RAISING THEM BY
THE RULES
Judges 13
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Pastor Brian Matherlee
Manoah asked in verse 12, “When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule for the boy’s life and work?”
The angel’s response is noteworthy. He could have laid out how Samson was to be sure not to drink fermented drink or eat anything unclean or cut his hair. But he didn’t say that. The angel told Manoah in verse 13, “Your wife must do all that I have told her.”
From this exchange we have the key to being a godly mom.
Key concept: Being a Godly mom begins by doing the right you already know.
Rule #1
Live by the right you know now
• How often we waste time regretting the past
• I should have done this
• I have ruined my kids
• I didn’t do right by them
• You cannot change the past but you can change
Rule #2
You won’t ever be able to control your kids lives—and you won’t always understand what God is doing.
• It is mentioned in 14:4 that Samson’s parent’s didn’t understand what God was doing in Samson’s life.
• If we look at the Bible we can find more than a few examples of mom’s to follow that will help us in the toughest times of being a parent.
o The mothers of Moses and Hannah had to learn to let their children go.
o The mother of two sons had to trust God to provide for her kids when they lost their source of income.
Rule #3
Realize God’s desire is for you; never against you
• Manoah was afraid after the angel of the Lord disappeared but Samson’s mom reasoned in verse 23, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”
• We read in the next verse that Samson was born and God blessed him.
