of things wrong just as we all do, but even in the mess he made, God provided a beginning. We can’t fix everything from the past, but we can begin again in God’s strength. Whether we have known the Lord and ended up in a mess as Samson did, or if we are just in a mess in life having never known God, He will help us see, strengthen us, and give us hope. Samson ended up doing more in the end than he had done all together in his lifetime.