As I read the book of Judges and learn about characters like Samson, I’m reminded of the consequences of people doing “what is right in their own eyes”….that is, they pave their way to destruction. With Samson, his parents were given specific instructions not to let Samson eat/drink/touch anything unclean, and not to shave his head because he is a Nazirite. But instead of keeping to his own people, Samson decides to marry a Philistine because she was “right in his own eyes”. And then he ends up killing a whole lot of people, and his wife is given to someone else. After that, he disobeys God again, and chases a charming girl named Delilah (who is presumably a Philistine)…And then he ends up losing his strength and having his eyes gouged out because his hair is shaved off.
In today’s society, you’re generally seen as “good” if you don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t kill…if you’re a person of many morals. Many people don’t see the relevance in believing in a God who takes away sin because they simply don’t think they’re “bad people”. But the truth is, even if we earnestly seek after what we believe is right, we can be wrong.
And so, we must always strive to do what is right in God’s eyes, and not our own morality. But that’s not to say that we won’t falter – many characters in the bible who earnestly tried to seek God’s heart failed at some point (Ie: King David). Samson’s story shows that God can triumph through our failings. In the end, we see how the blind Samson manages to gather enough strength to push over the pillars that sustain the structure of the Philistine house. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life (Judges 16:30b). Although maybe he shouldn’t have done it, because “vengeance is the Lord’s”. 
