We Are Helpless without the Lord

Note from today’s Bible reading: Judges 12-17

Samson was known for his great strength. Unfortunately, he also displayed great foolishness in his involvement with Delilah and divulging to her the source of his strength. He told her, “If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man” (Judges 16:17).

With this information, she had his head shaved while he slept. When the Philistines came to capture him, Samson thought he would escape as before. Yet he did not realize that his hair had been cut or, more importantly, that “the Lord had departed from him” (Judges 16:20). Unable to fight back, “the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains, and he was a grinder in the prison” (Judges 16:21).

Samson’s hair in itself did not make him strong (others may have had long hair, too); instead, he was strong because the Lord was with him. Even after his hair began to grow (Judges 16:22), he did not have the strength to defeat the Philistines again until he appealed to God to strengthen him (Judges 16:28-30).

So remember that we are helpless without the Lord. This example of Samson illustrates how vital it is to remain on the Lord’s side. If we are not “strong in the Lord” (Ephesians 6:10), we have no hope of overcoming the enemy of God’s people.