Samson, the Nazirite, the Judge,the Man with the Super Natural Strength, and long locks of hair. Ahh yes, the hair that was cut by a woman proving that this Man of God was bound way before the Philistines captured him or a woman kissed him, for It is clear that Samsons life was one of chaos and struggle.

The life of Samson is a hard one to digest for, in my opinion, it questions if one really understands what and why they possess certain gifts from God in the first place. Samson’s mother visited by an angel of the Lord ,and to a woman that had been barren all her life it is no surprise that she runs to tell her husband of the good news from the angel of the Lord for, we witness right in scripture the Lord doing what he does best….a miracle.

Manoah’s wife was to have a child, a nazirite child that was to be consecrated to the Lord from birth, and we learn that this baby boy was to begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines. Make no mistake Samson was born for a purpose so the Lord, from the beginning, opened up this ,barren ,woman’s womb to birth this miraculous child so that he may come to know his purpose and therefore fulfill it.

However we read ,in scripture, the very purpose that Samson was born for becomes the very struggle and conflict that he must confront inside himself. Samson finds himself in love with a Philistine woman, which in return angers , on a greater level these people already looking for a fight with him.

Samson marrying one of their woman simply made matters worse so, the debacle begins, and we are left wondering what will become of this situation, and what would become of Samson for his heart is wanting what it wants, and no matter how hard his parents tried  no one can change his mind.

What do you do when your emotions always get the best of you, and you find yourself conducting your life out of anger, lust, or the art of revenge? What do you do, as a Christian , when you can’t seem to recognize His will that has already been predestined for your life, but you are bent on walking around ,agressively, fumbling  the ball in the dark instead making matters worse?

Samson was protected under the umbrella of God  for so long  he failed to understand that his actions would have some very steep consequences if he continued on this course; consequences that he never took the time to calculate so, Samson the Nazirite became Samson the risk taker a man lead by his emotions, and  known, very well, for  his track record in trusting the wrong people with the wrong information.

So, the worse thing imaginable happens, in scripture ,when we read that the woman Delilah is paid by the Philistines to obtain the secret of Samson’s strength so that they could tie him up and subdue him. Samson fascinated with Delilah’s red ruby lips was already subdued as scripture reveals to us we witness Samson walking the tight rope just a bit too high as he comes closer and closer to the subject of his hair and ultimately ,through the illusion of love and misty eyes from Delilah, Samson tells her the secret of his strength resulting in the Philistines pouncing on him from behind the curtains.

“When Delilah saw that he had told her everything she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines…the rulers returned with the silver in their hands . Having put him to sleep on her lap;she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair,and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him.

Then she called , “Samson the Philistines are upon you!”

He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him.”

I have to wonder how a man ,like Samson, could possess such promise only to throw it all away so easily; I guess when you think about it just because God believes in you it doesn’t mean that you believe in you. What is even more disturbing is how does one have the gifts that Samson had -gifts that we know, as believers, could only come from the glory resting on you only to witness in scripture that Samson never even knew it left him.

Wouldn’t you know that the glory of God left you?Perhaps not if you never knew that you had it, and Samson seemed to be one that didn’t know quite what he had, and clearly didn’t know really what he had lost until it was too late. Even the Psalmist said do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. I am baffled that Samson did not feel different after he sprang from his nap, for as a believer myself I am quite aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit inside me; so beautiful, so powerful, and without the third person of the trinity we would all be lost.

And so in the end , for whatever reason,Samson abused the glory, and when the abuse had gone too far  the glory departed  him. I ask how many are there of us walking around today unaware that the glory has left?how many of us ,unaware of the departure, like Samson, are still thinking we can just jump up and untie ourselves from the danger around us only to be left captured by the mess our hands have made…

I would like to encourage you all to cherish tightly ,in your heart,and in your actions, the gifts the sweet Lord has entrusted you with for the story of Samson is a good reminder to all that storm the castle to Never misuse the glory…

DCL Ministries

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