I FEEL LIKE MY HAIR IS GROWING BACK
Text: Judges 16:22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.
a. Hair by definition is any of the cylindrical, keratinized, often pigmented filaments characteristically growing from the epidermis of a mammal.
b. A growth of such filaments, as that forming the coat of an animal or covering the scalp of a human.
Hair has a purpose. For example the hair above the eyes prevents dust, dirt or liquids from just rolling down into the eyes. Some people have chosen to correct God’s plan so they have completely shaved their eyebrows and used a crayon to mark the place where there once was hair. The hair inside the nostrils is for keeping stuff out of the nose. The hair above the mouth is important to block unwanted matter from the mouth. But for most people the most important hair is the hair on the head.
Whenever that hair begins to thin and to shrink, to gray or to whiten people begin to look for ways to replace their hair. Practically the hair on the head is to protect our scalps from the elements. Even though there is a practical purpose for that hair, hair is also for beauty and people spend lots of money and time doing their hair. But hair can be trouble O.
Sometimes it does not co-operate no matter how hard you try to fix it. Just like an unruly child it just does what it wants. Even when you go to the beauty shop to get professional help there could be disappointment. You could braid it, curl it, gel it, wave it, weave it, extend it, color it, relax it, frizz it, highlight it or twist it. Hair has a mind of its own. Sometimes you may try to go cheap and get a friend to do your hair, if you have not tried that one don’t because usually that turns out to be a disaster. I had such an experience back in 1990. I tried to save $10 and it cost me my identity. In fact when my friend was finished with me I looked like a mix between a bald-headed Britney Spears and Kojak. Someone that had known me could not even recognize me and he asked “do I know you? Have we met?”
• Then of course sometimes people try to fix their hair for themselves and that is a tragedy. Probably one of the most disturbing things someone can discover is that their hair is falling off or maybe when they went to the beauty shop the stylist cut off too much hair or used a strong chemical that caused their hair to drop or get brittle. You have options at that point; go out and buy a wig (like this one or this one) You could try what the Ancient Egyptians did they used citrus juice, juniper berry juice, chopped lettuce or even Castor Oil to grow their hair. Ancient Africans used steeped flowers in Olive Oil, steeped herbs in Avocado Oil or Shea Butter. Indians used boiled sage leaves in coconut oil and applied it to the hair and scalps. Native Americans used jojoba oil or a solution of wood and twigs from willow trees. In Tahiti, Polynesian women treated their hair with Monoi Oil, a blend of highly refined Nucifera, Coconut Oil and Tiare flower. Europeans used to "massage and wash the scalp with soap, water and soda.
In Victorian America, women often rubbed eggs, salt, Vaseline, bay rum, crushed beetle bodies, into their scalps and brushed it through their hair to stimulate hair growth. Today people use rogaine, the hair club for men, surgical transplantation, proper nutrition and brushing.
OR MAYBE YOU HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO JUST WAIT UNTIL your hair begins to grow back. The pain is in the waiting for the hair to grow back.
When you have no hair you feel embarrassed.
When you have no hair you feel humiliated.
When you have no hair you feel self-conscious.
When you have no hair you feel intimidated.
When you have no hair you feel nervy.
When you have no hair people stare at you.
When you have no hair you notice other people who have no hair.
When you have no hair you want to do something about the situation.
Hair is very important to most men and women. So you keep checking until one day, one day, one day you put your hand on the back of your head and you say to yourself “I feel like my hair is growing back.”
The best hair story in the Bible is found in the book of Judges in chapter 13 during a time when the Philistines oppressed the Israelites. In the city of Zorah there was a man named Manoah whose wife was barren. An angel appeared to her and told her that she was about to have a son who would deliver Israel from the Philistines. Her son would be a Nazarite from the womb. He told her not to drink wine or eat grapes or any unclean thing and that no razor should come upon his head. The woman followed the instructions and somewhere between 1200 and 1000 BC the child was born they called him Samson that means distinguished or strong man and the bible says “and the Lord blessed him.”
Samson had tremendous strength and he combat his enemies performing heroic feats unachievable by ordinary men when the Spirit of the Lord was upon him. He once killed a lion with his bare hands. He caught three hundred foxes and tied them two by two at the tails put firebrands on their tails and released them into the Philistine corn fields, vineyards and olive plantations to burn them down. Once he defeated and killed an entire PHILISTINE ARMY OF 1000 troops with nothing more than a donkey’s jawbone.
Then according to chapter 16 of Judges however, Samson started to slip into sin. One night he went to the Philistine capital city of Gaza and there he was messing around with a prostitute. The Philistines found out that he was there and they locked up the gate of the city.
At midnight when he awoke and tried to leave the city he found the gates locked. Now these were not just little gates there were offices in those gates Samson just ripped off the doors of the gates, the two posts, the bar and all and took them 40 miles away up to the top of a hill in Hebron that was about over 3000 feet above sea level.
Next Samson went to the valley of Sorek (choice vines—a place of wine, women and song) and fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah. The Philistine rulers each promised Delilah eleven hundred pieces of silver if she could discover the secret of Samson’s strength. Samson could have escaped disgrace and defeat at this point but instead he chose to play with sin.
Let me tell you right now if you play in the water you will get wet, if you play with a dog you will get fleas, if you play with fire you will get burned and if you play with sin you will fall into sin, and eventually sin will destroy you. Sin will take you too far, keep you too long and never bring you back. You might be strong but do not play with sin. Samson was strong and he felt he could handle the situation so in the end his strength became his weakness. Delilah may have been weak but when she heard about the money she became strong. Money has a way of making weak women feel strong.
So one night while Samson was with her she asked him to tell her the secret of his strength. He decided to play the game with her, so he lied. He told her that if he was bound with seven moist gutstrings he will be like any other man. She tied him up with the gutstrings and then she said “Samson the Philistines are upon you.” Samson just got up and broke the gutsrings as if they were thread touched by fire. She began to whine and complain that he was making a fool out of her and mocking her. He told her that if he was bound with new ropes then he will be weak. She tried it. He just jumped up again and broke them like threads. Now notice, by this time he should have realized that she was out to get him and he should leave the place O.
She cried and complained again. So he told her that if the seven locks of his hair were weaved with the web and pin of a weaver’s beam that he would be weak. She did it. When she told him that the Philistines were coming he jumped up and walked away with the web and the pin of the weaver’s beam.
Now she was really upset, he had mocked her and embarrassed her, she was getting worried now that she would not get the money and that Samson would never tell her the truth so she pulled the biggest line that women have used on men since the days of Adam and Eve, and they still use it today, “You don’t really love me.” Lord have mercy, some women know how to get to a man with those puppy eyes, crocodile tears and that doggy whimpers, saying “you don’t love me because if you love me you will tell me why you are stronger than everyone else. If you don’t tell me I will think think that you don’t trust me”
Samson fell for the line O. His knees became weak, he got worried that she would leave him and he wanted to prove that he really loved her. So he told her “I am a Nazarite unto God and no razor must come upon my head. Then she put him to sleep on her knees and she sent for the barber. The barber came in and shaved off the seven locks of Samson’s hair. Then she began to hurt him and his strength was gone from him. She shouted to him “Samson the Philistines are upon you.” Samson got up and shook himself like he did before, but it was, Too late to shake. He had gone too far, stayed too long and could not get back. His strength was gone and the Philistines took him, bound him, blinded him, imprisoned him and made him grind corn for them. They used him like an ox and tormented him and laughed at him.
Samson had messed up but how many of you know that God is a God of second chances? You may have failed God but he has not forgotten you. You may be down in sin and paying a high price for your sin, but I came by to tell you it’s not over until God says it’s over. The devil may be sitting on your head right now but I got a message from heaven for you today if you would repent, turn away from your sins and ask for help God will come by and fix things for you.
They bound him, blinded him, imprisoned him and made him grind but they were not paying attention, his hair was growing back. Samson was having his shower one day and he put his hand at the back of his head and said to himself “hot dog I feel like my hair is growing back.” Put your hand on the back of your head and say “I feel like my hair is growing back.”
You might have gone through some stuff in your life, and you are feeling lower than you ever felt before but just put your hand at the back of your head, just above your neck and you will feel like your hair is growing back. You might have made some mistakes in your life and you put yourself in the mess you are in, but touch your neighbor, put your hand at the back of your head and say “I feel like my hair is growing back.” You may have stayed away from church for too long and you have begun to feel spiritually weak, but you are here today and I want you put your hand at the back of your head and say, “I feel like my hair is growing back.”
You may have dropped your ministry and started to find other things to occupy your life and you are finding out that you are not enjoying them like you thought you would, just touch two people and put your hand at the back of your head and say “I feel like my hair is growing back.”
Samson’s hair was growing back and he felt a new sensation in his body. His muscles began to tone up his biceps and his triceps were buffed, his pectoral was bulking up again, his deltoids and extensors were feeling ready like Freddy, his soleus and his gastrocnemius muscles were expanding and contracting like they never did before and he began to get the feeling, he began to get the notion, he began to get the premonition and intuition, the indication and the expectation that very soon it would be Philistine kicking time again. His hair was growing back and the Philistines were not paying attention.
“Yes Devil you may think you have me now, you may even begin to feel cocky that I am in your grip and that you will stop me from fulfilling my God-given and God-ordained destiny, but haven’t you noticed that my hair is growing back. My spiritual power is coming back. I feel different now. The things I used to do I do them no more. Change is coming. Touch two people and say change is on the way, I feel like my hair is growing back.
You see when Samson’s hair was long the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he was in relationship with God he was anointed by God. When his hair was shaved off, he lost his anointing and his power with God but his hair grew back and with it came the anointing and the power of God. That same power that opened up the Red Sea. That same power shook the mountains and rescued Daniel from the lions and Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego, from the fiery furnace, Jonah from the whale’s belly, opened blinded eyes, unstopped deaf ears, caused the lame to walk and the dumb to talk. That same power came back to Samson and the Philistines took him to the temple of dagon, their half fish half man god, to make sport and a mockery of him. Now the temple was full to capacity with men, women and children and on the roof there were 3000 men and women. He asked a boy to take him to the place where the two main pillars of temple were located and he cried out to God to remember him and to strengthen him so he could take revenge on the Philistines for his eyes, and with a final prayer he asked God to let him die with the Philistines and he pushed the pillars and the entire building collapsed killing all those that were in it.
