From Weakness to Strength
Notes
Transcript
The Apostle Paul records for us a time in his life when he prayed on three different occasions that God would take away what he called “a thorn in the flesh.” It was a “messenger of Satan” that continually frustrated and discouraged him, but each time Paul asked God to take it away, God said “NO.”
Then we have this beautiful revelation in 2 Corinthians 12:9
And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
BIG IDEA: My weaknesses and your weakness do not DISQUALIFY us from being used by God. Rather our weaknesses INVITE God to give us His strength to overcome those weaknesses and fulfill His purpose for our lives!
Don’t miss what God wants us to learn from Judges 13 today. God is FAITHFUL in providing HIS strength in the middle of UNLIKELY circumstance and He often GIVES HIS STRENGTH to unlike individuals!
You may feel inadequate or insignificant today, but let this chapter remind you that GOD IS ADEQUATE and He is SUFFICIENT! May God help us to rely on HIS POWER, not our own to accomplish God sized tasks.
Today as we think about “FROM WEAKNESS TO STRENGTH” let’s notice Judges 13:1-5
Again the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
From Barren to Fertile (vv. 1-5)
From Barren to Fertile (vv. 1-5)
One thing that’s interesting about Samson’s mother is that her name is NEVER mentioned. This is what we do know about her from these first five verses:
Her husband’s name is Manoah
She was unable to have children—she was barren
The Angel of the Lord appeared to her and promises her a son
She is told to stay away from alcoholic beverages and unclean foods
She is told to dedicate her son as a Nazarite and never shave his head
She is told that God will use her son to “save Israel from the hand of the Philistines”
That’s pretty much all we know about Samson’s mother from these first five verses. We will learn more about her as we continue to explore Judges, but that’s all we know so far.
GOD TELLS HER HE IS GOING TO TAKE HER BARREN, EMPTY WOMB, AND ALLOW CONCEPTION TO TAKE PLACE, AND SHE IS GOING FROM GO FROM BEING BARREN TO BEING FERTILE!
In the Bible, we find the story of Hannah, a woman deeply distressed by her inability to conceive. She poured out her heart to God, vowing that if He granted her a son, she would dedicate him to God's service. God heard her pleas, and not only did she conceive Samuel, but she raised a prophet who would lead Israel. This historical example shows how God can take barrenness—whether in the womb or in life—and turn it into something fruitful, proving His power over our situations.
Remember the story of Lazarus, who had been dead for four days. The situation was dire, seemingly beyond hope. Yet, Jesus arrived, and in an astonishing display of divine power, called Lazarus from the grave. This biblical account not only illustrates Jesus’s mastery over death but also signifies that God can breathe life into our most hopeless circumstances, making the barren fruitful again. Where there seems to be no way, God can make a way, showing His ability to grant life where death was pronounced.
God often chooses the weak and the unlikely to fulfill His purposes!
Our limitations are not barriers to God’s work.
I’m not sure what area of your life may be barren right now, BUT GOD CAN SPEAK LIFE INTO DEAD THINGS!
God can bring life to a “dead” marriage
God can bring life to a “dead end”
God can bring life to a “dead” friendship
God can bring life to a “dead” church
God has the power to make BARREN things FERTILE. He did it for Samson’s mother and He can do it for you!
Notice what happens next...
So the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A Man of God came to me, and His countenance was like the countenance of the Angel of God, very awesome; but I did not ask Him where He was from, and He did not tell me His name. And He said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”
Try to imagine with me what Manoah must have been thinking and feeling.
His wife, who had been barren their entire marriage comes to him and tells him that an angel appeared to her and informed her they were going to have a son, and they were to dedicate him entirely to the Lord as a Nazirite.
But Manoah doesn’t write off his wife as a crazy lunatic, but it seems he immediately turns to God in prayer and asks God to send this man/angel back. Notice Judges 13:8
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.”
What FAITH Manoah expressed in God and in the message his wife conveyed to him and the next verse tells us that God rewards his FAITH
And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel of God came to the woman again as she was sitting in the field; but Manoah her husband was not with her. Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!”
So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?”
And He said, “I am.”
Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?”
Notice what happens next...
Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain You, and we will prepare a young goat for You.”
And the Angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know He was the Angel of the Lord.)
Then Manoah said to the Angel of the Lord, “What is Your name, that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?”
And the Angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”
So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it upon the rock to the Lord. And He did a wondrous thing while Manoah and his wife looked on—it happened as the flame went up toward heaven from the altar—the Angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar! When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground. When the Angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and his wife, then Manoah knew that He was the Angel of the Lord.
And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”
But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time.”
From Faith to Sight (vv. 6-23)
From Faith to Sight (vv. 6-23)
When Manoah heard his wife’s comments and instructions, he believed her and believed the message God had sent through her.
Manoah believed she had met with a messenger from God even though he had not seen this messenger from God with his own eyes.
As a result God rewarded his faith, and sent the messenger back to talk to Manoah and give him the message and instructions first hand.
We too have to HAVE FAITH before we HAVE SIGHT!
The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians of this when he said:
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
So often we want to say, “God show me and I’ll believe.”
But God’s way is to say, “Believe, and I’ll show you.”
Today as Christians we believe many things we have not seen with our own eyes:
We believe in God the Father
We believe in Jesus Christ
We believe in the Holy Spirit, and He’s given us new life
We believe in the crucifixion
We believe that He conquered death
We believe in the Resurrection, and He’s coming back again!
ONE DAY every true believer’s faith and hope will be SIGHT! Just as Manoah saw the Angel of the Lord, who was probably none other than Jesus Himself, WE TOO WILL SEE JESUS AND BE WITH HIM FOREVER IN THE PLACE THAT HE’S GONE TO PREPARE FOR US!
From Hope to Reality (vv. 24-25)
From Hope to Reality (vv. 24-25)