Judges 16:21–22: “Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.”

April 30th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Because of another Philistine woman, Delilah, the Philistines were able to trap Samson. And Samson’s eyes, which had lusted on Philistine beauties most of his life, were put out by the Philistines. They took him to Gaza, bound him in bronze prison fetters, and forced him to pull a grinding stone. What a sorry place for the judge and deliverer of Israel. This is a clear picture of what sin does to all of us. First it blinds us, then it binds us, and then it grinds us.

As in Samson’s life, temptation comes when we are vulnerable, whether because of sickness or success. It is when we believe we are at our strongest that we are, in reality, at our most vulnerable. That’s why Paul wrote: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). Because Samson could not defeat his temptation, his temptation eventually defeated him. He ended up alone, weak, blind, and grinding meal in a Philistine prison. But there is an important little word at the beginning of verse 22: However. God gave him hope in the midst of a dungeon experience. Not only had his hair begun to return, but more importantly, his heart had also returned.

No matter what kind of mess we have gotten ourselves into because of our sin, God’s hands are never tied. The Lord rarely makes everything instantly better, but He definitely brings grace and hope. Prison has provided a time of reflection and repentance for many men down through the ages. Maybe it was as Samson scratched his head one night in the dark and felt his hair growing back that he remembered the Lord. He must surely have been going over and over again all his spiritual failures. But there in that dark prison, grace overflowed into his broken life. God heard and granted Samson’s final prayer and delivered more of Israel’s enemies into his hands at his death than in his life. Samson was God’s disobedient champion who had at last come to understand God’s grace.

“LORD, please let Your grace flow down onto our lives this day, in Jesus’ name.”