A Not So Wonderful Life

Judges 16

One of my favorite films is: “It’s A Wonderful Life.”

“George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) dreams of seeing the world and having a grand impact on it. But small-town responsibilities strand him at home. The family business struggles to stay afloat, enduring constant attacks by a power-hungry tyrant. Pressures mount until George reaches the breaking point, convinced the world would be better off had he never existed. To show him what that world would’ve been like, a friendly angel escorts George through that same town—now a dark place having never felt his virtuous influence. In the end, George embraces the wonderful life he nearly threw away.”

Plugged In offers helpful movie reviews. This is a slow paced film with intense and thoughtful reflections about LIFE.

George is wondering what his life amounted to. Most of us have childhood dreams that are just that - childhood. Reality and what is truly important tend to reshape our dreams into our present reality. At the same time - all of us have value and have made impacts on others peoples lives.

George Bailey is shown different scenes by the friendly angel about what life would have been like if he was not alive.

BUT HE WAS ALIVE and HE HAD THE GIFT OF LIFE.

LIFE would be so different without YOU.

A LIFE of any kind is better than no life at all.

Having a shot at life is better than not having a shot at life.... Getting your chance.

There are 45 year old doctors who are not alive to help with the medical shortage.

There are 53 year old politicians who have no governmental office.

There are musicians who never played, sang, or wrote a song.

There are recent college grads who could teach in school who cannot because they were not born.

There are 27 year old drug addicts who are cleaned up now, but are not alive.

There are marriages that never happened.

There are grand-kids that were never born.

There are lives never met.

Abortion not only robs a life, it also steals from the relationships that would have been.

Christians value LIFE from miraculous conception to natural death.

Samson is a man who seemingly does not reach his full potential.

In a time when people did what they wanted to do, God raised up judges to deliver God’s people and guide them back to the Lord.

Judges 16:17 KJV 1900

That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a rasor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

“My” mothers womb. “My” has to do with alone. He alone is in the womb and She alone is caring for His development internally in her! He is her responsibility alone. No one else can care for him like She does.

The safest place in the world should be a mother’s womb where her body is developing and nurturing a little boy or girl.

I have met people who have survived abortion. There are relational, emotional and spiritual challenges for the survivors of abortion and for the mothers of the aborted.

Some studies even suggest that many men who encouraged abortion or allowed it to happen also have long term consequences.

FROM (Judges 16:17) = prep. expressing the idea of separation, hence out of, from, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not

Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1977). In Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (p. 577). Clarendon Press.

From the time Samson was conceived, he was dedicated to the lifestyle of a Nazarite:

Judges 13:1–7 KJV 1900

And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren, and bare not. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing: For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no rasor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name: But he said unto me, Behold, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink, neither eat any unclean thing: for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb to the day of his death.

Nazarites are Rare: They were special and the no cutting of hair was to be an outward expression of a vow to being different than the common man.

3 qualifications to be a Nazarite:

No Alcohol.

No Hair cuts.

No Dead Bodies.

Numbers 6:1–6 KJV 1900

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord: He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no rasor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible Chapter 16

if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me—His herculean powers did not arise from his hair, but from his peculiar relation to God as a Nazarite. His unshorn locks were a sign of his Nazaritism, and a pledge on the part of God that his supernatural strength would be continued.

Samson - with all his faults is a Hero of the Faith.

Hebrews 11:32 KJV 1900

And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:

The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary Samson (Person)

Resemblances with Christ occurred to some interpreters: both had wondrous births; both freed Israel; both defeated a lion (in Jesus’ case, Satan); the spirit departed from both; each struggled alone and succumbed to foes as a result of a bribe; both were bound; both broke down gates (Jesus destroyed the gates of hell); both achieved victory in death.

Christians value LIFE from miraculous conception to natural death.

4 Examples of Loving LIFE:

Small and ALIVE. Judges 13:24-25

He grew. In normal ways. He did not look like a “body builder.”

In school: Watch me flex my muscles” Boy in college would do that in mirror.

He is moved by God’s Spirit at times.

God blesses Sampson.

Samson = “Like the Sun.”

Not every follower of the Lord will shine like they should. Every child of God has potential to serve the Lord.

Searching For Love and ALIVE. 14:1-4

Many people are in this life-stage of looking for someone to love them and someone to love.

Then they may “Settle down” and start a family.

It’s a NEED all of us have.

Feeling wanted, loved, and accepted.

PROBLEM: Looking for love in all the wrong places.

He does not date or marry a woman who loves the Lord.

A Christian should date or marry a person who also lovers the Lord.

2 Corinthians 6:14 KJV 1900

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Serving the Lord and ALIVE. 15:4

A judge of Isreal. Helped back to God.

A judge towards the enemies. 15:8, 12-15, 20

A servant for 20 years. 15:31

Small and Alive

Searching and Alive

Serving and Alive.

Sinning and ALIVE. 16:4-10

He is one of the least Godly minded leader of Israel, and yet - he believed God. He had faith in the Lord to deliver. He did serve God - when he was not doing wrong.

Sampson is a case study in unsteady relationships: people, God.

Delilah is nagging him to tell his source of power.

Withs = bowstrings made of twisted gut. 7

New ropes, never used. 11

Weave my hair into seven locks. 13

The Truth. Nazarite. Hair demonstrated being set apart and different from all other men. 17

Samson is so backslidden away from the Lord that he uses the general name of God instead of the more personal name of God.

Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon אֱלֹהִים

אֱלֹהִים

New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries: Updated Edition 3068 יהוה (Yhvh) (Yehovah) (Yahveh)

יהוה

It is not until Sampson’s final prayer that He says “God’s proper and personal name. Jehovah, Yaweh. (16:28.)

It is like he took his faith for granted. He does not speak God’s name his entire life until his last day.

The Strong Man was captured, had his eyes poked out and was forced to a life of manual labor, pushing a grind stone like an oxen. A Not so Wonderful Life- but he was alive/.

REMEMBER:

FROM = prep. expressing the idea of separation, hence out of, from, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not

Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1977). In Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (p. 577). Clarendon Press.

From the time Samuel was conceived, he was dedicated to the lifestyle of a Nazarite:

In EACH SCENE, Sampson is ALIVE!

6,000 Plus Illustrations for Communicating Biblical Truths What I Saw in the Abortion Industry

Carol Everett was involved in the abortion industry in the Dallas/ Ft. Worth, Texas, area from 1977 until 1983. As director of four clinics, owner of two, Ms. Everett was responsible for the clinics’ daily operation as well as for all employee training programs. Everett, who had an abortion soon after it became legal in 1973, now speaks out on: What I Saw in the Abortion Industry:

Each time I sold an abortion to another woman, I justified my own abortion all over again. I was really quite good at abortion marketing, and soon watched my employer’s abortion business more than double. When I realized how profitable the “business” was, I wanted more money.

Because my employer would not give me an equity interest, I negotiated a more lucrative arrangement with the next clinic, I was paid $25.00 for each abortion that was done. The first month we did 45 abortions and the last month in the abortion business, with two clinics open, we did 545 abortions. Multiply 545 times $25.00 and I made $13,625.00 in July, 1983. However, we had much bigger plans. We actually planned to have five clinics, all run out of one yellow page advertising budget and one central telephone counseling center. We wanted to eventually pull patients from a five-state advertising area.

Starting in January, 1982, we had at least one major complication each month. The woman would be loaded into my car (an ambulance outside an abortion clinic is terrible advertising) and transported to a hospital that would protect the doctor and the abortion clinic’s reputation. The woman was always told she would have had the complication if she had continued her pregnancy.

Then we had a death. A 32-year-old woman hemorrhaged to death as a result of a cervical laceration. I finally realized, we weren’t helping women—we were destroying them.

Women are told that abortion is a “choice.” Abortion is not a choice, but rather a skillfully marketed product sold to a woman at a crisis time in her life. And when she discovers the product is defective, it’s too late—the baby is dead!

Christians value LIFE from miraculous conception to natural death.

1000 Fresh Illustrations (Abortion/Life)

According to Dr. Hymie Gordon, Professor of Medical Genetics & a Physician at the Mayo Clinic, life begins at conception. “Now we can say unequivocally that the question of when life begins is no longer a question for theological or physiological dispute. It is an established scientific fact. Theologians and philosophers may go on to debate the meaning of life or the purpose of life, but it is an established fact that all life, including human life begins at conception.”

Jeremiah realized the formation of His life.

1. God Knows You Before Your Parents Know You.

Jeremiah 1:5 KJV 1900

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

2. God Had Plans For You Before You Can Make Your Own Plans.

Job with all his issues struggled with the purpose of his life of suffering. He pondered his life - if it would have been better to not have been born.

Job 3:10–16 KJV 1900

Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, Nor hid sorrow from mine eyes. Why died I not from the womb? Why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly? Why did the knees prevent me? Or why the breasts that I should suck? For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest, With kings and counsellers of the earth, Which built desolate places for themselves; Or with princes that had gold, Who filled their houses with silver: Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; As infants which never saw light.

Jeremiah 29:11 KJV 1900

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

“180” film puts Life and Abortion Death in perspective. Check the facebook link and your email today.

3. God Forms Every Human Life.

Job, Like Sampson David and others knew that every human conception is important to God.

When other people and household workers are contending or fighting with Job, he says:

Job 31:15 KJV 1900

Did not he that made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

Rich/poor, successful/failures, Famous/Unknown, educated/uneducated, skilled/unskilled, sinners/sinning saints, believers/unbeleivers...

Christians value LIFE from miraculous conception to natural death.

George Bailey (It’s a Wonderful Life) - There were good times and bad times, but your life was worth it. You are loved.

SAMPSON: “A Wonderful Life? Sometimes, sometimes not. But He had a life.

“A Not so Wonderful Life? You can’t have a life - you don’t have. Choose LIFE.

RESPONSE:

Choose and Encourage Life. Counsel for life, adopt, care for others.

Value Life from miraculous birth to natural death.

Ask Forgiveness for immorality, undervaluing life, or aborting a child. Ask for personal healing.

Become a follower of Jesus.