Honored by God

Judges 13:5  “You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and his hair must never be cut.  For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth.  He will rescue Israel from the Philistines.”

Several things jump out at me from this passage.  God sent an angel to Manoah’s wife with a message about her becoming pregnant and having a son.  Up until this time she was unable to have any children.  We can only speculate as to why, but perhaps it was because God had a plan.  Her son was to be a very special servant of God; his name was Samson.  God knew the right time for Samson to be born, to whom he was to be born, and why he was going to have life.

God chose Manoah and his wife to be the guardians and caretakers of Samson.  He knew they would be up to the task.  He knew that they would take seriously their role in Samson’s life.  He knew they would follow His instructions on how to raise Samson. 

God had a very specific plan for Samson’s life.  He did not tell his mother all that Samson would go through in his life, but He did tell her that he would deliver the Israelites from the hand of the Philistines.  I suspect that if Samson’s mother had known all that was going to happen to her son she might have had second thoughts about the whole process.  Samson had some mighty big victories in his life, but he also made some poor decisions that ultimately cost him his sight and then his life.

Samson was set apart by God to play a prominent role in Israel’s history.  I believe no life is an accident.  God has a plan for each of us.  Some will rise up to greatness and some will live their lives barely noticed by others.  No life is without purpose.  God has a job for all of us to do.  Regardless of what our job may be, our main role is to be faithful in what He gives us to do. 

No matter how insignificant our role may be, if we are faithful to the Lord He will give our lives great honor.  Samson was the one whom we notice, but his parents are the ones that listened to the Lord, believed Him, and prepared him for the role he was to play.

Don’t ever believe the lie of Satan that your life is insignificant and will never amount to much.  A life lived faithfully in Christ is highly favored by God.