Samson is a central character in the book of Judges. Almost every kid has heard of Samson from their days in Sunday school. The interesting thing about Samson however is his story is not what you, or at least not what I would have expected. Samson is a man who has a temper, is consumed with lust, and at times doesn’t seem to be all there in the ole’ noggin. So why is so much attention given to this man, why is he even mentioned in the “Hall of Faith” (Hebrews 11:32) ? To be honest I am not really sure. There are a couple of things I think I can say with some certainty.
The first is the faith of Samson’s parents. We can get out of the text that Samson’s parents wanted the best for him, and wanted to be sure to obey all the commands of God. Godly parents play a huge role in the spiritual development of their children. A child who does not have a strong set of Godly parents is at a huge disadvantage to the child whose parents lead them in the ways of Christ. Samson never seemed to fully grasp the faith his parents had, but we do see it had an influence on how he lived.
The second thing is that God was with Samson. This is the most important reason for the success of Samson. It was God who endowed Samson with his great strength, it was God who called him to help over throw the Philistine oppression, and it was God who directed the moments of his life. The sad thing is Samson never fully devoted himself to God. What stories would we have had if Samson would have lived according to his Nazirite Vow, How great of a leader could he have been if he hadn’t allowed himself to get mixed up with people he shouldn’t have been associated with. Sometimes Godly people lose their maximum effectiveness because of the sin they allow to creep in here and there.
The wonderful thing about the story of Samson however is that God is loving, kind, slow to anger, and compassionate. He works through people who mess up, and God desires to do great things through people who will just be willing to put their faith in Him. The Bible is full of people who do dumb things for dumb reasons even though God has so loved them. We are the same way, yet through God’s greatness, he redeems us from our sinfulness, and calls us His children. The faith of Samson seems so little, yet he is called to move mountains, or in his case temple pillars. We too are called to use our faith for what God has in store for us, no matter how big or how small.
