Samson: link with heaven, love for the world — Marvin Derksen

Samson's Birth and Nazarite Calling

Judges 13. And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. Now that's a long time. And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah.

His wife was barren and bare not. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman and said unto her, Behold now thou art barren and barest not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, beware, I pray you, pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not anything unclean.

For lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head. For the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.

Just drop down to verse number 24. Yes, okay, we'll go down to verse 24. And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshto.

Chapter 14, verse 1. And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And he came up and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines, and thou therefore get her for me to wife.

Then his father's mother said unto him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all thy people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me, for she pleaseth me well.

Verse number 7. And he went down and talked to the woman, and she pleased Samson well. Chapter 15, verse number 11. I'm skipping a lot, I'm assuming that you know the story. Samson has created quite a conflict with the Philistines, and they're really angry, they're determined to get him.

And so he's up on a hill, and in verse number 11, then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Edom, and said unto Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this that thou hast done unto us?

Samson's Downward Course and Final Victory

Chapter 16. Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her. Verse 4. And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorok, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him.

And we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

And of course you understand that Samson gave her all kinds of stories. Finally, verse number 15. She said to him, How canst thou say I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

It came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death, that he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb.

If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And 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 has showed me all his heart.

Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in her hand. And of course his head was shaved. Verse 21. 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.

Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again. After that he was shaven. Verse 28. Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, 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.

And 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 the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines.

And he bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death, were more than they which he slew in his life.

Then his brethren, and all the house of his fathers, came down and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtol, in the burying place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.".

The Book of Judges as a Mirror for the Present Day

Now we have read a great deal, and perhaps you're saying, Judges, boy this is going to be tough. This is mid-afternoon, and Judges is a tough place to read, and a tough place to speak from. I remember one dear brother, I won't mention his name because you know him, but he says, I don't read the the book of Judges because it's too depressing.

Well it is depressing, it is. But I would just like to suggest that this book is more than ancient history. It's more than just a very, very sad book. There's a with a deliverer and restoration, and then the whole cycle begins again.

Is it just ancient history? Is it just so much depressing accounts of people that just went their own way? Because really, as we well know, the book of Judges is the book where everyone did that which is right in his own eyes.

I would like to just suggest, and let me just give you a very quick context for the book itself, because I'm convinced, and I've enjoyed Judges, I'm convinced that this is not just an old ancient dusty history book.

But this book fits our day. It's relevant in 2017, and I'll say that with regard to two things. When you look at the context of the book, you'll understand that it has come, of course, after Moses, and after Joshua, and after the elders.

Then there came the Judges. That's the past. Look at the past. And then when you look beyond the book of Judges, you will understand that they'd asked for a king, and so they got a king, and so there was Saul.

We had him described this morning as a man who was a tremendous specimen of humanity, a real warrior, a real he-man. And then there was David, and then there was Solomon. And between these two historical contexts, we find that there's now the book of Judges.

You say, well, what are you saying? I'm just saying this, that in the great scheme of things, when we look at the life of Moses and at the tremendous work that he accomplished, we find that he was the great deliverer.

In fact, he himself could say, a prophet likened to me shall the Lord raise up. And so we come to our day, and we understand, as we look back, that there was a mighty Savior, a mighty deliverer sent our Lord Jesus Christ.

He came to bring the exodus. He came to bring us out of darkness into his marvelous light. And so we start with Moses, and we start with Christ. Then, of course, there was Joshua, who brought the people into the land.

And, of course, in the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God was sent. The Holy Spirit came, and he has brought the people of God into the blessing of God's wonderful pasture land. He's divided the pasture land to generations down through the years.

And then, of course, there were the apostles, like the the elders in Joshua's day. Then there were the apostles, upon which the very foundation of this wonderful age was based. And then there are the elders, where we are today.

We look ahead, and we understand that just ahead of us, there is going to come a moment when a man of sin will be revealed. I think that's really pictured in the example of Saul, a man who was a fleshly man, boasted great things, but was really a very tragic man.

And then, of course, there came David, a man after God's own heart. And despite the awful history that has yet to come to this world, there is coming a moment when the rightful King will come. Jesus shall reign wherever the sun does his excessive journey run, and he will deal with sin.

He will be the conquering Christ, and every knee will bow. And then, of course, pictured in Solomon's wonderful golden reign for Israel, we find that there is coming a day when our Lord Jesus Christ will bring universal peace, and he will reign.

Philistine Assimilation and Israel's Apathy

Now, right between those, the context, we find the little book of Judges. So that's not irrelevant. It's not just dry history. We find that it fits our day. But let me just give you the backdrop very quickly, because when we come to Samson's day, of course, we're dealing with the enemy called the Philistines.

And I think that there's really two features that mark Samson's day. There was the fact that the Philistines, the arch enemy of Israel, didn't use military might necessarily to bring down their foes. They used assimilation to conquer.

The Philistines, from what I understand, actually originated in the land of Greece. And in 1200 BC, there was a major sea force that attacked the country of Egypt, and they were defeated. And so they crossed over the land from Egypt, and they came into Palestine.

And there they established—they were established in five major cities, and you'll recognize the name of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gath, where all the giants came from. It was a nation that had tremendous military strength.

Their military machine was second to none because they had come to understand how to smelt iron. And so their military machine was well advanced. But instead of putting a heavy hand on the areas that they conquered, they brought them into subjection by trade and by intermarriage.

And so there was a sense of compromise and a sense of assimilation. As we were hearing from our brother this morning, there was just a sense that they were trying to make the people just like themselves, just mingle among them, become like us.

And so in Samson's day, there was this tremendous sense of assimilation of the Philistines. But there's another feature of Samson's day, and that had to do with the apathy of Israel. You know, when you go through the book of Judges—and it might be depressing, but it's very, very instructive—you will find that up until Samson came on the scene, every time in the course of those chapters, there came a moment when the nation cried out for deliverance.

Oh God, deliver us! We're tired of this! Rescue us! And there was a cry to heaven. But when you come to Samson's day, there's no cry, there's no groaning. No, you see, it was a time of affluence. It was a time of relative security.

Things were really—it was okay. They were okay. And really, the message of the nation, the children of Israel, said, look, just don't rock the boat. We're doing fine. Just leave us alone. And that's why I read in chapter 15, verse 11, as Samson is up on the hill, and the Philistines want to take him and capture him.

There were 3 ,000 men of Judah, and we've read of how they went up to Samson, and they said, Samson, don't you know? Don't you know that the Philistines are rulers over us? That's what they are. They're our rulers.

So what are you doing? What is this that thou hast done? They didn't want anything to change. And so tragically, and very sadly, when it came to Samson, Samson had to fight the battles of the Lord alone.

Alone. You never read of his brethren joining in to help him, to assist him. He always had to fight the battles of the Lord alone. And so there was no national repentance, and there was really no national deliverer.

The Samson Generation: Heaven and the World

Well, that's the context, and that's the backdrop. But why I'm speaking of this is because it has been said that we're living in the Samson generation. We are part of the Samson generation. You say, I don't understand.

What do you say? Samson generation is simply this. It's a generation that has a link with heaven, but has a love for the world. That's the Samson generation. A link with heaven, but a love for the world.

And perhaps it's important to us, perhaps it's a timely thing, that we would ask ourselves, how are we really doing? Does that mark us? So let me ask you this afternoon, what motivates your life? What excites you?

What propels you through a day or through a week? Or as you look down the road, what is the driving force of your life? If you had to write Philippians 121, what would you say? For to me to live is, and you'd be a dash there.

Paul could say, Christ, eternal realities, eternal things. But what motivates you? What motivates me? Business? No, these are legitimate things. So I'm not being critical. Entertainment, education, sports, material possessions, my house, my cottage, my car, all of those are legitimate things.

But sometimes those legitimate things can displace the reality of a link with heaven. Thank God we are believers, those of us who are saved, we are believers heading for heaven. We have a link with heaven.

Thank God by his wonderful grace. But I'm afraid sometimes, just like Samson, there can be an affection, a love for this present evil world. And sadly, Samson's life never rose to the tremendous potential that was his.

That was a tragedy, really. And that's the sad part of Samson's life. It was Winston Churchill who said about the Russians, and this was back in 1939 before I was born, he said, the actions of the Russians are a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma.

Now, Winston Churchill could have said that about Samson. Samson, you're a riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside an enigma. His whole life was just a series of miracles and folly. Tremendous power, tremendous power to see a man lift the gates of the city off their hinges and walk out would have been an amazing, startling sight.

And yet sadly, he squandered, he squandered a lot of that potential. And sadly today, when you think of Samson, many times you can only think of the dark side of his life. Well, I just want to look at Samson's life in a very, very, very brief way today.

Samson's Four-Part Spiritual Day

But I'd like to look at his life just in the context of, could I say, just a day, context of a day. When you look at Samson's life, we understand that there was a prescribed dawn. We've been reading about his parents.

Could have been an Andrew Usher's ministry meeting here today. But we read about his parents before Samson was ever born. His mother was barren. And yet there came this message that she was going to have a son and he was going to begin to deliver Israel.

And so there was this prescribed dawn, this sense of God's provision. God was about to move again. Despite the fact that the nation wasn't calling for help, God was going to move and God was going to do a work and he was going to raise up a man.

So there was the prescribed dawn and we'll look at that briefly. There was the promise. Secondly, there was the promising morning that marked him. We have read just very briefly, the child grew and the spirit of the Lord began to move him.

And it's wonderful, it really is. When you see young people and they're in the morning, the morning of their spiritual life, there is promise. There seems to be growth. There seems to be development. The spirit of God is moving in their lives.

And you're just anticipating, this is wonderful to see that. Well, that's exactly what happened to Samson. He began to grow. He began to be moved by the spirit of the Lord. Sadly, there was a perilous, perilous dark afternoon.

And we've read some of the chapters, some of the verses in the chapter of that perilous, dark afternoon of temptation and disaster. He went down. And I don't know where you are and I don't know really where I am, but none of us are exempt from the afternoon of temptation.

Finally, we trust we'll be able to speak of a prayerful sunset, a man's final prayer for restoration at sunset. And perhaps you're here today and say, well, my life has really not gone very far, not gone very, very well.

Perhaps you have regrets. I'm sure Samson did. But there is, there is restoration. Failure is never final. And God was able to hear this man's cry despite his darkness, despite his folly, despite all that had marked his life to that moment.

And God heard his prayer. And God delivered or answered that one final prayer. And Samson slew more in his death than in his entire life. There can be and there is restoration. I come to the prescribed dawn of God's provision of a prospect.

God's Provision and Samson's Nazarite Lifestyle

Now, we understand that he was going to be a unique man for a unique time. God was going to raise him up, but it was a tough time, tough place to live as well. His father was Manoah, name means rest. His mother, we're not sure what her name is, but she was barren.

And so that was a heartache. And to top it all off, they lived in Zora. Now, I understand that Garneville is gem of the prairies, a great place to live. Don't think you'd want to live in Zora. Nest of hornets.

Can you imagine living in Zora? Not, not a good place to live. And here was this, here was this godly couple. Burdened, no doubt about what was going on. Concerned about the future of Israel. Sure, the parents, or I'm sure Manoah and his wife were, were sad by the fact that they had no son, had no children.

They were barren. She was barren. And of course, that was a, that was a tremendous weight for many, many women in Israel during those days. Because having children was part of the evidence of the, of the hand of God with them.

And yet the news came. I'll just shorten the account here. The news came that she was going to bear a son. And when Samson was born, his name was called Samson. It means sun-like or sunny. Don't think they nicknamed him sunny, but that's what his name means.

Sun-like or sunny. And I just wondered whether that was just a little indication that there was now a coming dawn. The sun was going to rise again. The dark days of 40 years of bondage was about to be lifted.

Here was a man that was going to be born and brought into this world to do a work for God. The prescribed dawn of God's provision. And what we have been able to hear already today, this afternoon, and what marked Samson's parents was the fact that they had dealings with God about their, about their child.

They took the responsibility seriously. It was a stewardship as we've been hearing. And so they said, how shall we order the child? They were concerned as to how to raise this, this, this boy. They offered to the, offered to God a burnt offering.

And the smell of that offering no doubt filled their hearts. And then they saw the angel of the Lord that is speaking to them ascend up in the, in the flame. And Manoah and his wife never, never forgot the sight of the ascended man.

A unique birth. Now we don't have a unique birth. But I trust that we'll understand that God has brought us into this world with some tremendous purposes. Purposes of his grace. And I was just thinking in view of the, of the dawn of, of sunshine returning.

I couldn't help but think about Peter's words, that we should show forth the virtues of him that has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Why has God allowed us to come into this world?

Why has God so wonderfully saved us and, and kept us? Because he has done that, that we might show the virtues and the excellencies and the wonder of his beloved son. He has brought us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

And he desires that we might bear witness of the wonder of his grace and the blessedness of knowing his beloved son. Samson was to have a unique lifestyle. We understand that he was to be a Nazarite from his, from, from birth.

And so the law of the Nazarite in Numbers chapter six, it was voluntary. And it was a spiritual relationship with God. It involves some very, very practical features, as we know. He was to abstain from the fruit of the vine.

And so that would affect his appetite. He was to abstain from all contact with, with a dead person. And so that would, that would mark his dealings or his affections. And he was not to cut his hair. And so that of course would certainly impact his appearance.

So his appetite, his affections, and his appearance were all part of him. And it just says he would begin, he would begin to deliver Israel. He would begin to deliver Israel. Sadly, there would be no complete victory.

That would come in Samuel's day. But because the nation of Israel was not crying to God for a deliverance, there would not be a complete deliverance. But we understand that God was beginning to move. Now, there was the morning.

Spiritual Growth and the First Steps of Faith

The child grew and the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him with regard to the condition of the land. Great to see young people here. Great to see young believers. And it's important, and it's noteworthy, that first steps are formative steps.

So let me ask you, how are you doing? You're part of the Samson generation, you know. If you're saved, you have a link with heaven. But many times there's this drawing factor of moving toward the world.

You know, it's a wonderful thing when you see a young person, and I'm not just applying it to young people, but it's a wonderful thing when you do see a young person trust Christ. And then you begin to watch, and there's growth.

There's development. There's new desires. I was interested in Brother Stephen's comment with regard to his own baptism at the age of 14. I've never heard of that kind of wisdom. I thought that's noteworthy, that elders would say, we will baptize you and you'll be willing to invite your school chums to see your baptism.

There was evidence of growth in Samson. And I just wonder, you say you're saved? What about baptism? Well, I'm thinking about it. Some people think, some believers think about it an awful long time, and they never grow.

I remember a good friend of mine, we'd grown up together. He was a bit older than myself, and we were having meetings back in Canada, in Ontario. This was when I was just first saved. I was just helping out, and I invited Bob to come.

And he came, and I remember sitting in this driveway. We'd sit there almost every night after the meeting. We'd talk, and I remember one night, he said, Marv, you don't think I'm saved, do you? Well, I said, Bob, I said, if you want me to be honest, I said, I have wondered.

Because when you thought about my friend Bob, all you would think about was the tires that were squealing on his 67 Mustang. That was about all that he was noted for. Just a guy that had rubber burning.

Now he says, I really am saved. I really am saved. But he said, I've never been baptized, so I haven't grown. And he was right. He was stalled. Thank God he did get baptized, and he made some progress.

What about the assembly? What about the fellowship? Coming into fellowship? Well, that's another thing. That'd be nice. I think about it from time to time, but, and here you are, saved and perhaps baptized, but you're on the outside looking in.

You're not part of it. God didn't bring us into this. God didn't save us to have us sit in the bleachers. Now he saved us that we might be part of an assembly gathered to his name, that we might just bear witness to him, that we might seek to advance the cause of Christ, that we might just be witnesses unto him, that we might enjoy his presence.

And so here was the evidence of growth in Samson's life. The Spirit of God began to move him. And do you notice where he moved him? He moved him in his own territory. He started at home. And sometimes home can be the toughest place, can't it?

It's great to be able to go to Mexico, or in my day, Newfoundland. Nobody knows you. And you're involved in the work, and it's wonderful, and it was wonderful, and it is wonderful. But it's tough when you're at home, isn't it?

Everybody knows you. But here's Samson, and these early days, this early promising morning of hope saw this man begin to move locally between his hometown and the town next, because God began to move and use this young man for his glory.

Trust that there'll be spiritual growth evident in all of our lives. F .B. Meyer, a very wonderful writer, said on one occasion, he says, I don't want my life to end in a swamp. You know what he meant?

I want to keep growing. I want to keep growing. I want to keep learning. I want to keep developing. I don't want my life to plateau and end in a swamp. Sadly, we come to a dark afternoon. Dark afternoon of temptation.

Temptation, Self-Confidence, and Unequal Yokes

You know, we can't keep from being tempted. It's part of the enemy's workings in our life. But our response to temptation is pivotal in all of our lives. In chapter 14, we understand that here's a man, here's Samson, and it's the start of his, could I say, spiritual shipwreck.

He went down. He went down to Timnath. He went down a number of times. And it almost reminds me of Jonah, who went down into the ship. He went down to Joppa on his way to Tarshish. And he went down into the sides of the ship.

And ultimately, he went down into the depths of the sea, running from the will of God, running away from God's desire for him. And here's a man that was raised up by God, for God. And now he's going down.

The afternoon has come. And interestingly, and sadly, this man's experience in the afternoon of life involved a relationship with the opposite sex. Could I say this very practically, that apart from salvation, the factor of a partner in life will very likely have the greatest impact on your life, spiritually speaking.

Mr. George Campbell, I worked with him intensively until he was taken home to heaven. He said very practically, he said, Marv, there's three types of women that you can get in this world. He says, you can get a butterfly for a wife and you'll have to chase her all your life.

And he says, you can get a doll and you'll have to nurse her all your life. Or he says, you can get a woman that fears the Lord. Now, he's not saying that we shouldn't look the face. He wasn't saying that.

But he says, you can get a woman that fears the Lord and you'll have a blessing for life. Let me just flip the coin. Because Mr. Campbell was equally indignant when it came to sisters. And he says, I'm frustrated that some of these godly sisters get a chunkhead of a husband.

You see, the partner that we will ultimately take will have a tremendous bearing on our lives. And here's a man that could have accomplished so much for God. And yet his dealings with women, and there were three disasters in his life, his dealings with women and ultimately with Delilah was the undoing of him.

It was that which brought him down. And as we look at the accident report, you might say, we understand that first of all, Samson rejected the authority of his own parents. He failed to consent to parental advice.

Now, parents don't micromanage their kids, as we've been hearing. We are seeking to guide them. We are seeking to inform them. We are seeking to pray for them. But if you're a young person and you're thinking about marriage or you're thinking about a person, don't be afraid to ask parents or someone else about the prospective partner.

I have an interest in so-and-so. How do you see this? Do you think we're compatible? And here were parents and they objected to what he said. I want the woman. She pleases me well. Go get her. And they rightfully objected.

They said, Samson, there's women. Are there not women in Israel? Part of the heritage of the Lord. You could have one of them for a wife. No, I want her. She pleases me well. And so he rejected the authority and the parental advice of his parents.

He refused self-discipline. He failed to curb his appetite. He toyed and trifled with sin. And I'm convinced that many times we don't fall into sin. I'm afraid many times we play with it. We see how close we can get to the edge.

And here's a man by the name of Samson that lived on the edge. But there's another thing that seems to be uppermost in Samson's experience, because I sense that here's a man that moved with self-confidence.

You know, there was never a problem that Samson could not handle. Do you know of any difficulty he came into that he didn't have a way of escape? I mean, he was on the inside of that city. He just picked up the gates and walked out.

There's no problem with him. He could handle it. There's never any problem that he couldn't find a solution by his own strength. He never knew the agony of defeat or loss. And sadly, here's a man that moved with self-confidence.

He said, I could handle this. It's going to be all right. And there's many a young person that has moved into an unequal yoke. I said, well, I can handle it. It's going to be okay. It'll work out all right.

But it doesn't many times. And yet this man was convinced that he could handle it. Samson, tragically, never mastered himself. It's interesting that in one sense, he seemed to have a perverted sense of self-reward.

I'm living this way. I'm living for God. There's a lot of things I'm not doing. So I am going to allow myself to go in this direction. And I'm going to allow myself to indulge in these things that are forbidden.

And there was just a sense of a false sense of self-reward. And as we know the story, well, time is gone. We know the story well of how he lay on the lap of Delilah and he told her all his heart. Samson generation, link with heaven, love for the world.

Delilah, Spiritual Compromise, and Restoration

And behind Delilah were the lords of the Philistines. Behind the temptations of the enemy are the specific ploys of the master deceiver. He wants to steal our affection, spiritually speaking. He wants to undermine moral convictions.

He wants to break God-established relationships. He wants to destroy a life and kill a conscience because that will rob God of glory. And we watch as Samson pours out his soul, tells her the truth. And ultimately there's sacrilege before God because he treats God as of no avail.

What a tragic afternoon. I trust that we might all be preserved because brothers and sisters, regardless of what age we're at, there is a filthy, perverted world that is pressing in on all of us. Whether you're 17 or 77, the world presses in with a determination to bring us down and to rob God of his glory.

Ah, but that's not the end of the story. And I'm so glad that there was a final prayer of restoration at sunset. Now, some have suggested this was a selfish prayer. I'm not convinced that that's the case.

But here's a man who has lost his eyesight. He's lost his ministry. He's lost his honor. He's lost his effect. He's lost everything. But the hair on his head began to grow again. And it makes me aware that no matter how far we might fall, and few have fallen so far as Samson, despite that he did not fall outside of the grace of God.

He'd broken God's law, broken the law of the Nazarite. He'd wasted God-given talent. And the verse is really true, isn't it? God does not mock, be not deceived. God does not mock. Whatever a man sows, that shall we, he also reap.

It's going to come full harvest. But despite our failure, and despite Samson's failure, there was a God of restoration. And I'm thankful that there was a David. He was restored, forgiven. There was a Peter who went out, and it was night, and he wept bitterly, but he was restored and used mightily.

And there was a Samson who was grinding in the darkness. And yet there came a moment when he too experienced the restoration of God and the mighty intervention, the power of God. We need to understand that forgiveness is immediate.

Sometimes restoration takes time. And yet the man's hairs began to grow, and the result was a mighty victory for God at the end of his life. So what are the ingredients of restoration? I think we need to admit our guilt.

I think we need to accept God's forgiveness. We need to patiently work through the process of restoration. The psalmist could say, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. And we need to just trust our God that he might yet use us for his glory, despite the difficulties of the pathway.

Samson generation, I wonder, where are we? Where are you? Where am I? In the morning of hope, in the afternoon of temptation, or in the evening at sunset with restoration? I trust that this might not just be ancient history, but this might be a prod to all of us as we live in this Samson generation that has a link with heaven and a love for the world.