Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
You and I have both seen amazing things in our lives, but then there are some things we witness that simply leave us flabbergasted, dumbfounded, speechless. What was that last experience for you? I call our time together each day “Walking with Jesus” and I imagine the disciples who did walk with Jesus had those mind-blowing experiences often! Did you know there are some of those in the Old Testament also, and today I invite you to join me in one of them.
It was about 1250bc or so and yesterday we were introduced to a God-fearing man named Manoah and his unnamed wife. All we know about her is that she was childless but unexpectedly she had an encounter with an angel who told her she’d become pregnant and have a son who would grow up to be a significant leader for the people of Israel during a terrible time in their history when the Philistines were regularly attacking Israelite villages, killing people and pillaging their homes and fields.
The angel returned a second time, at the request of Manoah who asked the angel “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boy’s life and work?” (Judges 13:12) I love that question. It’s an important question for each of us. No matter your age, gender, ethnicity, family status or education, may I invite you to ask yourself that very same question? What are the rules, the guidelines, the precepts which govern your life and your work? And what about your descendants?
The angel had already told the woman that this boy was to be treated as a ‘Nazarite’, Numbers 6:2-6 give us more detail about this term. Normally it was a temporary consecration to God in which the person would take no fermented drink, would not cut their hair and would have no contact with a dead body. In that time this person was fully consecrated to God and available to God for anything God wanted to lead them to accomplish. It was a sacred matter and in this case the angel instructed the woman that she was to join in this consecration during her pregnancy by doing the same things. (Judges 13:4) Why?
Because the boy to be born was declared by this angel to be a Nazarite FOR LIFE! His entire life would be consecrated to God and this boy would become the leader in Israel who would bring the deliverance from the Philistines!
Manoah and his wife were so amazed by this visitation they naturally wanted to honor the angel with a meal. But the angel said, “Even though you detain me, I will not eat any of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.’ Then Manoah inquired of the angel, ‘what is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?’ The angel replied, ‘Why do you ask me my name? It is beyond understanding.” (Judges 13:15-18)
Now look at them, Manoah, his wife and this angel. Are you astounded by what you hear? What conclusion do you draw about this angel? Who is he? Gabriel or Michael or some other God sent angelic being? Watch closely at what happens next…
“Then Manoah took a young goat, together with a grain offering, and sacrificed it on a rock to the Lord. And the LORD did an amazing thing while Manoah and his wife watched. As the flame blazed up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame! Seeing this Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground… ‘We are doomed to die!’ Manoah said, ‘We have seen God!’ But his wife answered, ‘If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor would he have told us all these things…” (Judges 13:19-23) Now my friends, who do you suppose this angel was? Most Bible scholars believe this to be an Old Testament appearance of Jesus, God the Son!!
The next phrase closes Judges 13 with this summary: “The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.” (Judges 13:24,25) Yes, this is the famous, long-haired Samson that you perhaps remember hearing some stories about. Now you understand that his long hair was not rebellious behavior nor was it a gender confusion issue, but rather it was his Nazarite consecration to God. Do you also see that the Holy Spirit of God was upon this young man and stirring in him? Stirring what? Tomorrow we’ll find out!
We can assume his parents often told young Samson about the events surrounding his miraculous pregnancy and birth, and also about the Nazarite commission God had given him. The town “Mahaneh Dan” was a town about 15 miles west of Jerusalem, in the small region of the tribe of Dan. Zorah was actually the hometown of Samson’s parents. (Judges 13:1) We don’t know the circumstances which caused this initial stirring of the Holy Spirit, but I believe Samson may have been walking from Zorah, his hometown, to Eshtaol and saw some of the devastation the Philistine attackers had brought on farms and homes along the way, and God was using this to begin to awaken in Samson a life purpose.
Let’s pause and ponder my friends. What ‘life purpose’ has God awakened in you? How long ago and how have you been living out that life purpose? What has the Holy Spirit been stirring in you about what God wants to teach you or how God wants to refine you now, this week, for His greater purposes in our world? And how about your lifestyle and mine, my friends? I’m not talking about the length of your hair; I’m asking if you and I are living lives fully consecrated to God?
If Mr. Manoah and his wife had a guitar with them that day, they may have sung this simple but powerful song. I urge us to listen carefully to the words and ask ourselves… is that what our hearts feel today? And I’ll meet you right back here tomorrow to see what God did next with Samson…
Today’s Scripture is Judges 13:13-25.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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