The Faith and Patience of SAMSON (2)

amid the judgment a small detail appears that contains profound hope judges chapter 16 verse 22 how be the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven while samson languished in darkness stripped of everything he had relied upon god did not abandon him the sign of his consecration began to regrow the path back was being prepared though samson could not yet see it While you sit in darkness, the sign of your consecration may already be growing back.

There is something worth lingering on here.

The regrowth of Samson's hair was not the result of any renewed discipline on his part.

He was a prisoner, blind, grinding grain in chains, hardly in a position to observe a vow with any deliberateness.

the regrowth was simply the natural ongoing kindness of god's created order continuing to operate even over a life that had forfeited so much grace often works this way quietly beneath the surface of our visible failure preparing a door we have not yet found the courage to walk through in the prison broken and humiliated something shifted in samson's heart as the philistine lords gathered for a great feast calling samson out to make sport of him he prayed enter the temple of dagon packed with celebrating lords and thousands of onlookers who have come to mock the once mighty judge of israel samson is led out blind a spectacle for a people who believe their god has triumphed over the god of israel it is here positioned between the two central pillars supporting the entire structure that he offers the most honest prayer of his life judges chapter sixteen verse twenty eight o lord god remember me i pray thee and strengthen me i pray thee only this once o god his prayer was imperfect tinged with desire for vengeance rather than pure repentance.

but it was a prayer to the God of Israel for the first time he addressed God as Adonai Jehovah acknowledging his sovereign lordship for the first time he was not relying on his own strength but pleading for God's and God answered the final act of Samson's life in which he brought down the house and defeated more enemies in his death than in his life was an act of faith it was not the perfect finish a consecrated life would have produced.

But it was the finish of a man who had returned to God.

And it was sufficient.

That is why Samson's name appears in Hebrews chapter 11, the hall of faith.

Not because his life was exemplary, but because at the crucial moment, he placed his trust in God.

There is a distinction that must be grasped.

Samson did not finish well by human standards.

His life was marked by moral failure, public disgrace and wasted potential.

But he did finish strong in faith.

And in God's economy, faith is what matters ultimately.

Samson did not finish well, but he finished strong.

In God's economy, that is what matters.

This does not excuse Samson's choices or minimize their consequences.

The years of his life were diminished.

The purpose he could have fulfilled was curtailed.

It is important that we not read this as a message that consequences do not matter, or that a strong finish erases every cost of a compromised middle.

Samson never became the deliverer he might have been had he walked in full consecration from the beginning.

His name is remembered, but so is his failure today.

Scripture does not soften the record for our comfort.

What his ending shows us is narrower and more precise than a blanket promise that all will end well.