The story of Samson in Judges 15-16 is one that has been preached on in many services over the years. It is a great story of a barren woman who God blessed with a male child who she declared and then he maintained as a Narzarite from birth. If you look into the Nazarite vow, you will find it was a commitment to consecration, to be set apart for God’s use only. This was a voluntary vow men and women took.

This vow came with great gifts, for Samson this vow gave him supernatural strength. God was going to use this supernatural strength to defeat the enemy of Israel the Philistines. The Philistines killed Samson’s first wife because she could not get him to break his vow to God. Then he ends up with a prostitute, but he escapes that situation with the strength his vow provided him. He then falls in love again with Delilah.

The Philistines learned from their past mistake of burning to death his first wife and her family, so they bribe his second wife with money. A lot of money. This bribe works and she wears him down enough to find out that his strenght is not because of some charm he carries, but because of a vow he made to Yahweh. “He told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.” (Judges 16:17)

Samson broke his vow to God and lost his strenght. Samuel never broke his Nazarite vow to God and died a prophet whose words never fell to the ground (1 Samuel 1:11). Friends, our promises to God releases gifts to us that enemy seeks to steal from us, not because he wants the gift, but because the gift is defeating him and rescuing us. Our vows to God are powerful, we must guard them at all cost, for the enemy is after our vow not our strength or prophetic words.