A Spring’s Visit to a Winter’s Prison

“Then she called, ‘Samson, the Philistines are upon you!’ He awoke from his sleep and thought, ‘I’ll go out as before and shake myself free. But he did not know that the LORD had left him. Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.” (Judges 16:20-22).

There is…

no prison so dank,
no shackle so confining,
no disobedience so egregious,
no blindness so dark,
no winter so long,

so as to keep Spring from making its arrival. None. Its buds and blossoms come regardless of the bleak season preceding its entrance.

Resurrection is the hallowed crescendo after the harrowing silence of a winter’s death—a season’s stripping that reduces branches to the bare and wide-opened embrace of colder winds.

It’s hard to think Spring when Winter continues its insistent knock. It’s hard to think grace when the consequences of sin leave a soul chained and blinded with remembrance.

Samson knew something of winter’s bite.

His life began well. He ended on the upswing, but the living in between reads more like a tragedy rather than the famed position given him in the Hebrews “Hall of Faith” (chapter 11).

God wanted more for him. His parents planned for more. But for “more” to be his portion, Samson would have to walk the plans of his God, and subsequently, of his parents’. And for all of the ways that he might have been faithful to those plans and to his covenantal vow as a Nazarite, we are privy to a majority of his “less” than moments. Moments that included:

    • Chasing after all manner of foreign women.

 

    • Gleaning honey from the carcass of a dead lion and feeding it to his parents.

 

    • Exacting revenge via foxtails and torches, the jawbone of a donkey, and the sword of his own hands.

 

  • Playing games with God’s truth rather than honoring God’s truth with sacred and in reverent fear.

Indeed, some would argue that Samson had earned his chains, his blindness, and his mockery by men. Open rebellion to God’s ways always yields a well-deserved humbling at some point. I know. I’ve hosted my fair share of showcase moments along the way.

But to remain stuck in our chains … to assign ourselves a place of permanent shame and penance within the cold and barren of Winter … is to delay or to altogether miss the promise of Spring.

And to miss the grace of Spring is to miss everything.

Samson’s Spring came near his end. If you are one prone to spectacular endings—to the grandeur and polish of an epic finish—you’ll miss it. Samson’s resurrection didn’t begin between two pillars (Judges 16:29); it began in the dark and in the depths of a lonely prison cell.

“Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.” (Judges 16:22).

Just in case you missed it, let me type it again.

The hair on his head began to grow again.

Grow. The verb tsamach in the Hebrew language meaning, “to grow, to spring forth, to sprout.”[i]

No matter Samson’s sin and no matter his rebellion, God’s promise of Spring came to him in his darkest night, the seeds of which would grow and would ultimately result in his finest hour. God visited the cell of a sinner and planted his grace accordingly and in a very literal way.

I don’t know if Samson thought a lot about his hair in those days, but I imagine that he did. When a soul is stripped, both in the spiritual and in the physical, one cannot help but look for any sign of covering … of hope and rebirth … of new growth and of springing forth. With every passing day and with every difficult grinding, whenever Samson ran his fingers through the sparse seedlings of a new and growing strength, he was reminded of just how far he had fallen and of the grace afforded him for its gradual return.

It did return, at least in part. That’s the way of God’s grace. Despite our willful choices and hardened rebellion to God’s plan for our lives, his mercy is ready and available for its return. He planned for grace’s arrival, long before our sin mandated its need.

“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: “The LORD Our Righteousness.”’” (Jeremiah 33:14-16).

Just in case you missed it, let me type it again.

In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line.

Sprout. The verb tsamach in the Hebrew language meaning, “to grow, to spring forth, to sprout.”[ii]

God’s grace. Shooting forth and bursting onto the scenes of our lives. Sometimes through the simple of a hair’s sprouting. All the time through the profound of a Son’s coming. A Son’s dying. A Son’s springing forth on a Spring morning, announcing once and for all that resurrection is here to stay.

That resurrection is the gift of Spring; it follows the stripping and cold of a Winter season. A season when remembering God’s promises is critical to survival. There is…

no prison so dank,
no shackle so confining,
no disobedience so egregious,
no blindness so dark,
no winter so long,

so as to keep Spring from making its arrival. None. And that, my friends, gets a hallelujah from my spirit and a prayer of thanks from my knees as they hit the bedroom floor, once again, in absolute wonder and awe of the gracious grace that has been seeded on my behalf and that is growing in strength with every passing day and with every intentional glimpse I make into the treasures of God’s Word. He is the worthy pause of my heart this week. Yours too, thus, I pray…

Grow us, Father, into a deeper understanding of all things eternal. Let us not settle for our prisons; instead, renew our hearts toward a healthier life—one that is free of the chains and of the condemnation that seeks to keep us captive in sin’s remembrance. Spring us forth from our cells and grow us in the light and truth of Spring’s renewal—the resurrected life of Easter’s Gift. In the name of the Father who knows us, and the Son who loves us, and the Holy Spirit who so willing tends to us, Amen and Amen.

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Copyright © January 2009 – Elaine Olsen
[i] Baker & Carpenter, entry for “samah,” The Complete Word Study Dictionary Old Testament (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2003), 956.
[ii] Ibid.

28 Responses to A Spring’s Visit to a Winter’s Prison

  1. reminds me … my stepdad held his prison ministry worship this past weekend…a place i would have a hard time serving and he looks forward to his time with the inmates…sometimes as many as 80-90 my Mom said.
    we dream of the spring! the newness and hope for eternity
    : )

  2. I too shout “a hallelujah from my spirit and a prayer of thanks”!

    Have you been reading in Judges lately? Where did this reflection originate? The obvious answer is the Spirit within you… but I’m looking for the “real life” answer! =)

  3. This is fascinating, and a perspective I’ve never thought of. I definitely needed this today. Thank you, my friend.

  4. u’r so sweet

    off my blog, you can click on the link to 2nd cup of coffee’s site in my paragraph of the blog…it’s take you today’s entry for her…she has Mr. Linky up, but you could just leave a comment saying you vote for “skoots1mom”, she’ll take it from there…

    thanks!! Every vote is a step closer to a new Starbuck’s card 🙂

  5. Hallelujah, indeed! The story of Samson always makes me sad, but I, too, love God’s grace which allowed his hair to “sprout” and grow again.

    “In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.” (Isaiah 27:6)

    In the meantime,

    “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to go on the heights.”
    (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

  6. I echo your prayer, Elaine…you have to be one of the finest crafter of words I have ever seen…an art form…thank u so much…
    Love, Sita

  7. Tender, yet so very powerful. Beautifully written, Elaine! A word picture of HOPE if ever there was one. Embedded in the cold, dark, stark of winter is grace. Verdant, lush, colorful grace.

    Kathleen

  8. That’s a big hallelujah from this soul who has seen some long winters! I’m ready for these ashes to drift aloft…

    How have you been, my friend? I have been a little under the weather this past week and so have missed you.

    When I visit, my soul feels such peace here.

    You bless,
    Laura

  9. I purchased a card once simply because it was a visual of this truth. The photo on the front of the card looked cold. The ground was covered in snow. Everything looked barren. On closer observation there was a tulip trying to push it’s way through the snow. Hope of Spring.

    Like the story of the secret garden, the winter of our soul can hide spring’s beauty, but life is still there. At the appointed time…at the sacred season… beauty will be restored.

    Praying for a downpour of God’s spring rain,
    Joy

  10. Oh my goodness have I ever had many, many less-than moments. Sometimes it has been less-than years. When I think of the pit of sin that I lived in in my 20s I just want to cry. But, to the praise of His GLORIOUS GRACE, He forgave me and now has birthed a ministry of grace out of that pit.

    Hallelujah!! Thanks for a beautiful post.

    Leah

  11. Even in the simplicity of the seasons, we can find God speaking to us. Thank for making His Word come alive in my heart.

  12. Awesome. What I love is no matter how dark the winter–it can’t stop spring from coming, Such hope!

  13. wifeforthejourney:

    Thanks be to God for His marvelous gift of grace! I hope this post will inspire everyone to re-read the Book of Judges and its account of Samson’s checkered life.

    Your observations offer a bigger picture of God’s plan of redemption – that He would love Samson (and us) even through such wanton sin.

    Love,
    Billy

  14. I, for one, I’m sure among many needed this today, Friend.

    God’s grace covers me, as I allowed winter to have it’s way with me so SPRING can come!

    Love,
    Yolanda

  15. Thank you dear friend. I can face my week now ~ boldly, strong, realizing spring is on the way. Even here in Sunny!

  16. Yes, Lord, grow me.

    Spring has not left me and for that I am so thankful to Him.

    Again, what abeautifully written post deplicting my life, my heart, my attitude.

    In His Graces~Pamela

  17. Quoting you Elaine: “Despite our willful choices and hardened rebellion to God’s plan for our lives, his mercy is ready and available for its return. He planned for grace’s arrival, long before our sin mandated its need.”

    I fall down on my face before YOU Father and ask that You grow me and use me. Thank You Father God for Your gift of salvation to allow us this grace to feed us to grow. In Jesus’ name, amen.

  18. Elaine, my spirit leapt within me as I read this awesome post. I am so glad you are obedient to God’s call on your life to write and to share it with us all!

  19. Thanks, Elaine, for this early taste of Easter — and the reminder that Spring indeed is coming, in more ways than one!

  20. Praise be to God for his grace. Not sure where I would be today without it. Looking forward to the Spring. Thank goodness the winter season of our lives does not last long if we just have faith and believe. AMEN!

  21. Elaine,
    Eloquent and anointed as always! It’s like seeing that first crocus pop through the snow, I’m always surprised because it seems that winter is never going to end…but every year it does. And Spring comes.

    I just downloaded the song “Shackles” for my iPod and have been listening to it non-stop. What victory we have in Christ. Praise God!

    Blessings and prayers,
    Kelli

  22. Once again, Elaine, your words are so encouraging to me. I am forwarding this post to my son as well. He said that his small group discussed Samson’s story recently.

    Have a blessed day, friend!
    In Christ,
    Amy:)

  23. We received over a foot of snow in the last 12 hours… paralyzing the city as the snow crews worked to clear the roads. As the snowfall diminished… the sun began to shine. A reminder that yes, ever after the most brutal of winters… spring arrives.

    I say it with you, from my knees – Hallelujah! Amen and Amen!

  24. Goodness…that was good.
    These past three years have often caused me to sit back and wonder if I was a Job or a Samson. Knowing that even though life looked as it did….He does not go back on His promises.
    And so I moved on….reminding myself when things got horrible that the things I was learning would one day be able to be used for His glory.

    And so I wait…and every once in awhile I read up to touch my head. :)..or look down to see if I am still the object of God saying, have you checked out my servant Sharon.;)

    Either way….I know spring is coming…He promised it would. And by the time the buds are in full bloom I will have so much more to lay at His feet.

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