WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT SAMSON?

Samson

Judges 13-16

God-Given Gifts Are to be Given to God: Don’t Waste Them  (Judges 15:4-5 ESV) So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails…

We waste gifts when they are...

1) selfishly used 2) sparingly used 3) shallowly used

God Is Faithful Even When We Aren’t: Turn To Him (Judges 15:18-19 ESV) And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the LORD and said, "You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?"19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore; it is at Lehi to this day.

The Nazarite Vow: Three Components

1. Abstain from wine, strong drink, or anything from the vine.

2. No cutting of the hair.

3. No contact with the dead.

WARNING: Don’t sacrifice the significant for the silly.

God Has the Right to Give and Take His Gifts: Don’t Test God, Thank God (Judges 16:16-17 & 20 ESV) And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.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." 20 And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him.

THE BOTTOM LINE?

RELATE TO GOD, DON’T RUN FROM HIM!