The Philistines likely believed they were just humiliating their prisoner. Perhaps they did it for their own safety, too, lest Samson regain his strength somehow. Either way, there was Samson, chained up, and blind having had his eyes gouged out. If you have ever lost your eyesight or perhaps even lost a pair of glasses, you know how humbling it is not to be able to see. It can leave you feeling helpless – vulnerable. And that is perhaps how Samson felt in that moment, leading to his awareness of his need of God.

But there is something else going on here. What had gotten Samson into trouble so many times before this? That’s right: his eyes. His eyes had been the source of his stumbling through life for so long. He had looked at a woman and wanted her to be his wife, no matter that she was a Philistine. He had looked at honey and wanted to eat it, no matter that it was in a lion’s carcass and unclean. His eyes had betrayed him over and over again. Here, as his life ended, God was kind to remove the very thing that had caused Samson to stumble so many times before this. The Philistines removed Samson’s eyes out of spite; God removed them out of love.

How has God taken something from you, even if it was painful, only to find out it was for your good?