Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean. (Judg. 13:4)
I enjoy watching home-improvement television shows. I love to see the variety of ideas the designers display. I appreciate seeing them tear down walls, put in new fixtures, and transform a common home into a grand showcase. But what I like most is the reveal!
The reveal is the moment they bring the homeowners back home and show them their made-over house. Amid gasps, hand claps, and tears of joy the homeowners see in reality a home better than they could imagine. I like this part so much I wish I could fast forward to the reveal and not watch all the work that goes into the finished product.
God gives Samson’s mother some specific instructions about her life and the child she is to deliver. These directions add to the other details an expectant mother must observe to have a healthy child. They were not only for her pregnancy, but also extended to how her son should be raised.
God chose her son to be a consecrated Israelite. This life of submission to God would allow Samson to be a leader in “delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” Her hard work as a mother would be revealed in a son who was a servant of God.
God’s instructions for our lives will make us better Christians, but we cannot fast forward past them.
Submit to God’s instructions and be amazed at what he reveals in you.
Ken Dill is the associate vice president for spiritual life and university chaplain at Southern Wesleyan University. He loves his family and enjoys birding and NASCAR.
© 2020 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission.
Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
