Welcome to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace. The Bible tells one big story of redemption,

and we want to spend five minutes every day journeying through the Bible from start to

finish and exploring how all of it points to Jesus.

Welcome back to a year in the Bible with Daily Grace. My name is Alexa, and today we are

continuing our city of Judges by looking at Judges 13 through 15. Judges 13 through 15

focus on a man named Samson. Before Samson was born, an angel the Lord appeared to his parents

and told them of Samson's destiny. Before this time, Samson's mother was Baron, but

the angel promises that she will bear a son, who would be a Nazarite to God. A Nazarite

was someone who took a vow to serve the Lord. Being a Nazarite involves certain parameters

like not being allowed to drink wine, cut their hair, or have any contact with the dead.

From the beginning, we see that God has chosen Samson specifically to be set apart for his purposes.

At the end of chapter 13, this is confirmed, as the spirit of the Lord begins to serve Samson

as he grows. But when Samson is older, he sees one of the daughters of the Philistines and demands

for his parents to bring her to him as a wife. This troubles his parents, who have Philistines

for initials enemies. But Samson is stubborn, and remains dedicated to marry this woman, saying

that she is right in his eyes. From the beginning, we see Samson's disobedience. Samson cares about

what is right in his own eyes. He's not taking into consideration that he's going against what is

right. He only wants to do what is right for him. But even in Samson's sin, we see this sovereignty

of the Lord. Chapter 14 verse 2 tells us how God was working through Samson's disobedience

to bring about deliverance from the Philistines. As we journey throughout the next two chapters,

we see the sovereignty of the Lord arise again and again, as God sent the spirit of the Lord

to empower and help Samson. What is remarkable in these moments is God's decision to bring about

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