Born with a Divine Purpose – The Presidential Prayer Team

He shall begin to save Israel. – Judges 13:5

A common phrase occurs again and again in the Book of Judges: “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” The problem was that what they were doing was, also often repeated, “evil in the sight of the Lord.” Such was the situation when Samson was born. Theologian G. Campbell Morgan writes, “We have one of the strangest stories of the Old Testament, the story of Samson. It is the story of a great opportunity and a disastrous failure in the case of a man who might have wrought a great deliverance but failed.”

The people of Israel had been under the oppression of the Philistines for forty years. They needed national deliverance but, more than that, they needed to be led out of their self-centered lifestyle and rebellion against God. An angel appeared to Samson’s mother, a barren woman, to say she would have a child, and that he would be born with a divine purpose. She was to dedicate him to the Lord. You know his story—how he was to serve God, live the life of a Nazarite, shun certain foods, never cut his hair, nor touch unclean things. Yet Samson succumbs to the lust of the flesh, the desires of his eyes, and the pride of life. Still, out of the chaos of his life and the disastrous results it brings, God uses Samson.

Des Moines pastor and author Nick Lees writes, “It is incredibly sad that Samson was more valuable to God dead than alive. He was an unwilling participant in God’s plan. The comment in verse 30 [Judges 16] about him killing more Philistines in his death than in his life is not a positive comment. It is a sad ending to a selfish life.” Samson had been born with a purpose: to deliver Israel from the Philistines. With or without his cooperation, God was going to fulfill that purpose.

In Psalm 138:8, David declares, “The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me.” Jesus Christ was born with a purpose, that of saving Israel and the world from the oppression of sin and bringing them into a right relationship with God. It would take His death to fulfill that divine purpose. Pastor and author Robert Hampshire writes, “The story of Samson points us to Jesus. It shows that no amount of human effort or ability can save us: you and I need Jesus.” God has also established a divine purpose for you. Ask the Lord to reveal it to you and accept the power of the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to carry it through.

Today’s Verse: Judges 13:5

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.”

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Judges 16:23-32

²³Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” ²⁴And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” ²⁵And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. ²⁶And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” ²⁷Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

²⁸Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” ²⁹And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. ³⁰And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. ³¹Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.