Free Sunday School lesson for pre-teens and teens on the Biblical figure Samson using the King James Bible.
Begin the lesson with some questions: Who was Samson, and what was he known for?
Samson’s life was a great downward spiral. He messed up and never got right. He took advantage of God’s grace.
What was the moment when God left him? (His hair was cut.)
Why didn’t God leave him sooner? After all, he’d messed up long before allowing Delilah to cut his hair (touching the dead lion).
The reason is: God can still use backslidden people.
Ask your students what “backslidden” means. You are facing the right direction but going the wrong way.
I will tell you the story of a preacher from my hometown, but you can use any example. For the majority of his life, he was a good man. He began a missions program to support getting the gospel all over the world, visited the sick (even going from TN to CA when my sister had brain surgery as a baby), and he led many people to Christ.
However, at some point, this preacher got addicted to porn. He was still in the pulpit, still leading his family, still witnessing, still visiting the sick, but the downward spiral had started. Eventually, he abandoned his wife and their six sons for a woman he’d met online.
It ruined his testimony and the church’s testimony, but those souls who got saved while he was backslidden are still saved. Those people who got right with God even though he was preaching with a defiled conscience still got right.
God can use people even if they aren’t right with him.
Don’t discredit the preacher’s message based on his lifestyle, but filter it through what the Bible says. Even Jesus says (speaking of the Pharisees) that people should observe what they teach but not live the way that they live (Matthew 23:3 KJV). It’s just like the people God used to write the Bible – they were imperfect, but God’s word is perfect.
In the Bible, God uses many gentile kings (Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Pharaoh, etc.) to do his bidding. He uses sinners, saints, and backslidden saints alike – Samson is just another example.
God used Samson for some great victories over the Philistines when the children of Israel were suffering, but there would come a time when Samson’s lack of spiritual strength caught up to him.
Samson was physically strong but not spiritually strong.
He could lift the city gates but could not tell himself no.
Samson was a Nazarite from the time of his birth (Judges 13:5 KJV). Nazarites weren’t supposed to shave their heads, eat or drink anything to do with grapes, or touch the dead body of anything (Numbers 6 KJV).
While Samson was disciplined in some areas, this discipline began to slack. Throughout his life, he followed the Nazarite rules until he fought and killed a lion. Later, he found honey in the carcass of the lion, and he took it, touching that dead lion (Judges 14:6-9 KJV).
Nothing happened. At least, not yet.
Samson still had his strength.
In the same chapter, Samson married a Philistine girl (Judges 14:1-3 KJV). The Israelites weren’t supposed to do this. The Philistines had different gods and could turn away the Israelites’ hearts from serving God. In the same vein, Christians today should not be unequally yoked with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6:14-18 KJV).
However, God can still use our bad decisions for good. God used Samson’s marriage to this Philistine to bring a victory for Israel over the Philistines (Judges 14:4 KJV). This scenario is what eventually led to him killing 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey (Judges 15:15 KJV).
What was it that caused Samson’s fall?
He fell in love with Delilah.
The wrong person will use you, and that’s exactly what Delilah did. She was paid 1,100 pieces of silver to find the source of his strength.
You need to be careful and keep your standards high.
We’re going to read the story of how this happened: Judges 16 KJV
Why did Samson keep going back?
To us, it seems evident that this was a trap, that Delilah did not truly love him, so why does he continue to entertain her?
People who get involved in sin do so because they think they are the exception.
Samson had always been the exception. He wrought great victories without giving God glory, he’d broken the Nazarite law, he’d messed around with strange women (his Philistine wife and a harlot) and he’d always retained his strength. He thought that if he did this, he wouldn’t pay for it, that he could get away with it. After all, he’d gotten away with it so many times before. However, God had finally left him to his own devices (Judges 16:20 KJV).
Be sure your sin will find you out (Numbers 32:23 KJV). Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:7 KJV).
The end of Samson’s life is a terrible reminder of the consequences of sin (Judges 16:21-30 KJV).
Not everyone dies in shame. The prodigal son came back, but you never come back the same. The prodigal lost his inheritance. Samson lost his eyes (after all, he’d suffered with lust for most of his life).
The bible warns that the Lord can save you out of your situations but makes no promise that you will be untouched (he may just save an ear or a leg – Amos 3:12 KJV). You may lose your testimony, wealth, health, family, etc.
Sin will ruin you, and you will pay the price.
It may not be immediate either. You see people like Samson who seem to be getting away with it, but it always catches up to them. Their fall is what people remember. The two main things that Samson are famous for is that he was super strong and that he fell because of Delilah.
This story is in the Bible to teach us that we need to be spiritually strong. Proverbs 25:28 KJV warns us that “He that hath no rule over his spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.”
How can a person be spiritually strong? They need to read the Bible, pray, and go to church.
For more information on strengthening your relationship with God, check out this lesson: “How to Build Your Relationship With God.“
If you enjoyed this Bible lesson “Samson the (Not So) Strong,” be sure to check out other lessons here.