Samson

Last year, my church in England asked me to preach the Sunday on Samson. In the midst of preparing, I learned much about him. Most church goers only remember Samson as the dude who let Delilah trick him and cut off his hair. However, Samson screwed up well before Delilah showed up on the scene. As an Israelite, Samson had covenant. As a nazirite, Samson had vows. Unfortunately, he apparently didn't really care about these. Samson first asks his parents to get him a pretty Philistine woman as his bride. Since they were Israelites, Samson should have found himself a good Israelite girl and settled with her, as his parents reminded him. However, he was determined and they gave in. There goes his respect for the covenant of Israel. Then, he kills a lion in the vineyards of Timnah when going to visit the woman and doesn't tell anyone or go through the ritual cleansing. There goes his nazirite vow (part 1). Obviously, Samson needs to turn himself around or wind up well beyond the good graces of God. The story just keeps getting worse- he breaks his vow multiple other times. Finally, God gives up. After he finally tells Delilah the truth about his strength and his nazirite vow, it says "he did not know that the Lord had left him" (Judges 16:20). Samson refused to be committed to his God, instead choosing the evil things of this world to be his place.
The song for this post is indeed titled Samson and is by Regina Spektor. The opening and closing lines for the song are "You are my sweetest downfall. I loved you first, I loved you first." What do we depend on instead of God? What is the thing we have trouble putting God before? Our husband, wife, children? Samson had his desires, and of course his women. If we can say I loved you first to anything, or anyone, other than God then we too will fall. And then our sweetest downfall will have gotten the best of us as well.