Samson's Hair, God's Grace

By Helen Knueven

Every beautician knows that hair grows!

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the fact that hair grows; how God’s gifts and God’s callings are irrevocable, and when my enemy rejoices to his highest hee-haw, that is when God is about to breakthrough in unprecedented deliverance.

I have learned this from reading the book of Samson. One may think, that because of his lack of willpower, he would be excluded from the anointing of God working in his life ever again.

Sometimes as Christians we can feel excluded from God using us. A few moments of indiscretion, a bad decision, or even a string of events that had the chain effect of failure, seems to disqualify us. There are also times when we don’t understand the reasons for perceived failure, being passed over time and again, and not realize the things in our lives that our good.

Samson was a man of God with supernatural strength in his hair. Where is your supernatural strength? If you are a Christian, I believe that you have it. It may be an outward obvious strength, or it may be an inner gentle strength. Is it in the ministry of hospitality? Or writing, music, preaching, drama, or evangelizing?

A short synopsis of Samson’s story: Samson had such a supernatural strength that he could kill a lion or bear with his bare hands. It was not a strength given just to flex his muscles – the divine plan was that Samson would deliver the Israelites.

His enemies worked hard to stop him and defeat him. They used a woman who deceived Samson into telling her his secret. While he slept, she shaved his head – and the Philistines captured him. They attributed their success to a small god. That is always problematic. Poor Samson had his eyes gouged out. He ended up working in a prison. But as time went by – something happened. Samson’s hair grew. God was avenging Samson – in prison it surely did not look that way to him, but his strength was increasing because it resided in his growing hair.

Judges 16:22-23 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. 23. Then 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.

We can see the arrogance of his mockers – They thought that since he had been captured and his strength had left – he was no longer a threat. They did not consider that God was still able to change situations for His own people.

A little background: Even before Samson was born – an angel had told Samson’s parents that Samson would be a deliverer of Israel, and be a Nazarite from the womb, and that a razor should never touch his head. So even though Samson was in this situation that reeked of defeat – God had a plan for his life.

I believe there are times in every Christian’s life that they feel as if they are a shaved Samson. You may be in a situation where you relate to Samson, and yet, if you are going to relate to him, you must relate to him in entirety to understand that God is still at work on your behalf.

Sometimes is it because of sin; and sometimes, it is because of a greater plan, I believe.

Perhaps you are a preacher whom God has used mightily in the public ministry – and you fell. You find you’re incapable of facing crowds now. Maybe you are a music minister and you’ve been tempted to showcase your talent over communicating God’s love. You realize now that people are not so much worshipping God when you play, but noticing your technical ability, and the joy you once knew has disappeared. Maybe God has used you in the healing ministry and instead it going to your heart – it went to your head. There are so many possible situations in which we may fall.

Or maybe you have been faithful in ministry. Doors closed without your ability to even guess why. Maybe those in authority were envious and screeched the ministry to a halt. There are countless reasons why a Christian can begin to feel they can no longer move in the anointing.

You might be a writer gifted with communicating Biblical truth, but you have been rejected like Jeremiah, the weeping prophet. Rejection letters abound to the point you could wallpaper your apartment with them. You may have the gift of giving that people have tried to exploit and you somehow gave in to it. For every good gift God gives – there is always an evil desire of the enemy to thwart it.

For every time that happens, how wonderful it is to remember that we are not just people whom God has chosen to use, but we are people whom God has chosen to love.

Clearly it is not always sin when we sense God pulling back. For when Jesus hung on the Cross – The Son of God and Son of man, our perfect, and sinless sacrifice, at one time cried out, “My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Back to Samson - One day when the Philistines probably had one drink too many, they ordered Samson in so they could have fun mocking him. It would be, they thought, the icing on their cake, to bring in the man of God and humiliate him further.

Have you ever felt like that? The thing they forgot was that HAIR GROWS. Let us not forget it, though.

This time, however, Samson did not take the anointing for granted. He called upon the Lord and prayed, “Lord, let me one more time be avenged of the Philistines and then let me die.” Samson did not realize that all of the time he was in prison God had been working that out – letting him wait as his hair grew back.

As the Philistines prepared to use Samson as their dartboard, they were horrified to find that the strength of Samson had returned. The whole building came crushing down upon them because of Samson’s strength. Samson was content to die with the anointing of God flowing through him.
The thing about hair – it grows! The thing about the gifts of God – they are irrevocable!
Romans 11:29 tells us, “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”

The thing about God’s judgment – it has a purpose.
Micah 7: 8 “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.”

Maybe you can’t relate to these hardships. Maybe your growth and impact is pushing out on every side. But if you can relate – I’d like to remind you of the seed that waits in darkness in the black soil. The seed was created for one purpose – to break through the ground, clothed in beauty that exceeds Solomon’s costly clothes.

Let the rain from heaven do it’s work – and wait for the balm of the light of the sun.