The promise of a Child

                                                 Sunday School Lesson
                                                   (week of august 7th)
Lesson focus:
Each child carries tremendous potiential from God.

Judges 13:1-8, 24-25

God allowed the children of Isreal to suffer under the oppression of the Philistines for 40 years.Israel stubbornly refused to let go of the false gods.They complacently allowed the Philistines to begin to intermarry.But God raised another judge,this time from his mother's womb to deliever His people from the Philistines.

Samson had strict restrictions concerning alcoholic beverages, unclean foods, touching dead bodies and shaving his head.These special set of instructions pertained to a Nazarites calling,one set aside for God's service.(we too have a set of rules that govern us in our calling into God's service).The Nazarite vow was usually volentary,but in Samson's case, God declared the vow before his birth.God has something in mind when each person is conceived in the womb.Like Samson,all people have a special calling and mission for God.

The Birth Foretold:
Judges 13:1-5 kjv

¹And 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.
   ²And 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.
   ³And 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.
   ⁴Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing:
   ⁵For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor 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.

foot notes:

Again we find the Israelites entering into the cycle of sin that they never quite seemed able to escape completely.It dosn't state the specifics of what evil they did in God's sight,but chances are it involved idolatry and sins of immorality.This is the first step in the cycle,and the second step inevitably followed,God brought oppression upon them,in this case by the hands of the Philistines for 40 years.But God sent word to Monoah's wife,he let her know by angel that she would give birth to a son.(everytime God needed to bring about a change he used a woman to give birth to a man).A son that would deliever Israel from oppression.She was instructed not to drink wine,not to eat anything unclean, and not to cut the hair of her son.And the reason for this was that her son was set apart for service to God.We too must raise our children in accordance to the word and will of God, that they to might be use in his glorious plan of salvation.

Seeking God's Guidance
Judges13:6-8 kjv

⁶Then 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:
   ⁷But 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.
   ⁸Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born.

footnotes:

Manoah's wife tells him all she was told,She told him that her son was to be a Nazarite unto God for his entire life.Even though we may not be called to raise Nazarites these days,we still as parents need to bring our children before the Lord daily in prayer and ask God for guidance to prepare them for service for the Lord.God is more than willing to instruct us in how to raise godly children to be used in his service.

The Birth and the Blessing
Judges 13:24-25

And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.
   ²⁵And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

footnotes:

In the fulness of her time, Manoah's wife gave birth to the boy,whom they named Samson,which in Hebrew means sunlight or brighteness. And the boy grew in the blessing and the spirit of the Lord.This is a great hope for all parents who love the Lord and their children.God used Samson mightily, despite his human weakness.God can use all who are raised to live godly lives,despite their human short comings.