A Different Story

Samson.

The world was not worthy of him.

So says the writer of Hebrews, bringing me back around to consider just how it was that Samson found himself amongst the honorable mentions in that great Hall of Faith.

For all the desire to which his eyes wandered, for all the rage that rushed through his veins, for all the destruction his vengeful hands wrought, and for all the self he was content to worship, Samson at last found his moment.

And then we see.

We see how this prodigal, shaved and shamed, unearthed faith before he buried the Philistines.

There came a day, Samson’s last, when in faith he brought the house down.

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His strength drained away, Samson stood alone in a Philistine cell. No more would he tear apart a beast with his bare hands, nor feast on sweet honey fresh from the comb, with wrists and ankles shackled in bronze. His eyes, now gone, would never again gaze on a beautiful Philistine woman.

The Philistines, not content to shame their nemesis privately in prison, dragged him out of his cell and put him on parade in the temple for the evening entertainment.

There in the brokenness of his surrender, Samson remembered God.

Remembered? Or perhaps found Him for the first.

In that moment of remembering, he wondered what memory God had of him.

And he asked Him to renew it.

Then Samson prayed to the LORD, “O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.” (Judges 16:28)

Samson, who had long believed his strength was his own, found its source in the Sovereign LORD alone.

Propped between two pillars, he called on God, and God sent His power coursing back through Samson’s veins. He flexed, and sensed God’s presence once again.

His last words, at once broken and again defiant, faded away into the echo of rock crushing rock as he forced pillars aside and the building collapsed.

Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived. (Judges 16:28)

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God brought Samson to Manoah and his wife to begin the deliverance of Israel, to confront the Philistines. Samson was train wreck. A walking confrontation. I’ve yet to find myself liking the fellow, but I can’t help but see God’s plan and how it unfolded through his tumultuous life.

In the moment of his complete surrender, even in his death, Samson perfected that confrontation with the Philistines God sought in his birth.

Pious? Not at all.

Righteous? By faith.

For Samson, as with us, our own strength, our self-sufficiency, our very own way shackles our hands and feet. When our strength is stripped away, when we are crushed and broken and we no longer have even our own eyes to see, then God can move.

In us.

Through us.

And by golly, stand back. He’ll bring the house down.

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Related: See more posts in the Samson series.

If my granddad weren’t close to 102, I think he would have been involved in the creation of the Internet. It just came a little too late for him. He doesn’t get online, but my dad brings him printed copies. Printing off the blogs is a pain in the neck, you know? So I put together the whole Samson series in PDF format to make it easier for them. While I was at it I figured I may as well link it here. If you like your paper, here you go.