Resounding Words Within My Heart

On October 26th, the Lord led me to read Judges 13. As I read this passage and began to meditate upon the words within this passage, God began a work on my heart that has not stopped. Today is November 11th and it continues. I must share with you what the Lord has taught me and continues to teach me through this passage. 

Before being able to understand the things that the Lord has taught me, I must share the passage with you. I pray that the Lord speaks to you through His Word today.

¹Now the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, so that the LORD gave them into the hands of the Philistines forty years.

 ²There was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had borne no children.

 ³Then the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, "Behold now, you are barren and have borne no children, but you shall conceive and give birth to a son.

 ⁴"Now therefore, be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing.

 ⁵ ”For behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines."

 ⁶Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him where he came from, nor did he tell me his name.

 ⁷"But he said to me, 'Behold, you shall conceive and give birth to a son, and now you shall not drink wine or strong drink nor eat any unclean thing, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.'"

 ⁸Then Manoah entreated the LORD and said, "O Lord, please let the man of God whom You have sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born."

 ⁹God listened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.

 ¹⁰So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, "Behold, the man who came the other day has appeared to me."

 ¹¹Then Manoah arose and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he said to him, "Are you the man who spoke to the woman?" And he said, "I am."

 ¹²Manoah said, "Now when your words come to pass, what shall be the boy's mode of life and his vocation?"

 ¹³So the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Let the woman pay attention to all that I said.

 ¹⁴"She should not eat anything that comes from the vine nor drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing; let her observe all that I commanded."

 ¹⁵Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, "Please let us detain you so that we may prepare a young goat for you."

 ¹⁶The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, "Though you detain me, I will not eat your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD." For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.

 ¹⁷Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that when your words come to pass, we may honor you?"

 ¹⁸But the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?"

 ¹⁹So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering and offered it on the rock to the LORD, and He performed wonders while Manoah and his wife looked on.

 ²⁰For it came about when the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell on their faces to the ground.

 ²¹Now the angel of the LORD did not appear to Manoah or his wife again. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.

 ²²So Manoah said to his wife, "We will surely die, for we have seen God."

 ²³But his wife said to him, "If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have let us hear things like this at this time."

 ²⁴Then the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson; and the child grew up and the LORD blessed him.

 The lessons that the Lord has taught me:

• verse 6- Manoah's wife told her husband that the man of God appeared to her and his appearance was like the angel of God, very awesome. Am I so amazed and fearful of the Lord that in my life I would revere Him as awesome, no matter the circumstances?
• verse 8- Manoah begged the Lord and said, "O Lord, please let the man of God whom you have sent come to us again that he may teach us what to do for the boy who is to be born." I had to meditate upon this verse for a while, because as a soon-to-be parent, Manoah was already begging the Lord to show him how to raise this boy. As a mother of three children, do I beg the Lord to teach me how to raise my kids? Honestly, I don't but the Lord really opened my eyes to the importance of daily surrendering my role as a mother to Him.
• verse 12- Manoah wanted so badly to know what his son would be like and what he would become. The angel of the Lord simply instructed his wife to continue to obey the commands that he had given her. I want to know what is going to happen before it happens many times. I am a planner and sometimes overplan. I need to just focus on what God has called me to do now and trust His hand and His guidance. There are so many things that I need work on and that should be my heart's desire and focus, to be like Jesus.
• verses 15-17- Manoah wanted to properly bless this man and give him a goat or to know his name so that he could give him proper recognition. He was indeed thankful for his time in teaching and guiding he and his wife in their preparation to be parents. Giving thanks to someone is important and respected. Manoah's heart was in the right place. But verses 18-20 were the  verses that really pierced my heart.
• verses 18-20- In verse 18 the angel of the Lord said, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?" Wonderful also can be translated as "incomprehensible". Then Manoah followed the angel's instruction and sacrificed the young goat and grain offering on the rock of the Lord. Reread verse 20 above. When the Lord speaks to me or appears to me through His Word, a person, or a circumstance, do I always recognize that it is Him? Or do I want to give praise and honor to a person, instead of the ONE who gives ALL things and desires to bless His children? The Lord really pierced my heart as I read this passage and compared myself to Manoah and his wife. They recognized fully that this person was the angel of the Lord, when he was already gone (verse 21). 

The Word of God is still alive and active in the hearts of those who allow themselves to be transformed by the power of their words. I pray that the Lord has taught you something through this amazing story of Manoah and his wife. Praise be to God for ALL that He has done and continues to do in and through our lives!