Head Scratcher

"And she said, 'The Philistines are upon you, Samson!'  So he awoke from his sleep, and said, 'I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!'  But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him."  Judges 16:20

Back in my high school football playing days, I had a coach who would always use little sayings to get his point across.  He seemed to understand the point he was making but half the time I had no clue what he meant.  After a play he might grab me and say, 'good job, that'll work coming or going.'  I would look at him as if I understood, but to this day I don't know what he meant.

There was one saying he had whenever someone made a mental mistake, and we all understood exactly what he meant, he would say, 'now that was a head scratcher!'  I bring up this little high school football memory because when I study the life of Samson I find myself saying quite often 'now that was a head scratcher!'

Samson had come to the sorry spiritual state of not being able to recognize that the Spirit had departed from him.  He thought he would be just as strong as he had always been, not discerning that he was now moving out in his own strength.  Samson had accomplished many mighty feats by the Lord's hand, he had known the power of the Spirit upon him, but had now digressed to the place of walking in his own strength thinking it was the Lord's strength.... 'now that's a head scratcher!'

Samson's blunder ought to serve as a wake up call for all of us.  We can never be complacent or lazy in our dependence on the Lord.  "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.' (Ephesians 6:10)