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SAMSON (IV)
LORD’S DAY, FEBRUARY 12
Judges 13:24-25

2 Timothy 2:19-22

 

“Train up a child in the

way he should go…”

 

SAMSON (IV)
 
The record of the birth of Samson and the summary of his upbringing are in these two verses, Judges 13:24-25. This record highlights the faithfulness of God in fulfilling His word to the parents concerning the birth of their son, and fulfilling His promise to use Samson to break the Philistine oppression. But this record also highlights the faithfulness of Samson’s parents to their God-given call, and responsibility both to the instructions of the LORD by the angel to Manoah’s wife as well as to the raising of Samson as a Nazarite.
 
“And the woman bare a son…” (Judg 13:24). After the angelic appearances and promises, the woman bore a son. God honoured His word, and the woman obeyed God’s word too. God had made provisions for the man He would use. These provisions were sovereign and providential. It was sovereign in that God’s choice of who were to be parents cannot be explained in any other way than it was by God’s sovereign will. It was providential in that as Samson developed, his life was shaped by his parents’ choices and testimony. Yet God had a hand in them, and his parents had conscious and deliberate responsibilities too. Through all this, “the LORD blessed him” (Judg 13:24).
 
“And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times…” (Judg 13:25). The introduction to the life of Samson is with a statement that does not highlight his might or strength, but rather the Spirit of the LORD which was the source of his might and strength. Before considering his exploits, which involved multiple encounters against the Philistines (unlike the accounts of the other judges, which focused on one account with which deliverance was wrought), we are given to know that God who had called and chosen to use him, did use him. His life will clearly portray what it means and requires to have the LORD as one’s strength and what it takes for God to use us for His glory. His life will also show the grace and mercy which the LORD extends when He chooses to use man and the consequences that accompany wilful disobedience to the Word and will of the LORD.
 
THOUGHT: Devotion to God straightens my paths and saves from hurt.

PRAYER: (Use Psalm 86:11.)

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