When You Don't Have the Details
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever been given an assignment maybe in school or maybe at work or something that your wife told you to do. You were given this assignment, but you weren’t given a whole lot of instruction on exactly how to do it. Perhaps you have a general idea, but you weren’t given a whole lot of details. That can be frustrating both for you and the person that gave you the assignment. You are frustrated because you are trying to figure out what this person wants. When you finish the assignment, the person who gave you the assignment is frustrated because that’s not what they wanted. Which, of course, makes you mad because you are thinking that if you wanted it done a certain way then you should of gave me more details in the beginning! Tension all around. My wife has learned to give me very specific instructions otherwise, whatever she wants won’t get done the way that she wants it.
But how many of us feel this way about God. We always hear things like God has a plan for our life or that we should be following God’s will, and we think “Ok, God!” Now give me the details! I need some more info if you want me to do this. We have commands in Scripture like “make disciples” And we’re like got it God. How do I do that. Where should I do it. When does it need to be done? We want more details, we want specifics, but all we have is general instructions from God’s Word.
Well, in the passage that we will look at this morning, we are going to see this play out and hopefully we can gain some insight on how we should respond when we don’t have the details.
We’ll be in Judges chapter 13 which tells the story about the birth of the final judge in this book, Samson. Let’s start reading in Judges 13:1
And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
Remember back in chapter 10, Israel had sinned against God and put them under the oppression of both the Ammonites and the Philistines. Jephthah who delivered the Israelites from the Ammonites and Samson who would be used against the Philistines were most likely contemporaries. So this is not talking about an additional time that Israel had turned away from God, but that same turning away from chapter 10. The Philistines were bad dudes. They inhabited the coastal region of Canaan. They were absolute barbarians. They built their empire on piracy and cruelty. But at the same time, they were very advanced people. Their architecture and weaponry were second to none during this time. They were also known for throwing the wildest drunken parties in the land. These were very wicked people, and they represent the strongest of the enemies that Israel would face.
Judges 13:2
There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children.
There’s this woman, who remains unnamed throughout the story, she is the wife of a man named Manoah and the only detail we are given about her is that she is barren. At this time, not being able to produce children was the highest shame for a woman. Of course it can very tough on a woman today, but at that time, everything for the families future was dependent on a woman producing children. The more children a woman had, the more power they had to plant and harvest their crops and gain wealth. Also, the parents had a better chance of being cared for if they had their own children. So a woman with many children was like the hero of the family, and woman without children was considered useless. So you can imagine that Manoah’s wife may have been dealing with some type of depression knowing that she could not bear children, but she was about to receive some great news.
Judges 13:3
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.
So this angel from the Lord appears to Manoah’s wife. Not like she needed a reminder , but the first thing He does is remind her of her barreness . But He follows by giving her some exciting news. She was going to have a son! You can imagine that she was just absolutely elated. This was going to change everything. I’m not advocating you play the lottery, but this would be like hitting the powerball. It was going to be absolutely life changing!
Verse Judges 13:4-5
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.”
So she gets this wonderful news, but there is a little fine print called the Nazarite Vow. The Nazarite vow was usually taken for a certain period of time when someone was really seeking the Lord about something. It was like a really intense fast, and here is what it included.
They could not drink anything that came from the vine whether alcoholic or non-alcoholic
They could not any dead bodies human or animal
And the one we often think of when we think of Samson, they were not allowed to cut their hair for the duration of the vow.
This child that was promised to Manoah’s wife was to be a Nazarite from conception, which meant that during her pregnancy, she could not consume anything from the grapevine or any unclean food (which she wasn’t supposed to do any way) . So she had to lay off the bacon and Vino (I think that’s a wine) for a few months, but that was more than a fair trade.
Not only would she have a son, but it was also revealed that the son she would give birth to would begin to save Israel from the Philistines. Wow! What a bonus. Not only was she going to have a son out of her barrenness. Her son was going to be a national hero.
I think that it’s important to highlight here that God had a purpose for Samson, even before he was conceived. When Samson was an impossibility in humans terms, God already had something in the works. God was going to uniquely design Samson to accomplish the purpose that God ordained for his life. And let that be a lesson to us that God has a purpose for every single life that is walking on this earth. God has purpose for every child in their mother’s womb. God has designed us to accomplish our purpose of bringing glory to His name. Even before the first cell of your body was formed God had something in store for you.
Now Look at verses Judges 13:6-7
Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’ ”
So you can imagine that she is so excited that she runs home to tell her husband what she had learned. And Manoah is like OK wow this is great! But he has all of these questions pop into his head. So who was this person that revealed this to you? Was it a prophet or priest from the tabernacle? Was this man from Yahweh the God of Israel, or was he from Baal? What city did he come from? What was his name? If all this is true, surely he also gave you some instructions on how we are to raise the boy to save Israel. I need some details woman!
But, Manoah’s wife was so excited, the only details she had was that he looked like an angel, He was awesome. I didn’t get where he was from. I don’t know his name. All I know is that we are supposed to have a son, and his is supposed to be a Nazarite from conception to his death.
Manoah is dying to know more, so he decides to pray. Judges 13:8
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.”
It’s interesting to note here, that Manoah’s prayer isn’t necessarily toward the God of Israel. It’s more of a general prayer to whatever God may have been listening. It’s like when you hear someone pray and the say something like , “God, if there is a God out there listening, whoever you are, here’s my request.” Samson’s parents were probably involved in the mixed worship of Yahweh and the gods of the Canaanites. Samson’s name even mean Son of the sun paying homage to the sun God that was frequently worshipped.
But even though Manoah throws out this general prayer, the Lord answers him and the angel of the Lord comes again to Manoah’s wife while she was working the field. So Manoh’s wife runs to get her husband, so that he could speak to this mysterious man himself. After confirming he was the man that had spoke to his wife earlier, he starts his questions. Judges 13:12
And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?”
Manoah is basicaly like, “Does this child come with an instruction manual?” I’m sure some of you parents have thought that before. But the angel did not give him anything new. All he said was to keep the instructions that were told to his wife before.
Well, still prying for information Manoah decides to take another approach. He invites the angel to dinner. He tries to get a little more chummy, and then, maybe he could learn more of the details. But the angel refuses. Instead, he tells Manoah that he should make a sacrifice to the Lord.
Manoah still isn’t giving up on his quest for more details. He’s trying to make some type of connection that will allow him to get the information that he wants, so he asks what was his name. Again, Manoah doesn’t get the answer that he’s hoping for. The angel says that Manoah doesn’t need his name because it is wonderful.
Manoah then moves on to making the sacrifice. From what we’ve seen from Manoah so far, he’s probably thinking that he will get some answers after the sacrifice was made. Let’s pick up reading with Judges 13:19-21
So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord.
So as the flame of the sacrifice ascended into the air, this angel disappeared into the flame. All this time, Manoah thought that he was just talking to some man, but he finally realized that the person who he was talking to was from God. Most likely, this was an appearance of Jesus himself. Something that we’ve seen before with Joshua and Gideon. When Manoah finally realized it, he was completely undone. He thought they were going to die because they held dearly to the words that the Lord said to Moses “man cannot see me and live.” But Manoah’s wife reminded him that God had accepted their sacrifice and had promised them a son, so surely, they were not going to die.
Manoah finally did get answer, but it was not the answer that he was looking for. Manoah wanted information. God gave him a revelation. Manoah wanted to know what God was going to do, God wanted him to know who He was.
I don’t think it was necessarily wrong for Manoah for desiring more information. He wanted to make sure he was taking the right steps, so he wouldn’t mess this up and ruin God’s purpose for his son’s life. But that’s the thing. God had already ordained the purpose for Samson’s life, and there was no way Manoah could mess that up.
And if we are honest, most of us are like Manoah. We know we only have one life to live. We don’t want to mess it up. Most of us have a desire to see what God can do through out lives. We want to maximize our potential and truly make a difference. And it would make it a whole lot easier if God just laid out for us, step by step, everything that we are supposed to do.
You see our limited knowledge seems to be a weakness, but God shows His strength in our weakness through His Sovereignty. We cannot forget, God is Sovereign. That means that God and God alone has infinite knowledge and control over the past, present, in future. We as humans are limited. We don’t always know what’s coming next, but we can trust in a God who does.
God has a singular purpose for every human life. Whatever God has placed you on this earth to do, He will see it through. There is no way that we can make that happen and there is no way that we can mess that up.
But there’s this interesting dynamic between the Sovereignty of God and the free-will of man that we will never fully understand. God gives us the ability to choose whether we will obey His Word and the leading of His Spirit, or do our own thing. While we cannot mess up God’s purpose for us, sometimes we can make things harder on ourselves to get there. Our decisions guide us to our purpose.
Now of course, God has infinite knowledge, He knows what decisions we will make. So even when we do mess things up, God has already configured our screw ups into His plan and will still accomplish His purpose for our lives. We’ll see time and time again that Samson moves to the wrong places, marries the wrong girls, makes foolish, fleshly decisions, and God still used Him to accomplish His purpose, but the road was not easy. We can take comfort knowing God will accomplish his purpose, but fear that we may create unnecessary difficulty along the way because of our decisions.
That’s why, we are just dying for God to give us an explanation of everything going on in our life. We want to do things God’s way. We want to know all the details. The How, when, what, where for what God is doing. We don’t want turn by turn directions, we want to see the entire direction list.
But how many of ya’ll know God doesn’t always give us the details. That can be frustrating. It can be scary. It can gives us the worst anxiety because we’re always second guessing our selves, stressing over how things are going to turn out every time we make a major decision. So I want to offer a little relief this morning.
But if we truly want to follow God and make the best decisions as we live God’s purpose for our lives.
We must get our minds off the details and get our eyes on God.
We must get our minds off the details and get our eyes on God.
Here are a few truths that I believe can help us with this from this passage.
I. Have faith through the unknown
I. Have faith through the unknown
We’re kind of picking on Manoah this morning, but here is one positive thing. While Manoah was seeking the details, he always spoke confidently that what the angel had told them was going to come to pass. When he prayed He said Judges 13:8
Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.”
And when first questioning the angel he said Judges 13:12
And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?”
He didn’t know who this man was, where he was from,but he did believe that this promise came from God, and he had faith that it was going to come to pass.
Likewise, it’s important that even when we don’t have all the details that we trust that God has a purpose and a plan that He will bring to fruition. I mean really that’s definition of faith. Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
It’s being assured, it’s being convicted, it’s being confident in God, through things that we cannot see.
I think of the story when Peter walked on water. They saw Jesus walking on the water and Jesus gave them the invitation to come out there with him. No man had ever walked on water before, this was going to be something totally unprecedented, a once in a lifetime opportunity. Peter wanted to experience this. So he steps out of the boat on faith, He is totally leaning on faith. He’s focused on the fact that Jesus had called him to come out of the boat, so he could be sure that Jesus would care for him. But after a few steps, he starts to lose focus. He starts thinking about the details - the wind and the waves all around him, the fact that it is physically impossible for a man to walk on water. Then, he begins to sink. Jesus reaches in, pulls him out, and just says “O you of little faith, why did you doubt.”
Peter started to sink because he was walking into an unknown situation and he focused on what was going on around him, instead of on Jesus. And the same is true for us. Honestly, we have no idea what is going to take place in our lives each day much less in the days ahead. As we walk into the unknown, we must keep our eyes on Christ.
II. Understand that God is Wonderful
II. Understand that God is Wonderful
Look again at verses Judges 13:17-18
And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”
That word wonderful means that something is of extraordinary nature making it mysterious or difficult to comprehend. This word is only used one other time in Scripture and it gives us a great sense of what was meant. David wrote in Psalm 139:1-6
O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
You see This angel is telling Manoah that He is far beyond anything that he could comprehend.
We cannot forget that God’s name is Wonderful. He is far beyond anything that are minds can fathom. He is the all-knowing, all-powerful, always present God. never-failing God.
Even if God gave us all the details of how our life was going to go, we wouldn’t understand. We would spend our entire lifetime trying to connect the dots and it would never quite make sense. Romans 11:33 says
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
God is wonderful, and He has a masterfully orchestrated plans for your life.
When Manoah makes the sacrifice in Judges 13:19, He offers is to the one who works wonders. Who knows what God can do with your life if you will just offer yourself up to God as a living sacrifice to God. Honestly, it will be too wonderful for us to comprehend. Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 2:9
So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching.
But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching.
Transition: Which brings us to number 3
III. Trust and Obey
III. Trust and Obey
When Manoah realized that he had been in God’s presence. He thought he was going to die. But His wife reminded him that God had promised them a son, accepted their sacrifice, and shown them mighty things. They could trust that God was not done with them yet because there was a promise God made that was yet to be fulfilled. Manoah didn’t get the extra information that he wanted, but they did have the instructions that the angel gave about how they were to handle the pregnancy. They needed to obey the instructions that they had, and God would guide them through the rest of the way.
Knowing God is wonderful and has purpose for our lives, we must trust Him through the process. Digging a little deeper, think on this. Why do we want to know all the details? I believe it’s because we want to be in control. Man has had the desire to have God’s knowledge since the Garden of Eden. We want to know that we can create our own destiny, and that if we follow all of these prescripted steps, that we will end up at a certain place. But ya’ll know that even if God gave us all the details, we wouldn’t always follow. Because there are sometimes were a going to have go through trials and difficulty. If it were up to us, we would avoid those situations. But it’s those difficult situations that often grow us to be who God wants us to be and steers us towards God’s purpose for our lives.
God’s not going to give us all the details. But the instructions, that we do have, we need to obey. We have God’s Word, and there are some clear instructions about things that we should do and shouldn’t do, how we should think, how we should treat others, how to build a relationship with God. We may not have all the details of what God is going to do with our lives. But he has given us some directives. We need to obey what God has given us, and I assure you that He will guide you through details.
The classic illustration is like a flashlight. If you are using a flashlight in complete darkness, you may not see everything around you, but you’ll be able to see your next step. We need to follow the light that God has given us and trust that He will guide our next step. Psalm 119:105 says
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
So we need to.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
Just because we don’t have the details, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t have a purpose or plans. He is Sovereign, He is in control, and He has a purpose for our lives. If we truly want to accomplish God’s purpose for our life, we can’t get bogged down worrying about every, single, detail. We need to keep our focus on God. Have faith through the unknown, understand that God is wonder, then simply trust and obey the information that God gives you.
I know as many of us think on the things that have gone on in our world through this year and especially over the last few weeks. We are probably thinking, God how is all of this going to work out? God I want to trust that you know what you are doing, but it seems like things are just spiraling out of control in our world. As we deal with covid-19 and the racial tension in our country, some of you are scared, some of you are worried, some of you are angry, some of us are just confused, we’re not sure what to think. We just don’t see how God can allow all these things to happen, and things still turn out for our good and His glory. Let’s apply this morning’s message. Don’t worry about the details, and focus on God. I assure you that God is still in control, and there is purpose for everything that’s happened.
I don’t know what God has for us next, I just believe that it is good. Maybe God is setting the stage for revival. Think about this. Whenever God placed Israel under oppression, he attacked the false gods that they had been worshipping. We’ve seen our economy attacked, jobs have been lost, we’ve seen how weak and ineffective our political system can be, we’ve seen our healthcare system under stress, right now our social structure is under duress. Make no mistake, racism and injustice are false gods that are nation has been dealing with for generations. Even our entertainment with no sports, no big movie premiers. - All these things that our nation as a whole, and even the church looks to for comfort and security - God’s showing us that in a matter of minutes it can all be taken away. Maybe, just maybe He is preparing our hearts for revival. If for some reason all the internet goes down and our phones are offline - don’t blame me, but who knows, that might be next. Maybe God is just setting the stage for His return. I don’t know! God doesn’t give me any more details than He gives you. But I know this. We have to keep our eyes on the LORD. Not just on the circumstances. Trust that God knows what He’s doing, and obey His Word till He gives us more light, starts to give us some of the details, and reveals to us His purpose for it all.
When you think about the account of Samson’s birth in Judges 13, you can’t help but see the parallel between what happened here and with Jesus. Both births were the result of a miracle. Samson was born to a mother who was barren. Jesus was born to Mary who was a virgin. Both of them had their births announced by angels. With both of them we are told about their births, but not much about their childhood. Both of them were born to bring deliverance, but that’s where the comparison stops. Samson is a picture of incomplete salvation. The angel of the Lord made it very clear in Judges 13:5 that Samson would begin to save Israel from the Philistines, but not that he would complete it. We are going to see as we study Samson’s life over the next few weeks that while God still used him, Samson was lustful, prideful, impulsive.
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.”
Jesus on the other hand was the perfect lamb of God. He was tempted in every single way that all of us are tempted, but yet, he did not sin. The salvation that he brought was complete salvation that is available to the entire world. John 3:16 -17
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Jesus is the perfect Savior. If you are here this morning or listening online and you don’t know Christ. I encourage you to place your faith in His death in which he payed the ultimate price for your sins and His resurrection in which He became victorious over your sin. If you would like to know more about following Christ, I invite you to receive Him today.
Let me leave you with this. When Jesus called his disciples, what was His call? Follow Me. At that time, they had no idea what that would mean. They did not have any of the details. But the fisherman were willing to leave their boats and follow Him, Matthew the tax-collector left his booth and followed Him, Simon the Zealot left His political affiliation to follow Him. They had to completely rearrange their lives to make Jesus their priority. But they were able to see and do some wonderful, amazing things. What would that look like for you. Despite not knowing the details, just laying it all on the line and following Jesus. For some that starts with making Jesus Lord and Savior. But for those that are saved, their may be some things that God wants you to leave behind as you follow Him and seek His purpose for your life. You may not get the details, but keep your eyes on God and He will guide you every step of the way.
