Dirty Rotten Scoundrels: Samson

Guest Preacher, Rev Kim Scites of Hazel Green UMC.

Chapter 11 of Hebrews is known as the Hall of Faith.  This is where we read and are encouraged by the models of a faithful life; we are given the names of women and men who lived their lives by faith in God.  We hear of Sarah and Rehab, Abel and Abraham, Noah and Moses.  So why in the world is Samson’s name found in this Hall of Faith?  Samson was given supernatural strength by God in order to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats.  Samson killed a lion, slayed an entire army with a jawbone and destroyed a pagan temple, but we see little evidence of faith in his life.

         Faithful living is a series of choices, decisions, commitments and changes that move us towards God.  Samson always followed his own inclinations especially when we look at his two greatest weaknesses: his attraction to untrustworthy women and his hair (are you kidding me).  In Paul’s words, Samson lived a life of the flesh.  What he wanted was far more important than what God wanted.  But here’s the question: are we any different?  People who go to church every Sunday destroy their neighbors with gossip or their marriages with infidelity.  Samson’s story is not a children’s story; it is our story and at its heart it tells us what we must hear each and every day.  God’s grace is bigger than we can imagine and God’s plan for us can overcome even the most selfish of our decisions.