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 Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines." Judges 13:5
When I was a kid, I had a babysitter who made me cinnamon toast. Now, cinnamon toast usually is delicious, with the perfect mix of butter and cinnamon lightly toasted. This toast, however, was terrible. I took one bite and began coughing. It was so bad that I still remember that infamous cinnamon toast to this day. This sitter did not understand what she had done wrong until she tried the piece of cinnamon toast that she made for herself. Immediately she realized her mistake: instead of cinnamon, she accidentally used cumin. Now, cumin is great to cook something like tacos with, but certainly not cinnamon toast. Let me repeat myself: cumin should never be used in making cinnamon toast!
The cumin incident from long ago made me think a lot about purpose. You see, God created every person with the specific purpose of glorifying Him, and when we don't live out our purpose, we are a little bit like cumin on cinnamon toast. We leave an unpleasant odor and taste in the world around us. We are going to talk about how God created us all for a very specific purpose today and be encouraged to live out that purpose in studying from the life of Samson.
Samson's purpose for his life was made known even before he was born. In Judges 13, an "angel of the Lord" came to Samson's mother, who unable to have kids, and said, "You will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son. So be careful; you must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food… and his hair must never be cut. For he will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines" (verses 3-5). From birth, Samson was set apart to be God's messenger and ultimately rescue the people of Israel who were held captive from the Philistine army. The symbol of this calling was that he would stay away from alcoholic drinks, refrain from touching any dead body, and never cut his hair. Samson was set apart from birth for a purpose, and that purpose was to mark his entire life.
Samson was not the only person who was set apart for a specific purpose before birth. In fact, Scripture teaches that all human beings were created with the purpose of glorifying God. Specifically, Jesus shared with His disciples how they could live their lives glorifying God in Matthew 28:19. "Go and make disciples of all the nations," Jesus commanded. Clearly, the call is to know and to make Christ known all around the world. If we are followers of Christ, this is your purpose. You have been called to first, know Christ, and then to make Christ known.
It is good for us to keep this purpose at the forefront of our minds. When we are clear on our purpose, we will be better ready to live it out daily. Take some time today to really think about your purpose of following Jesus and making disciples. Then, look for ways to live out that purpose each and every day.
If you are a follower of Christ, you know that one of the purposes God has given you is to know Christ and to make Christ known. Spend some time reading Matthew 28:19, which is a reminder of that purpose. What can you do this week to carry out this purpose and to know Christ and to make Him known this week? Whether it is to share with someone your two-minute story of how Christ has made a difference in your life, practicing the Bridge diagram and sharing it with a lost friend or family member, inviting someone to join you online for church this weekend, carry out your purpose today and make Christ known.
Again the Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord handed them over to the Philistines, who oppressed them for forty years.
In those days a man named Manoah from the tribe of Dan lived in the town of Zorah. His wife was unable to become pregnant, and they had no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and said, “Even though you have been unable to have children, you will soon become pregnant and give birth to a son. So be careful; you must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. 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 Nazirite from birth. He will begin to rescue Israel from the Philistines.”
The woman ran and told her husband, “A man of God appeared to me! He looked like one of God’s angels, terrifying to see. I didn’t ask where he was from, and he didn’t tell me his name. But he told me, ‘You will become pregnant and give birth to a son. You must not drink wine or any other alcoholic drink nor eat any forbidden food. For your son will be dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the moment of his birth until the day of his death.’”
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, saying, “Lord, please let the man of God come back to us again and give us more instructions about this son who is to be born.”
God answered Manoah’s prayer, and the angel of God appeared once again to his wife as she was sitting in the field. But her husband, Manoah, was not with her. So she quickly ran and told her husband, “The man who appeared to me the other day is here again!”
Manoah ran back with his wife and asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife the other day?”
“Yes,” he replied, “I am.”
So Manoah asked him, “When your words come true, what kind of rules should govern the boy’s life and work?”
The angel of the Lord replied, “Be sure your wife follows the instructions I gave her. She must not eat grapes or raisins, drink wine or any other alcoholic drink, or eat any forbidden food.”
Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please stay here until we can prepare a young goat for you to eat.”
“I will stay,” the angel of the Lord replied, “but I will not eat anything. However, you may prepare a burnt offering as a sacrifice to the Lord.” (Manoah didn’t realize it was the angel of the Lord.)
Then Manoah asked the angel of the Lord, “What is your name? For when all this comes true, we want to honor you.”
“Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied. “It is too wonderful for you to understand.”
Then Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered it on a rock as a sacrifice to the Lord. And as Manoah and his wife watched, the Lord did an amazing thing. As the flames from the altar shot up toward the sky, the angel of the Lord ascended in the fire. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell with their faces to the ground.
The angel did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Manoah finally realized it was the angel of the Lord, and he said to his wife, “We will certainly die, for we have seen God!”
But his wife said, “If the Lord were going to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted our burnt offering and grain offering. He wouldn’t have appeared to us and told us this wonderful thing and done these miracles.”
When her son was born, she named him Samson. And the Lord blessed him as he grew up. And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he lived in Mahaneh-dan, which is located between the towns of Zorah and Eshtaol.
