Verse of the day: Judges 13:8, Then Manoah prayed to the LORD, and said, “O my Lord, please let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born.”
A very interesting interaction takes place between Samson’s father, Manoah, and the Lord. Manoah prayed that the Man of God would return because he had not seen Him when He first appeared to his wife. However, his request was not just for confirmation, but for revelation about Samson’s future. So often, we have this curiosity about the future that causes us to seek that which is not ours to know. I can certainly look back on my life and see where I have been and where God has brought me from. I also know what I had to experience to get here, and as much as I would have wanted to know what was ahead, if God had revealed that to me along with how I would get here, I would have curled up in the fetal position and asked Him to wake me when I got here! It is one thing to want to know God’s will and plan for our lives, it is another to want to know the specific details of how it will come to pass. Why do I say that you ask? If God gave us all the details, we would not truly be living by faith. Hebrews 11:6 reminds us, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Manoah did nothing wrong in asking for confirmation regarding the instructions given to his wife. It is wise for us to always seek confirmation from God, via His Word and prayer, when we are seeking to live in accordance to His will, and serving Him in accordance to His plan for our lives. We can learn one very important principle from the Lord’s response to Manoah in verses 13-14, “So the Angel of the LORD said to Manoah, ‘Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. 14 She may not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor may she drink wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean. All that I commanded her let her observe.’” In other words, just be obedient to what God has already told you to do. This sometimes becomes an obstacle when we are serving the Lord. We pray, read His Word, seek His guidance, and when we hear from Him, we come out of the gate excited and ready to charge the gates of hell with a squirt gun. However, we then realize that serving God includes living everyday life, home, work, church, etc. We soon become anxious and impatient to hear more from God in order to keep the momentum going, when all we have to do is be obedient to what God called us to do in the first place. If He wants to change our direction, He will do so as we obediently walk with Him, being faithful to what He has called us to, even if the luster of the initial call becomes dull. The bottom line is that the future and how things turn out in our service to the Lord belongs to Him. Our part in God’s plan for our lives is to simply be obedient to what He has called us to do, and trust the future and its results to Him. If we stray from that, we waste more time trying to find out details that are not ours to know, when we could be busy serving the Lord and allowing Him to make progress in helping us live out His plan for our lives, for His glory. A life lived for the Lord, both present and future requires that we live it by faith.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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