Based on Judges 13
Have you ever looked back on a difficult season of your life and realized—God was at work the whole time?
You didn’t see it in real time, but later, you could trace His fingerprints over every detail.
I’ve lived through that.
When I was preparing to retire from the Navy, I thought I had my next steps all mapped out. We’d bought a home in Tampa, planning to sell it at a profit and move back to Michigan. Job recruiters were calling. Everything looked smooth.
Then—everything stopped.
The calls stopped. The housing market crashed. The house we thought had plenty of equity suddenly wasn’t worth what we owed. It felt like God slammed the door shut.
But in that disappointment, He redirected me. While working at the air base, I enrolled in seminary. A few years later, I joined the staff at our church, and eventually, I became pastor of a small congregation that needed revitalization.
What I thought would be a two-year plan turned into fifteen. Only in hindsight did I see God’s hand in it. The detours were preparation for what He had next—ministry here at Pathway Church.
Sometimes, the greatest evidence of God’s hand is only visible in the rearview mirror.
That’s what we see in Judges 13: God working behind the scenes—when no one’s even looking for Him.
When Grace Moves First
By this point in Israel’s history, the people had once again drifted from God. The Philistines ruled over them. There’s no national repentance, no revival, not even a cry for help. Just silence.
But grace doesn’t wait for the right conditions—grace creates them.
God steps in anyway.
He appears not to a prophet or a warrior, but to an unnamed, barren woman from a small town called Zorah. The “Angel of the Lord” tells her she’ll have a son who will begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines.
We later learn that son’s name—Samson.
God starts His rescue plan through an overlooked woman and a child not yet born. It’s the gospel pattern: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
Even when we least deserve it, God moves toward us.
When God’s Presence Comes in Disguise
When the woman tells her husband, Manoah, about the visitor, he’s baffled. He prays that the “man of God” will come back to explain more.
When the Angel of the Lord returns, Manoah wants to know His name—something to label or control. But the reply comes: “Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.”
That’s classic God—He refuses to be reduced to our categories.
Throughout Scripture, the “Angel of the Lord” is more than an angel. He speaks as God and receives worship as God. It’s a visible appearance of the divine—a theophany.
God was right there, but Manoah and his wife didn’t recognize Him at first.
Isn’t that how life works? We often don’t recognize God’s presence until later. Like the disciples on the Emmaus Road, we look back and say, “Weren’t our hearts burning within us?”
Sometimes God shows up in disguise—in a conversation, a closed door, a quiet nudge. The key is to stay sensitive, not just to the spectacular, but to the subtle.
When Recognition Turns Fear into Faith
Finally, Manoah and his wife offer a sacrifice. And then, as the flame blazes upward, the Angel of the Lord ascends in the fire.
They fall on their faces. Manoah panics—“We’ve seen God! We’re going to die!”
But his wife responds with gospel logic: “If the Lord meant to kill us, He wouldn’t have accepted our offering or shown us these things.”
In other words: God’s acceptance is proof of His mercy.
That’s the pivot point. Fear turns into faith.
When God stamps “Accepted” on our offering, it changes everything.
And today, the cross of Jesus Christ is that heavenly stamp. His sacrifice has been accepted once for all. Because of that, we can move from fear to faith, from panic to peace, from striving to rest.
Bringing It Home
When you fail, run to God, not from Him. His grace moves first.
When life feels barren, name that place before God and ask Him to start something new there.
And when fear whispers, “You’re not enough,” answer with the truth: If God meant to reject me, He wouldn’t have accepted the sacrifice of Christ for me.
Worship before you worry. Let grace correct your fear.
Because the same God who appeared to Manoah’s wife still moves first today.
He shows up when we least deserve it.
He often comes in ways we don’t expect.
And when we finally recognize Him, worship turns fear into faith.
Samson only began Israel’s deliverance—but Jesus finished it.
This post is based on a sermon preached by Dr. Bart Denny on October 12, 2025, at Pathway – A Wesleyan Church in Saranac, Michigan, as part of the series “Seeing the Unseen.”
Due to technical difficulties, there's no recording of the sermon available.
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