Judges:Samson Weakness, God's Soverignty, Your Joy

This is the last time you will see the phrase “Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” in the book of Judges. You will see, however, the phrase “everyone did what was right in their own eyes,” which is the summary sin of the book of Judges. The entire book reveals how Israel time and time again does not consider their sin of halfhearted devotion from the perspective of the Lord, but from their own hearts. In this particular context, what adds to the seriousness of doing what is right in your own eyes is what is missing from the cycle of sin we are use to seeing in Judges. That is, Israel does not cry out to the Lord for help from their oppressors. They’ve become complacent at best and completely “Canaanized” at worst.

There are real dangers to your soul when you suffer half-hearted devotion to the Lord. For starters, Tim Keller notes, halfhearted devotion has its own definition of sin. That is, when you do what is right in your own eyes, you define sin on your own terms; either with a legalistic sword or a liberal wand. Defining sin on your on terms is how immoral behavior among God’s people becomes acceptable.

Consider the cultural holiday we find ourselves in at the moment, June which is the LGBTQ community’s most sacred “Pride Month.” During Pride Month our culture celebrates homosexuality, a same sex attraction that God forbids. Our culture may see it differently than God does and may legitimize the behavior and call it good. Our culture can all it whatever it wants, but God’s word never calls homosexuality right or good. Its always spoken in the context of either being prohibited or judged. Christ is at odds with the culture on this issue, and yet, there are people who claim to be Christian who not only advocate for, but celebrate homosexuality as good and Godly. How does a church justify this contradiction? They define sin according to what is right in their own eyes, and not according to God’s inerrant, authoritative, and all sufficient word.

Another danger that comes from halfhearted devotion that Tim Keller points out is deception. Israel became so ingrained in Canaanite culture that not only did they define sin on their own terms, but they could not see their sinful behavior as egregious toward the Lord. The danger to deceit is that it hardens your heart to God’s truth, his morality, what he finds holy and acceptable.

The writer of Hebrews warns his readers

Hebrews 3:12–13 ESV

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Your fallen nature makes your heart prone to be deceived. John Calvin says,

“The human heart has so many recesses for vanity, so many lurking places for falsehood, is so shrouded by fraud and hypocrisy, that it often deceives itself.” John Calvin

Half hearted devotion to the Lord doesn’t the matter. A half hearted heart is a deceived heart. It not only defines sin on its own terms, but dupes your heart into embracing sin as good and from the Lord. This is fraud. This is hypocrisy. This is dangerous to your soul. Your belief is really unbelief. Your righteousness is really evil. Your salvation is really condemnation.

There is another danger for the church in Judges 13:1. Its the danger of despondency. Despondency is feeling or showing a profound hopelessness or dejection, discouragement, or gloom. A despondent heart is one that is so hopeless that it is convinced that however it is it will always be this way, and I wonder if there were some of Israel who were faithful to the Lord, but stopped crying out to Him for change.

Samson’s parents, Manoah and his wife, appear to be faithful Israelites. Both of them believed the Angel of the Lord when he came to them. Manoah prayed to God for clarification of the child’s mission. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and they feared for their life when they realized they were in the presence of God. By all accounts, Manoah and his wife seem like they were not like their fellow Israelites, and yet there is no mention of anyone like them crying out to the Lord for relief from their Philistine captures.

Manoah and his wife may have become what Darnell Neister says about hopelessness. Neister says

“There are no hopeless situations. There are only people who have grown hopeless about them.

Remove hope from a man and you make him a beast.”

—Darnell G. Neister

The danger of a despondent heart is hopelessness. Hopelessness stops praying to God expecting an answer for your good. Hopeless hearts stop seeking God’s mercy trusting he is always ready to give it. Hopeless hearts stop believing God is sovereign, good, and able to accomplish the good work he sets out to do. A hopeless heart acts like a beast toward the Lord.

If any of you can relate to the dangers of halfhearted devotion to the Lord, as I have drawn them out in verse 1, then I want to encourage you heart to run from the dangers of halfhearted devotion to the Lord and

to be steadfast in joyfully advancing the kingdom of God knowing He sovereignly accomplishes his work, even though His servants are weak.

Sovereignty simply means supreme power and authority. To say God is sovereign is to say God has supreme power and authority over eery aspect of life in heaven, the universe, and hell itself; all past, present, and future events. The great hymn writer, Isaac Watts, once sang,

“Before Jehovah’s awesome throne

Ye nations, bow with sacred joy;

Know that the Lord is God alone;

He can create; and He can destroy.”

—Isaac Watts

Watts sings of God’s sovereignty, his supreme power and authority. Trusting in God’s sovereignty is bulwark to your faith and commitment to joyfully advancing his kingdom. Allow your heart this morning to be captured by the vast beauty and complexity of God’s sovereignty in the church, community, and home, as he reveals it in Samson’s life.

In the story of Samson, God sets his heart to work on behalf of his people, even though they do not cry out to him. This is a comfort for those who are suffering at the moment. God sets limits on your affliction. Though the darkness may last for the night, His joy comes in the morning. What is more, your affliction is not governed by the strength of your faith, but by the goodness of God’s design. God ordained Israel to be ruled by the Philistines for forty years, then he would raise up a deliverer. For forty years His discipline would do its work, no less and no more.

The profoundness of God’s sovereignty is not just His supreme authority over the circumstances in your life, but his supreme wisdom and His desire to take accountability for His work in your life. I am reminded of pastor William Glyn Evans speaks to both God’s sovereign initiative and his accountability in your life.

“God must reserve for Himself the right of the initiative, the right to break into my life without question or explanation. That shattering phone call, that disturbing letter may indeed be the first stage of God’s interruption in my life.… Since God does the initiating, He must be responsible for the consequences.”

—W. Glyn Evans

The last phrase of that quote caught my attention. God’s sovereignty is responsible for the consequences of his “interruption into my life.” If he is going to take the initiative to work in my life, he assumes the consequences of his work. I love that. No one in the world can take the initiative to invade my life and guarantee that the consequences of doing so will work out for my good. No body on earth, no being in heaven beside God himself, has the supreme power and authority to interrupt your life, even in dramatic and sometimes tragic ways, and keep the promise to work all things for your good.

God is committed to working all things out for my good. He assumes the responsibility to take the initiative and the consequences thereof. His sovereignty ensures that the work will be good for me, no matter how insane it looks from my perspective. Samson’s brith, life, and death gives us a glimpse the supremacy of God’s initiative to invade someone’s life to bring a deliverer for His people, and accomplish his work despite the weaknesses of his people, even the weakness of his sovereignly appointed judge.

God’s sovereignty ensured Samson’s miraculous birth and ministry (Judges 13:2-25)

In verse 2, you are introduce to a Danite man, Manoah, and his wife. The writer reveals that Manoah’s wife was physically unable to have children. The text says she was barren. In verse 3, God shows takes the initiative to invade her life in a special and sovereign way.

God announced His miraculous plan to raise up a deliverer (Judges 13:2-20)

In verse the angel of the Lord appears to Manoah’s wife. Who is the angel of the Lord? Well, in some passages in scripture, the angel of Lord is divine messenger who speaks on behalf of God. In other cases, it is God himself. For instance, consider Hagar for a moment. the angle of the Lord finds Hagar in the wilderness and promises her, “I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude” (Gen. 16:10), and Hagar responds by calling “the name of the Lord who spoke to her “You are a God of seeing” ’ (Gen. 16:13). The Hebrews phrase uses the word Mal’ak or Mal’ak of God” which is synonymous with “mal’ak of the Lord” (Jdg 13:3, 9). It identifies God (Gn 31:11) as one known to Israel (Jdg 13:6). On the other hand, the word can simply mean divine messenger.

I lean toward the angel of the Lord, in this context, being the Lord himself. The reason for this is that when he as asked his name, the angel of the Lord says it is Wonderful, the same name described in Isaiah 9:6 to the Messiah. Also, he accepts the burnt offering Manoah offers, and when Manoah and his wife realize they’ve spoke to the angel of the Lord, they fear for their life. For no one can see the face of the Lord and live. Therefore, God comes to Manoah’s wife and announces to her His miraculous plan to raise up a deliver from her barren womb.

This should raise a few eye brows in the church. If you know biology, a barren womb cannot produce a child. If you know your Bible, however, what is impossible with man is possible with God. Sarah was barren and God showed up and announced his miraculous plan to raise up a son from her barren womb, Isaac, who would continue the Messianic line for Israel. On this side of the cross, Elizabeth was barren, until God showed up an announced his plan to raise up a herald for the Messiah from her barren womb (Luke 1-2). So when the angel Gabriel shows up to a young virgin named Mary and announces his plan to send his Son into the world to save sinners through her virgin womb(Luke 2), Mary asked, “How can this be? My womb has never produced any children. The angel says, Luke 1:36-37

Luke 1:36–37 ESV

And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Can you imagine the roller coaster of emotions Manoah and his wife must have felt when God came to them and gave them the hope of having a child they thought was impossible? I would think my heart would scream with gratitude and then tremble in fear, and then day dream about all the new possibilities of being a father or a mother, all given to me because God is sovereign.

I am fond of a poem by G. E. Wagoner called “If God.” Wagoner beautifully captures the endless possibilities of God’s sovereignty in your life.

“If God can hang the stars on high,

Can paint the clouds that drift on by;

Can send the sun across the sky,

What could He do through you?

If He can send a storm through space,

And dot with trees the mountain’s face;

If He, the sparrow’s way can trace,

What could He do through you?

If God can do such little things

As count our hairs, or birds that sing,

Control the universe that swings,

What could He do through you?”

—G. E. Wagoner

Because God has supreme power and authority over everything, even a barren womb, the possibilities are endless for His good and pleasing will for your life. God’s sovereignty does not stop at a promise. He makes good on his promise. His sovereignty has teeth to it.

God fulfilled His promise for Samson’s miraculous birth (Judges 13:21-24)

Judges 13:24 ESV

And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him.

It is important to note that God’s sovereignty cooperates with man’s will to make decisions. Do not hear me say that God’s sovereignty is subject to man’s will. That is never the case. God’s sovereignty always rules over man’s will, but God chooses to cooperate with his image bearers to accomplish his work. When God promised to give Manoah and his wife a son, he did so with a stipulation.

Judges 13:3–5 ESV

And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”

God’s plans for Samson was for him to be a Nazarite from his very beginning in the womb until his death (Judges 13:7). The Nazarite vow come from Numbers 6. It is a special vow of separation, a vow of holiness. Typically, Nazarite vows were done voluntarily and only lasted for a short season. To separate themselves from the rest of their peers, Nazarites were to never drink fermented wine or beer nor eat grapes or raisins. They were to let their hair grow out and never touch a dead corpse. When their time was finished, they completed a ritual to end the vow (Numbers 6:1-10).

What is interesting about Samson is his vow was not voluntary. God prescribed his vow from the womb. Moreover, Samsons vow was not temporary, but for life (Judges 13:7). Samson’s mother was to follow the same eating and drinking rules as a Nazarite to ensure Samson kept his vow in the womb. God promised a child. Manoah knew his wife and God sovereignly opened her womb and a child grew inside her. But that did not mean that Manoah’s wife was to remain passive with her faith. Manoah’s wife was responsible for making sure Samson’s vow stayed in tact by eating and drinking what was allowed in the Nazarite vow. She had to believe God and obey his commands. Her faith and obedience cooperated with God’s sovereignty.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that God’s sovereignty voids your faith or responsibility to obey his commands. Your faith and obedience cooperate with God to accomplish his work. Halfhearted devotion to God lives on one of two extremes. On the one extreme, those who hold to God’s sovereignty might say, “Why do I need to evangelize? Why do I need to provide for the poor? Why do I need to do the work of ministry? If God is sovereign he will make it happen.” On the other extreme, to those who do not trust God’s sovereignty might make the mistake of thinking God’s kingdom is ultimately in their hands. God needs me to get things done. Both extremes have a halfhearted devotion to the Lord, and both are in danger of defining sin on their own terms and being deceived; legalism and liberalism find their home on the ends of these extremes.

Your faith must believe God is the supreme authority and power of heaven and earth. Your obedience must prove your faith in God’s sovereignty. God is sovereign. You can trust he will work all things to your good. God is sovereign. He is able to help you keep his commands and use you to joyfully advance His kingdom.

In Judges 13:24

Judges 13:24 ESV

And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him.

God kept his promsie to give her a child. She obeyed the Lord and her child was born and blessed by God. Samson was raised in a home that honored the Lord, kept the Nazarite vow which separated them from their Canaanite cultured Israelite neighbors, and the Lord blessed Samson. His favor was on the boy, and in God’s sovereign timing, the Lord stirred the heart of Samson to judge Israel and free them from the Philistines.

God stirred Samson’s heart for His work (Judges 13:25)

Judges 13:25 ESV

And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

The name Samson means “little sun.” The sun was considered a god by the Canaanites. As faithful as his parents were to keeping the Nazarite vow, this is a clue that their worship was still half-hearted and syncretistic. They combined Canaanite worship with covenant worship. Samson’s family is flawed. They named the future deliverer of Israel after a pagan god. God, however, is sovereign over false gods and weak servants. In verse 25, God’s Spirit falls on him and stirs his heart. I love the way Tim Keller puts it when he says, “This is a boy conceived miraculously, chosen by God, set apart to serve him, blessed by him and shaped by his Spirit. Samson has every spiritual advantage. He is the last judge in this book, the last great hope for Israel. We wait to see how he will rescue and rule God’s people in obedience to God.”

And yet, when you read chapters 14-16, you will find yourself scratching your head, even disappointed. Samson does not live up to his calling in any capacity. He looks more like a Canaanite than a Nazarite. If you did not have the sovereign goodness of God lurking in the backdrop, you might be tempted to assume Israel is finished. But from the very get go, from the calling, the birth, his childhood, and now his ministry, God has sovereignly governed the entire thing. God took the initiative to start a good work for his people knowing he would use weak servants to accomplish his plan, and assumes responsibility for the consequences. He will faithfully complete that work despite his servant weakness.

There are two things for you take away from this:

Be encouraged, God will complete is good work in you.

Your heart can be encouraged to keep fighting for your faith, fighting for your joy, fighting for the kingdom of God, even though the season is difficult because God is sovereignly working for your good and he will finish.

Turn to Jesus, a stringer and better deliver than Samson

Samson reminds us that no human being, no earthly power is strong enough to deliver us from evil. We need a strong deliverer who can who can keep God’s holy standard and sufficiently conquer our greatest enemies: sin and death. And God, in his sovereignty, announced his strong deliverer to a virgin girl, much like Samson. God miraculously used her womb, just like Samson. And at God’s sovereign timing, God stirred his heart to deliver his people just like Samson. But unlike Samson, this deliver remained holy, died for his people, atoned for their sin, rose from the dead, and once and fro all delviered them from the grips of sin and death. Our strong deliver is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. He came to deliver you from the kingdom of darkness and forever put you into his kingdom. You must repent of your sin, confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that He is the Lord, your savior, the resurrected Christ. For all who call upon the Lord will be saved. Turn from your sinful ways and follow Jesus, and he will give you eternal life in his name. Only when you belong to Jesus can you truly see God’s sovereignty as good and be encouraged to joyfully advance his kingdom when it is difficult to do so.

God’s sovereign strength overcomes Samson’s weakness in doing His work (Judges 14:1-16:22)