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A Lifelong Vow

Have you ever read the story of Samson and wondered about his behavior? He was under a Nazarite vow, which had precise requirements and restrictions. The vow was a voluntary dedication to God. Both males and females could take this vow for a set period. The Bible documents only three men that had the vow from birth. Samson was one of those three.
One restriction was that you could not go near a dead body, including a family member. Samson not only went by a carcass of a lion he killed earlier; he also ate honey from a beehive inside the body. If you go and read Samson’s story from Judges 14 thru chapter 16, you will see that Samson was a legendary warrior for Israel, for which he judged for 20 years. You will also notice Samson had a weakness for a harlot named Delilah. If you are like me, you might get taken aback by the fact that God just documents his behavior. Where is the information about how God felt? Let me show you.
As I said, anyone could take a Nazarite vow for a set period. At the end of the time, there was a whole ceremony with a sacrifice, at which time the priest would shave the person’s head to symbolize that the vow was over. At that point, neither God nor the person was under any obligation. I wonder how many people reading this finally got the whole Delilah cutting his hair moment? Here is how God felt about Samson’s behavior. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself” 2 Timothy 2:13. A little bit of background helps to understand the Samson story. The moment the enemies shaved his hair, God was no longer bound to the vow. When I think of this story, I am blown away about how reliable, trustworthy, and steadfast our God is.
If you are born again and adopted into God’s family, you can know without a shadow of a doubt that God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth. You can also understand that every commandment and warning in the Bible will come to pass. “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19


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