Samson

The Judge Who Finished Strong

READ Judges 16:23–31

You may be surprised to see Samson in this survey of faith. Samson’s life is a favorite Bible story for many: the long hair, superhuman strength, defeating of an army with nothing but a donkey’s jawbone, and of course his fateful relationship with Delilah. It’s all wonderful storytelling. But Samson, for most of his life, was deeply flawed. He was set apart for God’s service from birth, but he didn’t live a very godly life. He certainly is not presented as a man of prayer. He broke the Nazirite rules he was supposed to follow. He had a roving eye for women, and he was violent. How can his life illustrate how we can be faithful now?

Let’s pause to remember something about God’s providence. God can use unlikely people, even unfaithful people, to accomplish his will. As we saw in Joseph’s story, God can use difficult circumstances and wicked motives to good ends. At times God used Israel’s enemies—sometimes to punish them, sometimes to liberate them (as in the case of Cyrus of Persia in 2 Chronicles 36:22–23). In the same way, God used Samson, messy though he was. The Israelites were under the oppressive hand of the Philistines, and God used Samson to take the lead in delivering God’s people from their oppressors (Judges 13:5).

Now, this is all well and good, but what does this have to show us about faithful living in our own lives? We know God calls us to righteousness and holiness; Paul warned against the mindset of being loose on sin: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1–2). We’d hardly want to say, “Mimic Samson and let God work through you despite your poor behavior.” Ignoring sin is not the lesson to learn from Samson’s life.

Instead, Samson’s life illustrates that it is never too late to return to God.

In the final moments of Samson’s life, everything had been taken from him. He was imprisoned and enslaved, doing the work of an animal by grinding grain into flour. His eyes had been gouged out and his hair had been shaved. At the pagan festival to the god Dagon, the Philistines put Samson on display to mock and torment him. He was a broken shell of a man; the term “rock bottom” doesn’t do justice to how low he had sunk.

Yet, in that moment, he called upon God. He prayed for strength to accomplish God’s judgment upon Israel’s enemies: “Sovereign LORD, remember me” (Judges 16:28). And, like he did with the thief on the cross next to Jesus (Luke 23:42–43), God answered Samson’s prayer moments before his death.

Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived. (Judges 16:29–30)

Whatever mistakes you’ve made, however you may have turned away from God or faith in the past, God is a loving Father, ready to receive his children back. Faith begins and ends with God’s grace, and that grace is working to draw you closer to him.

You may have a prodigal story of your own. We’ve all had seasons where we have strayed from—or perhaps outright rejected—God and his will. Perhaps you’ve had a lingering sense of God’s presence, but you’ve pushed that to the back of your mind. Maybe you’ve started to question, Is it too late for me to return to God? Have I let God down too many times, and now he won’t want me back? As with the father at the return of the prodigal son (Luke 15:20), the answer is an unequivocal no. God’s grace keeps working to bring us back. Wherever you are, it’s never too late to come back to your faithful God.