Always On Time

"John 6:60-7:13

Extraordinary power

Do you ever get frustrated by the length of time God seems to take to answer your prayers? God is never in a hurry, but he is always on time.

We see in this passage God’s elaborate preparation for the birth of Samson, whose extraordinary power was to save the people of his day. But this only prefigured something that would take even longer. Hundreds of years later, John the Baptist arose (who, as we will see, was in many ways like Samson) to prepare for the ultimate Saviour of the world.

We see in the Bible that God often blessed the children of those who had waited a long time to have children and had thought it was an impossibility, for example Sarah with Isaac and Elizabeth with John the Baptist.

Samson was like John the Baptist in many ways: 

In both cases, it was thought that the mother could not have children and something of a miracle was required (Judges 13:3; Luke 1:7). In both cases, the angel of the Lord spoke clearly to the parents (Judges 13:7; Luke 1:13) Both children were set apart for God from birth (Judges 13:7; Luke 1:14–17) Neither of them was allowed to touch any alcohol (Judges 13:7; Luke 1:15) The Spirit of the Lord came upon both of them from a very early moment in their lives (Judges 13:25; Luke 1:15).

Arguably, we also see a hint of the whole Trinity in this passage. We read of ‘the Lord’ (Judges 13:1), but we also hear about the awesome ‘angel of the Lord’ who appeared to Samson’s parents (vv.3,6) and who then ascended towards heaven in a flame (v.19).

Seeing this, Manoah and his wife fell with their faces to the ground … Manoah realised that it was the angel of the Lord. ‘ “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!” ’ (vv.19–22). (Thankfully he had a ‘sensible wife’! (v.23, AMP).)

Could this be the second person of the Trinity? Jesus, in our New Testament passage for today, uses the language of the Son of Man ascending (John 6:62). Earlier in John’s Gospel we read of ‘the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’ (John 1:51).

The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, is clearly at work here at the birth of Samson: ‘The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him …’ (Judges 13:24–25). The Holy Spirit gave Samson extraordinary and unusual strength and power.

Lord, thank you for the extraordinary strength you gave to Samson. Please fill me with your Spirit today. Give me spiritual strength and power to resist the enemy and power to live a holy life."

1. Come, Holy Spirit. Thank You for hope, for making the impossible possible.

2. Thank You that in times of weakness, it lets us remember You and seek You.

3. Thank You for giving the rest I need.