It starts in Judges 13 with the birth of a child, a very special child. Of course there is no such thing as a child who is not special.
But this Judges 13 baby was destined to be the focus of thousands of Sunday School stories for centuries to come: Samson, God’s very own Incredible Hulk. This particular story has much to do with Samson being a Nazarite. There are many rules governing how a Nazarite must behave, but we are only interested in two: no haircuts, and no drinking wine.
One time he was travelling to an event with his parents when Samson decided that he will journey by a potentially dangerous route. We know this because a lion sees him approaching and leaps at him. But this is the interesting thing about Samson: again and again the Bible uses the expression, ‘The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him’. And so Samson takes hold of the lion in mid-air and tears the lion in two, before continuing on his journey.
Samson was rather unpopular with the Philistines, so the Philistines threatened to wipe out much of the tribe of Judah if they didn’t hand Samson over to them. Samson presents a solution. He makes the men of Judah promise not to kill him themselves and to tie his hands and hand him over. They do as they are told. The Philistines see their opportunity, but again Samson receives ‘power from God’. He breaks free, picks up the jaw bone of a donkey and kills a thousand Philistines.
But all is not well with our Hulk. He doesn’t think he needs God anymore. That scene with the lion is a case in point; the Bible says he didn’t tell anyone about it. If I was able to tear a lion in half with my bare hands I can guarantee that I would be telling everyone! But why does he keep it secret? Is it because it happens outside Timnah’s vineyard? What is the Nazarite doing at a vineyard?
And then the Delilah episode. He falls in love with a woman from the Valley of Sorek. And she says to him: ‘Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.’ It’s an interesting question. Not one you would normally expect on a first date. But it begins a series of events. He tells her, ‘If I am tied with fresh bowstrings I will become quite powerless.’ Inexplicably he is tied up that night by fresh bowstrings and then the Philistines attack him. He snaps the bowstrings before snapping the Philistines! And Delilah gets upset, actually saying the words: ‘You have made a fool of me, you have lied to me!’ But Samson is clearly in love. Reason is lost.
We too quickly turn away from God, trying to do ministry in our own strength and ending up hurt and without vision
Finally, after more protestations from Delilah and a few more lies from Samson, he actually tells her that his hair must not be cut. This is beyond love. This is the madness of the man who thinks he can do it without God. And he sleeps. And his hair is cut. And he wakes…. In one of the saddest verses of them all, it says that, ‘Samson thought that God would be with him as before, but he was not.’
And the Philistines beat him. There’s a lot of pent up anger against Samson. They beat Samson to within an inch of his life, gouge out his eyes, tie him to a treadmill, take him to Dagon’s temple and laugh at him and mock him in the stadium built to glorify the Philistine god.
He’s turned away from God; he made the mistake of thinking he could do it in his own strength, he’s got hurt and has lost his vision, caught up in the trap of endless activity, but going nowhere. This is personal. We too quickly turn away from God, trying to do ministry in our own strength and ending up hurt and without vision. It’s not about starting well. We have to finish well. But there’s also a picture of the Church here: a Church that tries to function without God, a Church that ends up without purpose and vision and becomes a mockery.
So a wounded, visionless Samson is led through Dagon’s temple by a child. And Samson whispers to the child, ‘Take me to the pillars that hold up this building.’ So the little boy leads him to the pillars of the building and Samson prays. The wounded and visionless Samson turns once again to God. Lots of preachers make a thing of Samson’s hair growing again, but this is not to do with hair. This is to do with turning to God. He prays. ‘Sovereign Lord, remember me.’
God fills him again. God restores. Despite feeling hurt, feeling visionless and trying to do it in your own strength, all it takes is four words. The God who is waiting and willing to restore. Song of Songs 4:9 tells us that with one glance of our eyes we capture his heart. God waits for that glance. For that whispered prayer, ‘Sovereign Lord, remember me.’
