EPIC Daily Reading

EPIC: The Story of God
Friday, March 6

Samson
Judges 13-16

Summary:
Samson's story is one of the most familiar of the Old Testament, a favorite Sunday school character. But if you think Jephthah was bad, pay attention as you read this story of a completely self-centered individual who uses his supernatural, God-given strength mainly to show off, get women, and satisfy personal grudges. To say the least, Samson's intentions are not incompletely aligned with God's, yet God uses this mess of a man to deliver Israel out of his own sheer grace. This lesson is clearly not that Samson's personal life didn't matter, for his misdeeds and abuse of God's great gifts brought him to a tragic end. it is more about God's readiness to redeem human misdeeds for his own larger ends.

Sample of Today's Reading:
Judges 13:1-3, 5
13:1 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, so the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years. 2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, "you are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and bear a son...5 No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines."

To read today's full reading click here: Judges 13-16

Question of the Day:
The New Testament teaches that each believer has special gifts from God to be used for the common good (see 1 Cor. 12). Are your gifts benefiting others?

Prayer Focus:
Father, help me to remember that all I have is from you, and that you have made me a steward of these gifts to use for the good of others. Give me a generous heart to use my gifts as you desire.