Contemplative Bible Reading

Jedges 16:20-22 (New International Version 2011)

²⁰ 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.

²¹ 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 grain in the prison. ²² But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

These verses are from the (hi)story of Samson. He has just had his head shaved while he was asleep. He wakens and is ready to fight. He, however, did not realize what happened to his hair while he was asleep. As verse 20 states,

But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

It seems that Samson would have realized that his hair was gone. I mean, he had a lot of hair. It probably weighed several pounds, but now he had nothing. He lost several pounds from the top of his head.

Perhaps the above statement from verse 20 is to be taken literally and not as a figure of speech. Samson understood that his hair was gone, but did not understand that the Lord had left him. Even though he believed his hair was the source of his strength, he realized that the Lord was the true source of his strength.

How often to we believe that one thing is a source of power or of something we want, when something else is the true source? Is a good breakfast the true source of a good day of learning in school? Perhaps a desire to learn is the true source, and the good breakfast, well that is merely physical thing that we can touch with our hands and proclaim, “Aha! This is it!”

Is daily Bible reading the source of a Godly life? What about people who can’t read? Are they doomed to an ungodly life? I’ve met people who couldn’t read, and yet they led Godly lives in Christ. Perhaps, as much benefit that comes from Bible reading, there is something more important. Another example, so I don’t become accused of degrading Bible reading, is the joy that comes from singing in church assemblies. Yet there are joyous people who cannot sing and cannot hear singing. So, maybe the source of joy is something else.