Judges 13:1-14 - Don’t Take God’s Grace for Granted
30 Aug 2015
It’s easy for us to take things for granted, and take people for granted, when they are there for us all the time. We fail to appreciate them when they are with us.
Sadly most people tend to realise the value of these things or people ONLY after we lose them.
It is equally easy to take God for granted, and forget the blessings He has given us. We need to MAKE AN EFFORT to remember Him and appreciate His gifts.
The symptoms that we are taking God’s grace for granted is when we find ourselves complaining and criticising MORE than we are being thankful.
Don’t take God’s grace for granted. This thought came to me when I looked at this unusual life in Judges 13-16.
• This man fails to recognise the unique blessings that God has given him.
• He had everything going for him, right at the beginning (by the grace of God), but he ended up with nothing worth remembering.
• He squandered the grace of God, so to speak, and lost all the blessings he had.
This man is SAMSON, the last Judge of this book. He occupies the largest portion of the book, from chapter 13 to 16.
• I believe the writer devoted FOUR chapters to him, with a detailed accounts of his adventures, because there are important lessons for us to learn.
Let’s read how it all began in Judges 13:1-14 – the birth of Samson.
• 13:24-25 “The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, 25and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.”
The story begins EVEN BEFORE Samson was born. God was responding to a need in 13:1 “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD, so the LORD delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years.”
• This is the one place in this book that we DID NOT read of the people crying out to God for help.
• They did not. God stepped in. He initiated a move to save Israel and made plans for a deliverer to be born.
GOD CHOOSES SAMSON
• God declared to Manoah and his wife, a sterile and childless woman, that they are going to have a son, and he is no ordinary child but the deliverer of Israel.
• They did not asked for it. Samson had nothing to do with it. It was the GRACE OF GOD.
GOD BLESSES SAMSON
Samson is to be set apart as a Nazirite. According to Numbers 6 (God’s instruction to Moses), a Nazirite is one who is dedicated to God by a vow of separation.
• Separated in three ways: (1) not to drink wine or any intoxicating drink; (2) not to go near to a dead body; and (3) not to cut his hair.
So his power does not lie with his long hair. We know of the famous story that Samson lost his power when his hair was cut. His power comes from his dedication to God. As long as he remains committed to God, he experiences God’s presence and power. The moment his hair was cut (chapter 16), he lost his strength because “the Lord had left him.” (16:20)
Samson’s parents, although shocked at such a news, was fully cooperative.
• The father prayed, “…teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” (13:8)
• They were submissive and God-honouring. This tells us something about the home Samson grew up in. Samson was raised in a godly home.
This is the 2nd time we see the GRACE OF GOD in his life. Samson did not choose it. He was given God-honouring parents and a good home.
• Those of us who are born in Christian families ought to give thanks for the GRACE of God. We are blessed at birth and blessed to be raised in a Christian home.
GOD EMPOWERS SAMSON. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, mentioned a couple of times by the author:
• Jud 13:24-25 “The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the LORD blessed him, 25and the Spirit of the LORD began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.”
• Jud 14:6 “The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat…”
• Jud 14:19 “Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men…”
• Jud 15:14 “The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.”
Again they were by the grace of God. The Holy Spirit enabled Him at critical moments, to fulfil God’s will.
• Samson had everything in his favour – unmerited favour. He had been blessed in more ways than one. We expect him to succeed but he did not.
• That’s the tragedy of his life. He did not treasure the privileges and opportunities he had. Samson failed to see God’s grace in his life.
What about us? Can we see the grace of God in our lives? Can we pause, reflect and think about the goodness of God?
• Are we quick to complain, or eager to give thanks?
• Are we unhappy with what we DO NOT have, or grateful for ALL that we have?
BE GRATEFUL. “All happy people are grateful. Ungrateful people cannot be happy.”
• We tend to think that unhappiness leads people to complain. It is more correct to say, it is complaining that leads to people to become unhappy.
• Scriptures is filled with emphasis on giving thanks to God. Why? Not because God needs it. We need it!
• We need to know that we are blessed and we need to experience the joy of being blessed by God.
• We give thanks to God for a good home, a good church, a good country, a good life… “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess 5:18)
Samson did not live a happy life, not because God has not been good to him.
• He has chosen to live his own life. For most part, he was running life on solo (a lone ranger). God is present but not his partner in life.
The first sign of his drifting away from God is in Judges 14:1 “Samson went down to Timnah.” Timnah was in Philistine territory. He has no reason to be there.
• He saw a Philistine woman and wanted her as his wife. Jud 14:3 His father and mother replied, "Isn't there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?"
• He rejected God’s Word and now he rejected his parents’ godly counsel.
They eventually had to arrange for the wedding and as the story goes, we saw Samson compromising on his Nazirite vows.
• He killed a lion on the way to Timnah and later on returning to the corpse again to get some honey.
• At the wedding (Judges 14:10) he had a feast, which a “drinking party” in the Hebrew word (likely so because of the surrounding vineyards).
• He got into a bet with his 30 groomsmen over a riddle he gave and lost. His wife-to-be gave them the answer and he had to give them the prize of 30 sets of clothes. He robbed another Philistine town (Ashkelon) for them.
Judges 14:19-20 “… He went down to Ashkelon (another Philistine town), struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger, he went up to his father's house. 20And Samson's wife was given to the friend who had attended him at his wedding.”
• He was so angry at being humiliated that he dumped his wife and left for home.
• He came back later in Chapter 15 and tried to get his wife back.
• Things did not turn out well and he took matters into his own hands. We see more violence and destruction in the next two chapters.
Fast-forward to Chapter 16, Samson was captured by the Philistines. They gouged out his eyes, bound him with shackles and set him to grind in the prison.
• They brought him out one day to perform like a circus animal and Samson took the chance to bring down the whole place in revenge.
• He did fulfilled God’s plan in destroying the Philistines, but by taking his own life along with them. It is a most tragic end.
Remember God’s grace in your life. Stay faithful to Him. Be committed and connected always to God.
• Left to ourselves and our sinful desires, it will be a short walk to becoming like Samson.
• Let’s support one another in this walk with God. Cultivate a close relationship with Christ.
The hero of this story is not Samson but God. The grace of God reigns throughout.
• Despite Samson’s failures and foolishness, God remembers him. Despite his weaknesses and revengeful spirit, God still uses him.
• Despite everything inherent in this broken man, God’s will is fulfilled. Israel was delivered from the Philistines.
• Nothing can thwart God’s plan. Not even our shortcomings. God fulfils His purposes even in the midst of human failings.
Samson could have done that in a better fashion. His last words were his prayer to God. God granted his request.
• Samson got to know that God is still with him at the end. It was not that God has left him; he has left God.
God is always there for us. Don’t take Him for granted.
Are you grateful?
