Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
As you and I watch the news headlines this weekend, which ones will give us hope for the future and which ones will cause us despair? Yesterday I closed our time together by inviting us to consider this remarkable statement in Judges 10:16…“God could bear Israel’s misery no longer.“ How often do you suppose God reaches that point when looks at the widespread pain in our world? And what does God do, what action does God take, when He can no longer bear to see the misery men, women and children are suffering in our world?
Judges 13 will be an exciting place for us to find some answers to those questions today. It begins with this painful reality statement in Judges 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 40 years.” Oh, my friends, it’s important we understand that sometimes great pain in our world is caused by God allowing evil to run rampant and do great damage.
When Israel turned their backs on the only, living, true God, the God of Israel, and they embraced the false gods, the idols of neighboring wicked nations, the evil which took root deeply in the hearts of spiritually rebellious Israelites caused them to do many terrible things, which caused great pain to their families and other people.
Also, when God removed His hand of protection from spiritually rebellious Israel, as they turned away from God, their enemies, like the Philistines, easily overpowered them and ravaged their towns killing many people and taking others as slaves. Oh the pain of living in rebellion against Holy God and outside His protection!!
Now pause for a few seconds and let’s ask ourselves if we can SEE the evidence of those harsh realities in our day no matter where you live in the world? Do you see evil taking root in the lives of people who reject God> And do you see that evil affecting their choices which then brings great harm to people, causing great pain? In Judges 13 I see no evidence the people in great pain were crying out to God for His help, but I do see God took the initiative to bring hope into their desperation. That is God taking action when He can no longer bear to see the misery evil causes!
Judges 13:2 reports that a childless married woman had an unexpected encounter with “the angel of the LORD.” Can you think of several other times when something similar happened in the “Grand Narrative” of God’s story, the Bible? Of course perhaps the most famous is young virgin Mary in the town of Nazareth, right? (Luke 1:26-35)
In this Judges 13 encounter, the angel had several very specific instructions for this barren woman regarding her soon miracle pregnancy and the proper care of the son she would bear. (Judges 13:3-5) I’m fascinated by what this woman did after her unexpected, shocking encounter: “Then the woman went to her husband and told him, ‘A man of God came to me. He looked like an angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name. But he said to me, ‘You will become pregnant and have a son...the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death.” (Judges 13:6,7) I wonder how this angel had appeared to her for this woman to give her husband that description? What did she mean by ‘He looked like an angel of God, very awesome.’?
Also, do we understand the significance of her report that the angel had predicted: “…the boy will be a Nazirite of God from the womb until the day of his death”? At Mt Sinai, God had given special instructions to Moses about those of His people who would take a special Nazarite vow of dedication to the LORD, as reported in Numbers 6. It’s a remarkable chapter if you haven’t read the Nazarite vow chapter lately and it’s very detailed.
Therefore, it’s understandable that this childless woman and her husband would be stunned, shaken to their core, that God would send to them an awesome angel, in a time of great personal and national pain, and the clear message of this angel was that God would heal their barrenness and give them a son. But he would be no ordinary son. He would be “A Nazarite, dedicated to God from the womb. He will take the lead in delivering Israel from the hands of the Philistines!” (Judges 13:5)
I love her husbands’ response, and it challenges me as a husband to consider how I view my wife’s spiritual journey, her closeness with God; her sensitivity to God speaking to her; her ability to discern God’s guidance. The man’s name was Manoah and men, let’s learn from what Manoah did: “Then Manoah prayed to the LORD; ‘Pardon your servant, Lord. I beg you to let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.” (Judges 13:8) Wow!
Do you see Manoah not only did not doubt the miraculous pregnancy his wife claimed she was about to experience, Manoah was already joining her in that confidence and wanting to make sure he would fulfill his fatherly role in this Nazarite boy’s life! Do you get it my fellow Dads’? Manoah was overwhelmed at the thought of mentoring a Nazarite son! No matter the age of your children or grandchildren, are you still amazed at the privilege of mentoring, especially spiritually, the next generation in your family?
Amazingly, with millions of other things going on in the world, God was paying close attention to this conversation, so look with me at what happened next: ‘God heard Manaoh and the angel of God came again to the woman while she was out in the field; but her husband was not with her…” (Judges 13:9) Why? Why would God not wait until both Manoah and his wife were together? Was this bad timing by the angel? Oh no my friends, this was a test, I believe, for both the woman and her husband. Would Manoah believe his wife if she reported she’d seen the angel, again?
The record reports she ran to tell her husband “He’s here! The man who appeared to me the other day!” (Judges 13:10) I’m so glad Manaoh believed his wife and ran with her to find the angel. When they arrived Manaoh asked the man two straightforward questions, which evidence to me his great faith in God! “Are you the man who talked with my wife’? ‘When your words are fulfilled, what is to be the rule that governs the boys’ life and work?”
Oh, I love that…’WHEN your words are fulfilled’! Trusting his wife, and confident this was a messenger from God, Manoah wanted to understand God’s expectations of him and his wife in fulfilling their roles.
Pause… is that how you and I respond when we see God working around us?
The next verse tells us the angel’s response focused on the woman’s responsibility during her pregnancy. Oh my! How many babies have been born in recent years already drug addicted or with fetal alcohol syndrome or in other ways traumatized by their experience in the womb of a woman who did NOT care for her baby as a miracle from God? How many babies were born to women abandoned by the father of the baby as soon as he discovered she was pregnant?
Let’s pause here and this weekend spend some time thanking God for the miracle of pregnancy; the privilege of helping mothers care for themselves and their babies during pregnancy, and the importance God places on that baby being born into a God honoring, loving relationship between the father and mother of that baby! And what can you and I do to help assure THAT happens with every pregnancy we encounter?
On Monday we’ll continue in this remarkable story with Manoah, his barren wife and the angel, because great things are ahead and more study notes are available at the “Grand Narrative” link below. And here’s another great worship song to help us praise God with some wonderful children!
Today’s Scripture: Judges 13:1-14.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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