Spiritual Stirrings
Spiritual Stirrings
Judges 13:24-25
And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And they young man grew, and the LORD blessed him. And the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Even though we don’t know the significance of this particular moment in Samson’s life, nor how old he is, nor why he’s here in Mahaneh-dan in the first place, nor in what way, shape, or form the LORD seizes upon his countenance, it’s clear that something unique happens here. Some light dawns in his spirit. Some sudden prod awakens his conscience. Some whisper cuts through the indifference, and it marks the end of a former chapter and the beginning of a new one. In fact, if you could’ve asked Samson at the end of his life at what point he realized his God-given vocation, I don’t think he wouldn’t answered you, “Well, my parents told me the story of that divine visit ever since I was old enough to walk, and I’ve had long hair from childhood, so I’ve just sort of grown up knowing it.” I think he would’ve said, “It was that day I wandered to Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol, where I knew God was with me, and I accepted what my parents had taught for myself.”
Friend, you have a devious enemy who will try to overwhelm spiritual stirrings with a barrage of lies and accusations and taunts, all to keep you sidelined from God’s special and unique purpose. He wants you to doubt those divine nudges and go on to Mahanah-dan unchanged, unrepentant, unmoved. He wants you to keep that chapter of depression and addiction and indifference open, so that the gift God has placed in you, and the commission He’s fashioned you for, remains dormant. The devil isn’t afraid of Nazirite vowers. Long hair, sobriety, and stringent dietary practices don’t frighten him in the slightest. But a saint ready to give himself wholly to the LORD’s calling? That shakes hell to the core.
Take heart today, friend. If you feel the enemy nagging at your heels as you pursue Christ—perhaps he’s trying to block out these words even now—know that it’s because Almighty God has a great and mighty task in store for you to accomplish. So, feel the Spirit stirring in your heart right now, and then follow Him onward from here.