The mighty Samson, and the weak one too.

17 “And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up again, for he has told me all his heart.” Judges (16:17-18 ESV)

A Nazirite vow is a vow of devotion to God. We see it explained in Numbers 6, “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord, 3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar made from wine or strong drink and shall not drink any juice of grapes or eat grapes, fresh or dried. 4 All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.”

Samson was the equivalent of a biblical superhero. He had superhuman strength, killing a lion with his bare hands and lifting a city gate from its hinges. There was even a comic book about Samson, appearing in Fantastic Comics in 1939. But while Samson was strong, he was morally weak, prideful, and lustful, sinning without regard for God.

Samson existed when Israel had no king. Everyone did what was “right in their eyes.” Something Moses warned about in Deuteronomy 12:8. We saw Samson's “sight” when he tried to marry a Philistine woman, which was also prohibited in Deuteronomy, saying, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes” (14:3) Sampson was strong, he slayed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. So, despite his disobedience, God still blessed him, much like God blesses us. Samson idolized women. Meeting Delilah was the pinnacle of his idolatry, leading to his life's end—an ending in which, one more time, God gave Samson superhuman strength despite his failures.

The point in this scripture is not about long hair giving strength, the Nazarite vow of devotion to God, or the acts of a judge. My point is this: Samson, no matter how strong he was in the Lord, was not his own savior. Neither are we. Like Samson, we all have strengths and weaknesses; we are all sinners and will always be sinners. God is sovereign; God used Samson's sin for the good of Israel. In his death, Samson killed more Philistines than he did during his life. That is the will of God.

God knows we cannot save ourselves and sent Christ as our Savior so that our sins could be forgiven. It is not sin that sends us to hell; it is being unforgiven. Sin is, in our essence, handed down to us from Adam. God knows we sin. He sees us every day. Sin must be paid for, plain and simple. Sin will either be paid for eternally by the unrepentant, unjustified sinner in hell, or Christ will bear that sin.

Where are you with sin? Are you forgiven, having recognized Christ as your Savior who bore your sins? Or should you be packing for a burning climate that never ends? If hell is not where you want to spend eternity, come to Christ in faith and repentance and be washed clean in the blood of the lamb.

Grace and Peace!