As We Grow: Why I Cut My Hair

When we think of long hair and superhuman strength, the name Samson (or Thor) is typically the bell that rings within our minds. The words “cut your hair” were the words that the Lord convicted me with about three or so weeks ago when he told me to read in the book of Judges and meditate on the life of Samson.  

I was in personal devotions one morning during solitude, and the thought of buzzing off all of my hair just wouldn’t leave my mind. I couldn’t handle it. The very thought itself made me want to vomit, so I prayed and asked for clarity on the subject, and of course the Holy Spirit brought me to the part of the Bible where hair was everything: the story of Samson. I began to read and read, and ended up going through the story once or twice. I still didn’t understand. I mean, I get it. Samson is promised brute strength from God unless he cuts his hair, and then he proceeds to tell Delilah where his strength comes from and what will make him weak. I still didn’t know how it applied to me, or why it mattered, because my situation was different than Sampson’s and I was honestly struggling to make a connection. 

As I kept reading I decided to go deeper into the facts aspect of the chapter, and this is what stuck out to me. 

• Samson was strong (literally) but when it came to moral integrity he was lacking thereof. 
• The act of shaving or chopping your hair in the Nazarite culture was a symbol of new covenant. This happened when the original covenant was broken or was defiled in some way. 
• Samson killed more philistines on the day he sacrificed himself (upon destroying the temple) than he did collectively throughout his entire life; that time he prayed for his strength to be sourced from the Lord. 

“New covenant? Lord, I don’t understand,” Is how I responded to that idea, but with all glory to God I began to understand why for any reason I would be under conviction to cut my hair.  

Up until that point in my life, there were a lot of chains that I should have surrendered, and that I was putting too much identity in who I used to be over who christ says that I am. I was walking with a lower moral integrity than that which christ calls us to uphold, and although I was much more than acquainted with the character of God, I failed to fully rest in the redemption that he desires for us. I was refusing to let the Holy Spirit lead me away from the chains I left at the feet of Jesus. 

To not ramble, I’ll answer your question by saying, YES! I did cut my hair that day back in November, and my faith (and my hair of course) have been growing slowly but surely ever since. Every time I look in the mirror I remember that not only is Jesus’s redemption whole, but also that I have no need to hold to that last chainlink of captivity. There is no holy identity in our past failures and shortcomings, just as Sampson’s identity in the end was not found in his love for or trust in a prostitute, rather all of our identity is found in Jesus. He makes us whole, and for me he had been trying to do so the entire time. I just wouldn’t cut my hair to let him give me that last bit of strength – the same strength that gave Sampson the ability to take down the philistines even though his hair was short and he had no ability to see. 

This is the superhuman strength I wish I could receive from my hair. Ha!