21 When the angel of the Lord did not show himself again to Manoah and his wife, Manoah realized that it was the angel of the Lord.
22 “We are doomed to die!” he said to his wife. “We have seen God!”
23 But his wife answered, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and grain offering from our hands, nor shown us all these things or now told us this.”
24 The woman gave birth to a boy and named him Samson. He grew and the Lord blessed him, 25 and the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
Samson grew up with yearnings for a permanent territory to settle. His tribe of Dan wandered their inherited land. God’s Spirit began preparing Samson for his role as judge and leader against the Philistines. Is your heart stirred in areas where God wants to use you? God will use many ways to prepare you. Work at being sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading and tasks God has prepared for you, and know that your past can be more useful than you could ever know.
