Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more... (Judges 16:28).
Heavenly Father, we proclaim the power of God... whose power is in the heavens. You, God, are awesome in Your sanctuary...God gives power and strength to His people (Psalm 68:34-35).
Father, You have given the story of Your love through Your holy Scriptures, with pages full of people just like us—with the same struggles and shortcomings, trials and temptations, valor and victory. You set them before us as examples and as cautions.
Among them, we see the baffling character of Samson, riddled with strength and weakness, force and flaw, failing and triumph. In Samson's life we confront the painful reality of our own human leanings, and the consequences of our untamed impulses—and yet we see the faithfulness, and the grace of a God of justice and unfailing love.
Hebrews 11 names Samson as a "hero" of faith whose weakness was turned to strength (Hebrews 11:34). Yet so often in the unfolding tragedy of Samson's life, we see a failed "hero" whose strength was turned to weakness.
Samson violated every single one of his obligations to his special Nazirite calling (Numbers 6:1-8; Judges 13:5; 14:5-9; 14:10). And although technically he did not himself violate his final Nazirite vow, his unwise relationships, his reckless baiting, and his utter imprudence caused a razor to be used on his head (Judges 16:17-18).
Lord, we know that Samson's strength was not in his hair, but in the mighty power of Your Spirit (Judges14:6). But his hair was a symbol of the special calling You had placed on his life—a symbol of the sacred trust invested in him for his role in leadership and deliverance of God's people.
Yet, even at the end, after all the failures and the missteps, You were there. After his painful, humbling experience in a Philistine jail—sightless, bound with bronze shackles, and reduced to servitude—"the hair on his head began to grow again" (Judges 16:22).
Father, You have declared, “I am the Lord; that is My name! I will not yield My glory to another or My praise to idols (Isaiah 42:8). So as the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, “Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands” (Judges 16:23), You answered one last prayer. You listened to Samson's request to empower him just a little bit longer—to strengthen [him] once more (Judges 16:28).
O Lord, we are subject to the same temptations and failings as Samson. Help us to walk by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16) so we do not have his tragic, inglorious finish—blinded, bound and besieged by the undisciplined and unruly drivers of our human nature—crying out in desperation for a little more time, a little more grace.
You are good, Lord, and You are kind and compassionate. But You are a holy God, and we cannot willfully sin against You with impunity. You have given us a calling—You have invested in us a sacred trust to uphold Your name and Your reputation. Keep us mindful of the apostle Paul's exhortation to Timothy:
Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us (2 Timothy 1:14).
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