Long-distance runners most often seem to acquire strange strength when they get to the last lap of their race. This is quite understandable. To the runner, already seeing the finishing line, the last lap is so decisive and, therefore, demands that the runner throws in everything he can muster.

As seen in our text, Samson was in the final lap of his ministry and life. For about two decades, he had been the champion of Israel. Severally, he had humbled the enemies of Israel, especially the Philistines, by his God-given superhuman strength. But alas! he fell in love with Delilah – a Philistine harlot who had a mandate to bring him down. She tricked Samson into revealing the secret of his power. The Philistines cashed in on that information, bound Samson, put out his eyes and made him grind in their prison. Thus, Samson became a classical victim of fleshly lust.

In today’s text, we find Samson thoroughly abused during the Philistines’ solemn festival in honour of Dagon, their god. They made a show of him. But Samson remembered his God and prayed for just one more chance to deal with the Philistines. The Lord granted his prayer, and he, holding on to the two key pillars of the huge theatre, pulled the structure down, crushing the whole assembly of men and women and dying in the process. He slew more in death than in life.

We have as much to learn from Samson’s restoration as from his last prayer. Any backslider that sincerely runs back to God, even if it be by the force of adversity, will receive pardon and grace. As believers, we must be conscious of the desperate hour we are in today. We have come to the last lap of history. The hosts of hell must not be allowed to have the last laugh. Our reserved strength and preserved resources must be called up for the great commission and the challenge of the hour. We must muster our reserved strength and passion to cause unprecedented damage to the kingdom of Satan and rescue souls from his prison house.