One of the saddest chapters in all of Scripture is the story of Samson. Here was a man with tremendous potential. He had godly parents, supernatural strength, and the Lord's favor. He literally had more gifts and more advantages than anyone else in his era. He was born and called and used by God to serve as a living picture of divine deliverance—and in that sense, he prefigured Christ. His birth was supernatural; he suffered for the sake of his people. Everything about him was amazing. He is very much a messiah figure—in every way but one: he was not particularly faithful. Scripture records several disastrous spiritual lapses in his life. He was especially prone to the kind of carnal failure that stems from unbridled lust blended with a lack of personal discipline. He couldn't control his fleshly desires, and he was a strong-willed man. And that is a disastrous combination...
