I love those moments when I’m reading the Bible and all of a sudden I feel a halt in my spirit. It’s like everything just stops.
This morning I had a moment like that as I was reading the preamble to the story about Samson and Delilah. This is what got me:
And the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Indeed now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. Now therefore, please be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean. For behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”
The Angel could have said hey, wife of Manoah, you’ve found favor in the eyes of the Lord and will finally have a baby. Congrats! Cue the happy dance, but he didn’t. His mission was singular: to let her know that she would be incubating something special and great care must be taken.
He was there to prepare her for her mission. No happy dancing allowed. In fact when her husband begged him to stay for a meal, he said “Though you detain Me, I will not eat your food. But if you offer a burnt offering, you must offer it to the LORD” (verse 16).
So it struck me this morning. If God has a purpose for all of us, then it’s important that we not only discover what our God-given purpose is, but that we protect it.
- How are you safeguarding the embryo of purpose that God has placed in you?
- What are you abstaining from because you have to protect the gift?
- What shows on Netflix do you say, oh that’s not for me, because you are safeguarding God’s purpose? Let me give you a hint… Lucifer. The Witcher. Dark. Criminal Minds. Too Hot to Handle…anything with the word “witch” in the title…anything with the word “vampire” in the title.
- What people do you avoid because of their crass jokes?
- What blogs or social media pages or YouTube channels do you avoid?
If God has been preparing to birth something in you from the womb, how are you insulating that gift? For Samson’s mother it was: no alcohol or unclean foods (Leviticus 11)
What’s your “pre-conception” diet?
What’s your “It’s official, I’m pregnant!” diet?
