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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s 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<\/em>. 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.<\/p>\n 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\u2019s disobedient champion who had at last come to understand God\u2019s grace.<\/p>\n “LORD, please let Your grace flow down onto our lives this day, in Jesus’ name.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Judges 16 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And it was told\u00a0<\/em>the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed\u00a0him\u00a0<\/em>in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put\u00a0them\u00a0<\/em>upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>before Hebron. 4<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>Delilah.\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength\u00a0lieth\u00a0<\/em>, and by what\u00a0means\u00a0<\/em>we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred\u00a0pieces\u00a0<\/em>of silver.\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength\u00a0lieth\u00a0<\/em>, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.\u00a0\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.\u00a0\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0Now there were\u00a0<\/em>men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines\u00a0be<\/em> upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.\u00a0\u00a010<\/sup>\u00a0And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.\u00a0\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>upon thee, Samson. And\u00a0there were\u00a0<\/em>liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And she fastened\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. 15<\/sup> And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength\u00a0lieth\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him,\u00a0so<\/em>that his soul was vexed unto death;\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for have been\u00a0<\/em>a Nazarite unto God from my mother\u2019s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any\u00a0other\u00a0<\/em>man. 18<\/sup>\u00a0And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And she said, The Philistines\u00a0be\u00a0<\/em>upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the\u00a0LORD\u00a0was departed from him. 21<\/sup> But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.\u00a022<\/sup>\u00a0Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.\u00a024<\/sup>And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.\u00a025<\/sup>\u00a0And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.\u00a0\u00a026<\/sup>\u00a0And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>there; and\u00a0there were\u00a0<\/em>upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0And Samson called unto the\u00a0LORD, and said, O Lord\u00a0GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.\u00a0\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with\u00a0all his\u00a0<\/em>might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that\u00a0were\u00a0<\/em>therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than\u00a0they\u00a0<\/em>which he slew in his life.\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought\u00a0him\u00a0<\/em>up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6365"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16100,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6365\/revisions\/16100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}