Judges 16 Devotional

Remembered at the End

“Then Samson called out to the LORD: “O Lord GOD, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.””Judges 16:28 (BSB)

Samson's last chapter moves from a prostitute in Gaza to Delilah. Paid by the Philistine rulers, she presses him for the secret of his strength, and three times he lies to her (16:5-14). At last he tells her everything, his head is shaved, and he wakes expecting to shake free as before. The saddest line in his story follows: he did not know the LORD had left him (16:20). The Philistines blind him and set him grinding grain, and their crowds praise Dagon (16:21-24).

Yet his hair begins to grow back (16:22). Blind and mocked, Samson asks God to remember him and strengthen him once more, though his stated motive is revenge for his eyes (16:28). God answers, and the temple falls. Hebrews counts Samson among those whose weakness was turned to strength through faith (Hebrews 11:32-34). It commends his faith, not his life. God's grace reached a man who had squandered nearly every gift, and it still reaches those who call on him from the ruins of their own choices.

To think about: What would it look like to call on God today from the middle of a mess you made yourself?