 Good to see you guys back. It's good for us to be here, amen. Worship the Lord together, consider His word together. So it's a joy to be able to have that on a Sunday night, and I'm grateful that you're here to join in that with us. We are back in Judges tonight, which I'm grateful for. It's been a couple of weeks since we've been able to be back in the Book of Judges. And so we wanna pick up now in the account of Samson, and it's our joy to be able to look at the early stages here of Samson's life. As we work through these chapters in the middle of the book here. So turn with me to Judges chapter 14. Our text this evening is verses one through nine. Judges 14, verses one through nine. And read along with me as I read the text aloud. The title of our sermon tonight is According to the Council of His Will. According to the Council of His Will. And we'll look at how God here in the early stages of Samson's life is working through in and through the circumstances of Samson's life to bring about Israel's deliverance. We see that beginning in Judges chapter 14, beginning in verse one. Now Samson went down to Timna, and he saw a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines. And so he went up and told his father and mother saying, I have seen a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines, now therefore get her for me as a wife. Then his father and mother said to him, is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren or among all my people that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said to his father, get her for me, she pleases me well. But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord that he was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. So Samson went down to Timna with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timna. And now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. And the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down, talked with the woman and she pleased Samson well. After some time when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion. And behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. He took some of it in his hands and went along eating. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them. They also ate, but he did not tell them he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. This is the word of God, amen, amen. Let's pray and let's consider the text together tonight. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we're grateful to you for the blessed privilege of studying your word. And we're grateful to you Lord, for your word. Grateful for the resources that we have. This is the work, the labor of men, women whom you have indwelt by your spirit to consider the text and for us Lord to have help in understanding the text. Thank you Lord for the teaching of godly men over the years. And Lord, thank you for the blessing we have tonight of coming to this text and learning ourselves from the lessons that you have for us here. I pray we'd be faithful to consider these lessons and help us Lord to glean from your word what you intend. And please Lord, work in us both to will and to do according to your good pleasure. Jesus name we pray these things, amen. And again, the title of our sermon tonight, according to the counsel of his will Judges chapter 14 verses one through nine in the account of Samson. If you remember in the account of Samson in chapter 13, the angel of the Lord has visited Manoa and his wife. And at the very end of the chapter, Manoa and his wife give birth to a son. Manoa's wife Baron had no children and miraculously a supernatural work of God. She has a son, they name their son Samson and Samson as was foretold as to be a Nazarite from his birth. And so now we come to chapter 14 and we see the beginnings here of the account of Samson's life. I guess at the outset, I'd like to ask a question concerning the circumstances that we find here in Judges chapter 14. And I guess the question would be this in considering your own circumstances, considering your own life. Have you ever felt as though things in your life just hadn't always worked out the way that you thought they would? Things haven't gone the way that I hoped that they would, the way that I planned that they would. I really wanted things to work out differently. My life just has not turned out the way that I thought that it might. It's common, isn't it, in our human experience to have felt that way at one time or another. We don't know the future. We can't tell ahead of time how things are going to turn out, but God does. And sometimes things don't always turn out the way that we think it might be best if they did. We plan our way. We order our steps. We think and plot and act and we hope. We form expectations. Sometimes our expectations aren't net. It's just not the way that we wanted things to go. We had hoped that life would turn out differently. The Bible says that hope deferred, and the word deferred means seized or carried away. Hope that is carried off makes the heart sick. It's often that we don't fully understand why circumstances turn out the way that they do. Sometimes we can see that right in the providence of God. We see it in the wisdom of God, but sometimes we look at our circumstances and in particular we may look back on a series of circumstances and really not understand why in the world things went the way that they did. We sometimes have difficulty when we think that we see God's providence in advance of God's actions. And we can't interpret providence in that way. We often find ourselves, don't we, trying to decipher God's providence in advance or expecting God's providence to work out in the way that we think it should or in the way that we've planned when it doesn't. Now we often misread, we often misunderstand God's providence altogether. We simply don't know and frankly can't know. And when things don't work out the way that we think they should, far too easy for us to worry, far too easy for us to become anxious, far too easy for us to stop trusting him and not unlike Eve in the garden, we may subconsciously, if not consciously, begin to think of God, maybe like Eve did as that ogre who withholds those things that are good for us rather than giving to us, not withholding any good thing from those who believe in him, those who trust him. Far too easy for us in those circumstances to stop trusting him. I know we've all seen it before or had experienced before where someone is hesitant about coming for counsel, right? They got an important decision and they don't necessarily want to ask counsel. They'd rather isolate themselves and make the decisions for themselves. Why? Because they've already made up their mind exactly how they want that thing to go, right? And they don't want to ask counsel because they're fearful that the counsel they're going to get is not what they want to hear. We can often be that way with God himself, can't we? We want, we begin to clutch, we begin to worry, we begin to get anxious about the way things we, the way we want things to turn out, the way we want things to go and rather than just trusting him and being faithful to him in the decisions that we make, we begin to make decisions, we begin to think thoughts, we begin to make compromises that demonstrate a lack of faith in him, a lack of trust in him. Maybe we begin to imagine that God is someone who withholds good from us rather than who he actually is, who's our Heavenly Father, who withholds no good thing from us. Even when that good comes clothed in adversity, right? Even when that good comes wrapped up in trial or difficulty, well, the initial response out of the flesh when those circumstances begin to fall upon us, the initial response out of our sinful flesh is often panic, right? The first response out of our flesh is often worry, doubt, despair, anxiety. And when we panic, when we worry, when we doubt, when we despair, we are susceptible, vulnerable to compromise. We're tempted to compromise. We will allow for sinful attitudes, we'll allow for sinful actions in order to control, manipulate, or manhandle our circumstances because ultimately that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to manhandle our own circumstances when God is the one who is sovereign, right? Those actions, those heart attitudes are not the actions or attitudes of faith. In our own life, we may think to ourselves that desperate measures or desperate times call for desperate measures. We may say that we're acting in faith. We may think to ourselves, well, I'm not worried, but our actions say otherwise, right? Because we're trying to control our circumstances. Our attitudes say otherwise because our attitudes are not faith-filled or faithful. It's in times like these that we must trust in the fact that God really is sovereign and God intends all things for the good of those who love him. Proverbs chapter 16, verse nine, a man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. And it's so easy for us to be faithless or unbelieving in the face of texts like that, that God really does work all things according to the counsel of his own will and all things encompasses everything to do with your life and your circumstances. We just have to trust him. And it's good that we trust him. His ways are righteous. All of his works are gracious. He is all wise. He is in control. He sits in the heavens and does whatever he pleases. And what he pleases for those in Christ is their good. He delights to do them good. His judgments are unsearchable. His ways pass finding out. No one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. And who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him. So what we must do then is to ready ourselves. Ready ourselves and faithfully and joyfully accept that which he has ordained for us. Not just resign ourselves to take it through clenched teeth, right? But to rejoice in it. Ready ourselves in advance to faithfully and joyfully, except at his hand, the good that he intends for us. No matter what shape or form that good comes to us in, right? Our circumstances may appear as though they are random. They are not. Our circumstances are not random. It may appear as though God determines to withhold that which is good. He does not. The lot is cast into our lap and we may forget that it's every single decision is from the Lord. We must not forget, right? We must not forget. God is at work even when it may appear that he isn't. And because of Jesus Christ, we know that it is for our good when God is at work and we can trust in him. There's an example of this reality, this fact for the Christian life. There's an example illustrated for us in Judges chapter 14. Beautifully illustrated in Judges chapter 14. God is the one who is working all things according to the counsel of his own will in Judges 14. And that begins really with the angel of the Lord coming to Manoa and his wife. The angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ, appears to Manoa, appears to his wife and promises them a son. Now think with me about the circumstances. A child was destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, we could say. He would be a Nazarite from the womb and God would use this child, this son, to deliver his people from the hand of the Philistines. So in chapter 13, verse 24, in fulfillment of the promise, verse 24, the woman bore a son called his name Samson and the child grew and the Lord blessed him. And we're not exactly sure how the Lord blessed Samson as he grew up. I don't envision this little like four year old, seven year old, nine year old, extremely muscular, long-haired kid, you know. The Lord may have made him incredibly strong even at an early age. We're not sure how the spirit of the Lord blessed Samson as he grew. We're not told exactly, but what we are told is that God is at work. God is at work in the life of Samson and God is going to prepare Samson for the work that God has for him to do in delivering his people. So verse 25, the spirit of the Lord began to move upon him at Mahanadan between Zora and Eshtahol. Now we might be caught off guard about that statement from the verses that follow. It might not appear that the spirit of God was working on or in or through Samson at all. What we see in the verses that follow in our text, chapter 14, verses one through nine, we really see Samson acting entirely in his own self-interest. Entirely, according to his own personal agenda, and even in those circumstances, that does not mean that God somehow is not at work. God's will will be done. His hand cannot be thwarted. We see that in the account of Samson. Look at chapter 14, now verse one. So in verse one, Samson went down to Timna, saw a woman in Timna of the daughter of the Philistines. So he went up and told his father and mother saying, I've seen a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore, get her for me as a wife. His father and mother said to him, is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren or among all my people that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? Samson said to his father, get her for me for she pleases me well. But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord that he was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time, the Philistines had dominion over Israel. And notice with me the bookends. And I want you to see from the text, in the life of Samson, Samson, it's almost proverbial in the book of Judges that there was no king in Israel and everybody did what was right in his own eyes. That's Samson right here, right? The Lord has given Samson a clear mission. We have every reason to expect that Samson knew exactly what his mission would be, knew exactly what his vow as a Nazarite entailed. And yet Samson seems to act entirely in indifference to the will of God. He's doing his own thing, okay? But notice the bookends, there's an inclusio or bookends placed on either side of this text. In chapter 13, verse 25, the spirit of the Lord began to move on Samson. And in chapter 14, verse four, these circumstances were of the Lord. The Lord was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. So in 1325, the spirit of the Lord moves, 14, four, all the circumstances we find are of the Lord. Everything in the middle looks like the Lord isn't in the actions of Samson. Samson, it looks like he's acting entirely on his own. It's important to note, because everything we see between looks like Samson is taking the reins of his life to himself, right? Looks like he is setting his own course. Looks like he is casting the will of God to the wind, you know, and doing his own thing. But consider with me how this works out. Verse one, Samson went down to Timna and saw a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines. Notice she's not a daughter of Jacob. She's not an Israelite woman. This man who was supposed to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines wants to jump in bed with the Philistines. He's gonna marry one of them, right? So he went up, verse two, told his father and mother, saying, I've seen a woman in Timna of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore, get her for me as a wife. In verse two, you can start to see a tone in Samson's words to his parents, don't you? There's a tone in the text. This comes across as insolent, comes across as self-willed, even rebellious. Certainly it's disrespectful, disrespectful. Samson doesn't come to his parents asking for counsel. He certainly is not coming asking their permission. He comes to his parents, verse two, with a director, with a directive, right? Get her for me as a wife. Now mom and dad are justifiably aghast at this. They're taken aback. Verse three, his father and mother said to him, is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren? Or among all my people, you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? Samson, unrelenting, said to his father, get her for me, for she pleases me well. Literally the word means she is right in my eyes. So notice Samson's motivation, right? He seems entirely concerned here about her outward appearance. Nothing about this woman. He didn't consider anything else other than she's right in my eyes. Notice verse one, he saw a woman in Timna. Look at verse two, I have seen a woman in Timna. Verse three, she is right in my eyes. In other words, this is gonna get Samson in trouble later as well, right? This continues to be a problem for Samson. Samson likes what he sees. He's operating entirely according to his senses. In other words, what Samson is thinking and what Samson is doing is being driven by that which is sensual, of his senses. He's not thinking. He's not looking upon anything else in determining his decision. He wants her, so he goes to his parents and says, get her for me. This is gonna be an ongoing problem for him. Now remember, as we consider what's going on here, that Samson was raised as a Nazarite. Remember that vow from chapter 13? He was consecrated or set apart, sanctified to the Lord from birth, and that with a purpose. Yet Samson, just ignoring his vows in Nazarite, isn't concerned at all about living among the enemy Philistines. He seems to be perfectly content with that. Samson isn't concerned at all about the counsel or even the opinions of his parents. And Samson has absolutely no concern for the law of God. What does the law of God say with respect to this? If you listen to Deuteronomy chapter seven, listen to what the Lord says in verse one concerning the law here. When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go into possess and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, the Gurgoshites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Parasites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you. And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. Verse three, nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus you shall deal with them, you shall destroy their altars, break down their sacred pillars, cut down their wooden images and burn their carved images with fire. For God says, you are a holy people. That was to be the Nazarite. The Nazarite was to be holy, consecrated, separated to God and Samson acts with contempt toward his vow. You are a holy people of the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. In all that they were to do, they were to acknowledge God. They were to acknowledge God in all of their actions, all of their circumstances. Certainly they were to acknowledge God in who they married. Even more so, Samson having taken a Nazarite vow, consecrated to God from birth. So Samson the Nazarite shows no concern whatsoever for God, shows no concern whatsoever for God's law. There's no concern given here for his mission, right? I'm not going to marry one of the Philistines. I've been sent to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines and no fear of God whatsoever before his eyes. Samson simply acts with impunity, does his own thing. There is no king in Israel and Samson sets out to do what is right in his own eyes. Well Samson's parents, Mino and his wife, express their profound disappointment, describing the woman as being from among the uncircumcised Philistines. That's supposed to be a pejorative, right? It is insulting. But they themselves don't mention the law of God, do they? It's just she's an uncircumcised Philistine. They don't mention the law of God. Don't invoke the law of God to persuade Samson otherwise. They don't mention Samson's vow. They don't mention Samson's mission. You're supposed to deliver us from the Philistines, not marry one, and there's no escaping the obvious point. The judge here is not a part of any solution at this point. The judge is simply a part of the problem. The judge is a part of the problem. The implications are obvious. Samson is acting in his own self-interest and left to himself, think with me, left to himself, Samson would have absolutely no interest in the God of Israel, right? Left to himself, Samson would have no interest in anyone else's agenda, but his own. Certainly not God's agenda. He's not concerned with God's agenda. No interest whatsoever in rising up against the Philistines. He was perfectly happy living among the Philistines, even marrying one of them, and absolutely no interest in delivering Israel. And Samson, in that sense, is Israel in microcosm. Right, he's a small individual picture of the spiritual condition of the nation. Israel, Israel at this point in history, has no interest in the God of Israel. Israel has no interest in the covenant. Israel has no concern for the law. Israel has no concern for being delivered from the hand of the Philistines. Israel is doing what is right in her own eyes. And despite the fact that Samson is acting entirely in his own self-interest, there is someone else who is also acting entirely according to their own good pleasure, and all of these events are ultimately ordered by him. And it's amazing, look at verse four. His father and his mother did not know that all of these circumstances, that everything that was going on, in particular Samson's marriage or interest in his Philistine, that it was of the Lord, so that he, that pronoun he, the nearest antecedent, is the Lord, so he is referring to the Lord. The Lord was seeking an occasion, verse four, to move against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. No indication here whatsoever that Samson was gonna be the one who was gonna take opportunity from this marriage to a Philistine to move against the Philistines. He was doing his own thing, as we'll see as we work through the rest of the text. His father and mother might have thought to themselves, we raised this boy as a Nazarite his entire life. He was supposed to be the one to deliver Israel. This is a disaster, right? They might have thought, this is a tragic set of circumstances, but they did not know that this unexpected and unwanted circumstances, circumstance, was the way in which God had ordained to move against the Philistines. God is at work, even when it appears to us that God is not at work. And even when things don't turn out the way that we think that they should, God is at work. And God will not fail in his promises, will not fail in his word, will not fail to bring about all things together for your good, if you're trusting in Christ. Circumstances are simply never outside of his sovereign care and control. And so in all our circumstances, if we think ahead, right, it's far easier to make a good, faithful, faith-filled, rational, thinking decision when we're clear-minded, right? When we're not in the heat of difficult circumstances. Determine now, think now about what you will do, what you will say, how you will act, what you will decide when adversity comes upon you. And commit yourself to being faithful to the Lord. He's talking to a brother who's a police officer here and he was talking about situational awareness. Right, situational awareness. And police officers train for situational awareness. They don't know what situation they may face when they turn a corner and unexpectedly come upon someone who's committing a crime, right, or doing something nefarious. They don't know all the situations they're gonna find themselves in. So what do they do? They train for situational awareness. They think ahead of time, what am I gonna do in this circumstance? What am I gonna do in that circumstance? That's why it's often that when you hear gunshots, you see a bunch of people fleeing, but you see a police officer going toward them, right? Situational awareness, they've made the commitment already. In their mind, they made the decision, I need to go toward them and help not run from them, right? It's, we make those decisions when we're clear-minded ahead of time. Situational awareness, we need to think about that with respect to our circumstances as Christians, living our Christian life. Think ahead of time about serving the Lord faithfully, making decisions in faith. When the circumstances get difficult, when the heat of summer is bearing down on you, so to speak, that's when you need to be fully committed to being faithful, steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, not turning to the right or turning to the left, trusting Him that all your circumstances will be worked out together for your good. God is gracious and God is good and God keeps His word, and we need to be faithful to Him. Verse four really gives us the big picture, right? The view of the forest that we don't always recognize when we're caught looking at knot holes on trees. And sometimes we look at our own circumstances and we've got our face in the knot hole of some tree, and if we just step back for a moment, we see the grand and glorious plan that God is at work over all of our circumstances. But Samson looks as though he's acting freely, but Samson is ultimately not acting for self. Isn't that amazing? This is called the doctrine of divine concurrence. The doctrine of divine concurrence. Samson is acting freely, but ultimately Samson is not acting entirely for himself. He ends up doing exactly that which God had intended for him to do for good. Samson's trip to Timna was determined by God. Samson's sensual desires were used by God. A Philistine woman in Timna was serving unknowingly as an agent of the most high God of Israel, and all along God had determined to use these circumstances to blow up the happy cohabitation that Israel was sadly tragically enjoying with the Philistines. God was about to drop a grenade in their circumstances. God knows what is good, and God has determined good for his people, and God knows how to bring that good about. Even what men mean for evil, God means for good. That's the lesson of Joseph, isn't it, and his brothers. The doctrine of divine concurrence. The relationship between human and divine motives and plans. We plan our way, but it is God who directs all our steps. The doctrine of divine concurrence. Samson ultimately does that which was ultimately good, by that which was ultimately not good. It's the extraordinary, the extraordinary, wonder working power of divine providence. God's control over all things whatsoever that come to pass. That does not mean in any way, shape, form, or fashion that Samson's actions are commendable. They are not. It does not mean that Samson isn't responsible entirely for his own actions. Samson certainly is. It doesn't mean that Samson's parents wouldn't be right to object to Samson's actions. They certainly are. But what it does mean is that neither Samson, nor you nor I will ever thwart the plans, purposes, and promises of God. Praise God, right? Praise God. His plans are perfect and he intends in Christ to only do us good. So let's stop working against him. Stop worrying in the face of that glorious promise. Why are you anxious? Why are you worried? Why are you compromising, right? Be faithful to the Lord. He can use even the foolishness or sinfulness of men to bring about the good that he intends. Romans chapter eight, verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. Dale Ralph Davis in his commentary on Judges used an illustration to make this point. I thought it was just a really good illustration. It tells the story of Ehud Avriel, good Jewish name, and Ehud's shipment of Italian onions to Palestine in 1948. So if you may know your history and remember some of the history, what was going on in Palestine in the year 1948, it's interesting that there'd be a shipment of Italian onions to the land of Palestine in 1948. The manifest on the ship showed 600 tons of onions, and 600 tons of onions kept customs agents from sniffing around, and the onions that were in the cargo kept custom agents from finding the real cargo, the intended cargo, which was a shipment of Czech rifles that had been purchased for the Israeli army. Davis has said sometimes, all we can see in our circumstances are the smelly onions. The smell of disappointment seems to dominate the scene, but perhaps that is only the cover for God's secret work. Perhaps our greatest good, our greatest comfort, is hidden in what we don't know or what we can't see. And I would say that that's often likely the case. Why? Because we need our faith built, we need our faith cultivated, and so God will often bring about good to us through circumstances that we simply cannot discern. We can't see, we don't know, can't understand. Many of us have faced circumstances not unlike Manoa and his wife. Maybe it's a son or a daughter who's turned away from following the Lord or turned away from obeying their parents. It's tragic, right? It's devastating. And yet we should meditate on verse four. We don't always know his plans. Don't always know what he intends, but one thing we do know that he intends is our good, his good. He is righteous in all his ways. He is gracious in all his works. So praise God and let's trust him for what he does and what he works. He is always just, right? Always righteous, always good. Our text focuses on the hidden and unknown providence of God. And I would suggest that for us often his providence is hidden and unknown to us. Samson's parents, they don't know about the plans of God in verse four. They don't know about an incident that Samson has with a lion either. And the text begins to emphasize it appears. It begins to emphasize that which is unknown, right? What Samson's parents simply don't know. Look at verse five. So Samson went down to Timna with his father and mother, came to the vineyards of Timna. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. The spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him. The word means it rushed upon him. I'm not sure exactly what that looks like or how that works. The spirit of God just rushed upon Samson, right? It's this thought from the word that it overwhelmed him, overpowered him and gave Samson great strength, right? Says the spirit mightily rushed upon him. He tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat. It was nothing for him. He just tore it apart as though he had nothing in his hand. But look at verse six. He did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. This was a mystery to them. They didn't know about it. Right in the strength of the spirit, the lion may as well have been a young goat. It was nothing for Samson to have taken that lion and to tear it apart. But Samson's strength here is described as the strength of the spirit. And it's an illustration, right? This is a practical illustration because this actually happened and the spirit gave that strength to Samson. The spirit will give us the strength that we need. Won't he? Right? We may not be in a situation we find where we have to tear apart a lion in some back street of Chuliota. But we may be tearing apart spiritual lions in our own lives, need the strength of the spirit. The spirit of God showed Samson like he will show David years later in the same way, right? Ahead of his encounter with another uncircumcised Philistine, God had to prepare David by tearing apart a bear. And he showed Samson what he could do in the strength of the spirit. This is a faith builder in verses five and six. It's a faith cultivator, a preview of coming attractions. In other words, where God is preparing Samson, preparing even us through a smaller, less significant episode, God proves his strength, proves his faithfulness, and prepares us for the more significant episodes in our life that are coming. All right, God is so gracious to do that. Now your circumstances come upon you and you may think to yourself, this is a massive episode. It's a smaller episode. God is preparing you for massive episodes, right? God is working all these things together for good. You know, Samson could have rolled over. Why would God have sent a lion after me? Look at my circumstances and bewailed and bemoaned. Nope, the strength of the spirit, the spirit rushed upon Samson, he just ripped it apart. Do you think that that might have caused Samson to think for a moment about who it was to strengthen him? Yeah, I think so. It's a faith builder, a preview of coming attractions and it's helping to prepare Samson for the episodes that he'll face later. The episode, that episode for Samson, the greater episode is about to come inexorably now as circumstances are leading to his wedding, verse seven. He went down, he talked with a woman and she pleased Samson well. All right, this is not a matter of Samson looking for an opportunity against the Philistines. It was God who was working circumstances to move against the Philistines. Samson just pleased with his girl from Timna. He had no idea what was going on. After sometime, verse eight, when he returned to get her, he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion and behold, a swarm of bees and honey were in the carcass of the lion. Throwing out anything to do with his Nazarite vow, it wasn't to touch a dead body. Verse nine, he took some of it in his hands, not only was he not to touch a dead body, he certainly wasn't to eat anything out of one. All right, he took some of it in his hands, verse nine, went along eating. When he came to his father and mother, he didn't tell them anything about it. He simply gave some of it to them and they also ate, but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion. So much for Samson's Nazarite vow. No problem touching, even eating from a corpse and even gives his parents some to share. We fail, you and I, in numerous ways, right? Inumerable ways, daily, feels sometimes hourly we fail, right? These are just the beginnings of Samson's failures, but when we are faithless, God is faithful. God will never, never violate his promise, violate his word. We are weak and often, God pities us in our condition and works circumstances for our good to build us up in our faith and our trust. And remember the story of Gideon, the patient lengths to which God went to prepare Gideon to trust him in the battle, right? When we are faithless, even when we're weak, our weakness, his strength is made perfect in our weakness. God is always faithful, always strong, always in control. We can trust him as we navigate our choices, our circumstances, absolutely no reason to compromise his word, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and don't give it another thought that God can't work that out for your good, even when a choice for his righteousness, his kingdom, may appear to be circumstantially harmful to you. God is working all things together for our good. We should trust him as we make choices and navigate our circumstances. Always act, decide in faith. Proverbs chapter three, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding, far easier for many in their circumstances to say than to do. In our circumstances, our judgment can be clouded. Don't lean on your own understanding. Simply trust God for what his word says and do that which is most faithful. Do that which is most faith-filled. Give opportunity for God to work through your faith. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. That is where real strength comes from. Samson known to be a man of great strength. Great strength comes from the spirit of God working through faith in the life of a believer who is entrusting themselves to God. God's plans, God's purposes, God's ways, God is in control of our circumstances, amen. And when we trust him, what need is there of fear? What need is there of worry? Why would we be anxious? God works all things together for our good. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, we are so grateful to you for your promises, your good and gracious promises you've given us such glorious promises, Lord. And we know that you are faithful to your word. I pray, Lord, now as we think and consider these things ahead of certainly difficult circumstances that we will face in our lives that we would consider these things now commit ourselves to obeying you in faith, trusting you, knowing, Lord, that you are working all things according to the counsel of your own will and that the counsel of your own will toward us who believe is our good and that we can entirely trust you and rest in you. Help us to be faithful, Lord, to seek first the kingdom of God and your righteousness, God, and help us to just rest in the fact that you will do us good, not harm. You're not withholding good from us. You are working all things together for our good. Help us, Lord, build our faith. Thank you for those kind providences that you ordain through trial, through adversity, through difficulty that prepare us for greater trials and difficulty, adversity, and persecution. I've thought many times, Lord, that these circumstances that we face now, even in our country, are just precursors and they're just trial runs. They're smaller episodes preparing us, cultivating our faith, strengthening us for greater episodes yet to come. And we pray, Lord, that when those come, we would be found faithful. We love you and you are worthy of that, Lord. We praise you and thank you for these things. In Jesus' name, amen.