In Judges, chapter sixteen, verse twenty-eight, Samson, now with a repentant spirit and a renewal of faith in God, calls upon the Lord, and his prayer receives favor with God. This final demonstration of Samson’s faith results in inclusion among the heroes of faith as in Hebrews eleven, verses thirty-two through thirty-four.
Samson receives an answer from God. The difference is his heart was not looking forward to fulfilling the fleshly desires. Samson’s experience and realization are that the love he was pursuing did not help him but made things worse. Instead of drawing closer to God, the enemy uses Delilah to draw Samson away. However, he lost out on the lady being with him because his strength and vision were gone, and God departed from him.
Samson did realize the truth at the time he was with Delilah. He loved the woman from the valley of Sorek, but when he awoke from sleep, he was not lying on her knees as in verse nineteen of Judges chapter sixteen, but in a different situation. When Delilah suddenly awakens Samson from sleep, the strong man finds himself among the Philistines. He responds by proclaiming to break free like always, but the strength is not there. The Philistines put out Samson’s eyes, his hair shaved, and he’s bound in chains.
Samson calls upon God, possibly because he knew what the Philistines were saying and celebrating in verses twenty-three through twenty-four, is incorrect. The Philistines led him to the house for entertainment for the guests and the Philistines, about three thousand men and women on the roof. When Samson realizes the situation, he calls on God. While the Philistines celebrate on the top of the house, Samson asks a lad to bring him to the center where the two pillars hold. Then he calls upon God, as in verse twenty-eight of the same chapter. ” 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 said, Let me die with the Philistines,” which is at the beginning of verse thirty.