The stirrings of your spirit

Last week I described the different parental reactions to the angel who foretold Samson’s arrival and Nazirite expectations. Now we move quickly to Samson’s birth and youth.

And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the 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. (Judges 13:24-25)

We are not told much more about Samson’s childhood, or how God was influencing Samson during his youth, but the idea of God “stirring” in someone is powerful. It suggests Samson was becoming aware of God’s presence in his life, that he was perhaps noticing, or beginning to understand, his gifts or his calling.

The Bible even mentions where Samson was when the “Lord began to stir him,” which made me think of how easily I remember the places I’ve had deeply spiritual experiences: a college missions trip to an impoverished Mississippi town; a western Kansas bluff for an Easter sunrise service; a family’s living room where two estranged family members reconciled.

This passage also reminded me of the different ways the stirring happens. Frederick Buechner wrote the following description when someone asked what led him to ministry:

It was a lump in the throat. It was an itching in the feet. It was a stirring in the blood at the sound of rain. It was a sickening of the heart at the sight of misery. It was a clamoring of ghosts. It was a name which, when I wrote it out in a dream, I knew was a name worth dying for even if I was not brave enough to do the dying myself and could not even name the name for sure.1

Can you recall where you were at a time when you felt God’s presence? What are some of the ways you have felt God “stirring” your spirit?