The Weaknesses of Samson

We are familiar with the great strength of Samson. He killed a lion with his bare hands, struck down 30 men by himself, and killed a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey. But have we taken notice of his weaknesses? He was hasty in his reactions, he acted like an impatient, spoiled child demanding what he wanted, he was easily angered and vengeful, and he allowed his lust of women overtake good rationality.

However, God used those weaknesses to work out His plan to bring down the Philistines. God knew Samson before he was born and He knew what his natural tendencies and personality traits would be. This is why God chose Samson before he was even created. In Jeremiah 1:5 God says, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you;” Samson was also sanctified, set apart for God from the womb, as the Angel of the Lord told Samson’s mother in Judges 13:5.

Samson was evidently not an imposingly muscular man since others were puzzled and wanted to know the “secret” of his great strength” so they could overpower him. We can assume he was just a regular guy, with a regular build. His victorious confrontations were only because God gave him supernatural strength. Each time he was in a situation needing this great strength, scripture tells us “the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him”.

It was only by the gift of strength from the Spirit, that Samson's weaknesses were to his advantage. Without God, his weaknesses took over and became his downfall. This illustrates that with God, we can overcome, in spite of our weaknesses. But without God, we will fail. And it also illustrates that we cannot boast about our strengths being from ourselves, but rather we must attribute it all to God’s power.

Apostle Paul teaches in I Corinthians 1:26-31,

“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’”

Then Paul goes on to apply it to himself in chapter 2,

“And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.” (1 Corinthians 2:1-5)

Does that mean that we should embrace our weaknesses and remain in them? Paul answers that in Romans 6:1-2,

“What shall we say, then? 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?”

We all have weaknesses. Some are just a fact of life and are not sinful. These are weaknesses that we have to work around, such as physical challenges. But there are weaknesses in which we have the ability to improve and overcome with the help of God. And even in our physical challenges, we can get strength and encouragement from God. As we read in Philippians 4:13,

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Our strength comes from the Lord. Whether that's supernatural strength like Samson, or strength to overcome our inner self. We can overcome our weaknesses as long as we are in the Lord and depend on Him for strength. The moment we think we can do it on our own, we will lose that supernatural strength as Samson did and our weaknesses will overcome us and be our downfall.

We may ask: “If God knew what weaknesses I would have before I was born, why did He allow me to have them? Why do I have to battle against this weakness?” It is because we are a testimony of God's power to help us overcome and to be a shining light. Consider others who are battling the same issues, but they are trying to do it without God. With our experiences, we can be an example to show what a person can overcome and achieve as one who is faithfully dependent on God.

We read in Ephesians 1:11-12,

“In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything according to his purpose, in order that we, who were the first to put our trust in Christ, would bring praise and glory to God.”

So like Paul, let us boast in our weaknesses… because where we are insufficient, where we are struggling, where we are striving to improve, God makes us more than sufficient, God guides us through the struggles and God gives us the ability to improve. His power shines through us.