Inner Gates, Outer Strength

Neville's Inner Vision

Judges 16:1-3 invites us to read Samson's exploits as the inner movements of a man’s consciousness. Gaza is not a place but a state of mind that seeks satisfaction where appearances promise power. The harlot stands for beliefs that we mistake for lasting fulfillment. The plots of the Gazites mirror the thoughts that would hold us in the night of fear, plotting our downfall as if dawn were a threat. Yet Samson's midnight ascent—lifting the gate and posts—embodies the actor within who refuses to be governed by limitation. By moving the gate to Hebron, he shows that true strength is the ability to rearrange the internal landscape; it is not the body but awareness that wrests freedom from constraint. The message: the Presence of God is realized when the self stops identifying with the shadow of power or pleasure and remembers its sole identity as I AM. When you align imagination with that I AM, you become the mover of gates, not their captive.