Manoah and His Wife...

 

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.”

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

10 Then the woman ran in haste and told her husband, and said to him, “Look, the Man who came to me the other day has just now appeared to me!”

11 So Manoah arose and followed his wife. When he came to the Man, he said to Him, “Are You the Man who spoke to this woman?” And He said, “I am.”

12 Manoah said, “Now let Your words come to pass! What will be the boy’s rule of life, and his work?”—Judges 13:8-12

Manoah is my new favorite character in Scripture!  

First off... Manoah had no doubt that what the Man of God said would come to pass.  Manoah believed God.  

Second, Manoah entreated the Lord.  Manoah was a “man of prayer”.  Manoah was teachable.  His desire was to clarify what his duties would be in regard to the child that would be born. I loved that. He was zealous to do what was right. Verse 9 tells us that God listened to the voice of Manoah. God always hears and answers our prayers that come from a humble heart that truly desires to follow and obey Him. 

Good and upright is the LORD;

Therefore He teaches sinners in the way.

The humble He guides in justice,

And the humble He teaches His way.—Ps 25:8-9

Thirdly, Manoah also believed his wife and was not insulted when the Angel of God appeared to his wife a second time and not to him.  She ran to get him and he gladly and humbly followed her.  

Manoah’s faith does falter when he learns the true identity of their visitor. 

And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God!”—Judges 13:22

And here is where I see that although Manoah’s faith was strong, his wife’s was stronger.   That made me love them both!  She encourages him in a practical way and he listened to her voice. 

But 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 told us such things as these at this time.”

As a woman, my first and primary God-given ministry is to my husband.  Praying to be the kind of helpmeet to my husband that Manoah’s wife was to him.  She is not named in Scripture.  She is referred to and remembered as the wife of Manoah.  I liked that. It made think of being of one flesh with my own husband... being of one accord and of the same mind... serving our God together as one flesh.  

Father,

May I be, by Your Spirit, the kind of helpmeet to my husband that encourages his faith.  The kind who spends time sitting at the Lord’s feet.  The kind whom his heart can safely trust.  The kind, as it says in Hebrews 10, that holds fast the confession of my hope without wavering because He who promised is faithful. The kind that thoughtfully considers how she may encourage her husband to love and to do good deeds. 

A Soft Answer Turns Away Wrath…

 

Now the men of Ephraim said to him, “Why have you done this to us by not calling us when you went to fight with the Midianites?” And they reprimanded him sharply.  So he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?  “God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?” Then their anger toward him subsided when he said that.—Judges 8:1-3

These humble words of Gideon reminded me of Luke 22:24-27.  

Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’  “But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.  “For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves.

True greatness IS found in humility.   How much better it is for us and everyone around us, if we can put off offense and put on the gentleness and graciousness of humility as Gideon does here in Judges 8. With pride, the Proverbs tell us, comes nothing but contention.  Gideon’s response to the men of Ephraim did not seek to justify himself, but as it says in 1 Peter, he committed himself to Him who judges righteously.  Gideon was slow to anger and esteemed the men of Ephraim as better than himself.  His soft answer turned away their wrath.  Matthew Henry points out that Gideon was willing to diminish his own achievements, but not God’s in magnifying what the men of Ephraim did. 

“God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb.”

Oh, would that I would be able to put off offenses against me and put on humility as Gideon did here.   

A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city,

And contentions are like the bars of a castle.

A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth;

From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

And those who love it will eat its fruit.—Proverbs 18:19-21

Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;—Romans 12:10

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law....Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.—Romans 13:8;10

In Faith is Victory…Gideon Chapter 7

 

It happened on the same night that the LORD said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand. 10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant, 11 and you shall hear what they say; and afterward your hands shall be strengthened to go down against the camp.” Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outpost of the armed men who were in the camp. 

Now the Midianites and Amalekites, all the people of the East, were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude.

And when Gideon had come, there was a man telling a dream to his companion. He said, “I have had a dream: To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed.”

Then his companion answered and said, “This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp.” 

And so it was, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream and its interpretation, that he worshiped. —Judges 7:9-15

I love that last line...Gideon worshiped!  Judges 6,  7 and 8 tell the story of Gideon and his personal struggle of faith.  Gideon had much trouble believing God.  I, for one, am thankful for Gideon's story.   It encourages me to seek His grace when my own faith fails knowing that my God's compassions fail not.  God's responses to Gideon  show Him as merciful, gracious and forgiving. 

In faith is victory...and here (finally) at the end of chapter 7, we find Gideon. From man's perspective the battle looks impossible to win.  Earlier in the story God had trimmed Gideon's army of 32,000 men down to 300.  Three hundred men going up against 135,000.  Gideon and all of Israel would know as they went into battle and came out victorious that the victory was not theirs but God's. They would not come out with hearts lifted up thinking they had done something.  They would go in and out the same way...knowing they were weak and depending on the strength of their God.  

My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

When Gideon returns from his spying adventure into the enemy camp, he tells his men with confidence that the Lord would deliver the enemy into their hands.  Gideon sees the invisible and then by faith does the impossible...wins the battle with God's 300.  Gideon's plan was simple.  Each man was given a trumpet, an empty vessel to break, and a torch.  The men would encircle the enemies camp with their torches hidden inside their vessels.  At Gideon's signal the men would blow the trumpets, break their vessels which would reveal the lights and then shout, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!"  God would do the rest. 

What  spoke to my heart in this story was God's  kindness and grace especially in the face of weakness and lack of faith. It filled my heart with love and gratitude.  So often I can be like Gideon.  How comforting to know that our God knows our frames.  He knows that we are dust. 

Another was what happened to Gideon when he stopped doubting and truly believed in His heart that victory was in His God. He worshiped His God and He became a leader.  He and His men brought their empty vessels to battle where the light of God was seen only after these vessels were broken and rendered useless.  When we are weak...that is what God's uses to show Himself strong.  The following verse from Corinthians says it all...may each of us remember it when our faith is tested.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

God is our light and our salvation...whom shall we fear. He is the light of our life. ...of whom shall we be afraid.  When the enemy comes against us...when they encamp all around us and war rises, may we remember our God and may our entire weight of trust and confidence be in Him.  

Gideon…A Believer in a Family of Unbelievers…

 

So he said to Him, "O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house."—Judges 6:15

Oh Father, keep me small in my own eyes. Let not the foot of pride come against me.  Gideon was the least in his poor family and of an undistinguished tribe, but God, who sees the heart, chose Him.  Gideon was also a believer in a family of unbelievers, but his courage brought His father back to You...the One true God. Give me this kind of courage as I face my enemies both within and without and may others see the grace You give me and turn their own hearts toward Yours.

I think what the Lord says to Gideon next is good for each of us to remember.

And the LORD said to him, "Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man."—Judges 6:16

Who am I?” Gideon asked in verse 15.

“That’s not the issue,” the Lord says in verse 16. “The question is: Who am I, for I will be with you. And that is all you need.”  

Beloved…Meditate on that today. Our God is the God who not only makes perfect that which concerns us, (Psalm 138:8) but also the One who performs all things for us (Psalm 57:2) as we surrender ourselves into His care.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,

 that no flesh should glory in His presence.

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--

that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.—1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Give to the LORD glory and strength.

Give to the LORD the glory due His name;

Bring an offering, and come into His courts.

Oh, worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness!—Psalm 96:7b-9

A bruised reed He will not break,

And smoking flax He will not quench;

He will bring forth justice for truth.—Isaiah 42:3

The Lord is With You, You Mighty Man of Valor…

 

And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him, and said to him, “The LORD is with you, you mighty man of valor!”—Judges 6:12

“The LORD is with you!”  These words brought comfort to my heart this morning.  What a perfect greeting.  Such a beautiful reminder of who our God is.   He is Immanuel, God with us.  Gideon, like most of us, did not think the LORD was with him.  Like me...and probably like you, He needed the reminder.  

Gideon said to Him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.”Then the LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?”  So he said to Him, “O my Lord, how can I save Israel? Indeed my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” And the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat the Midianites as one man.”—Judges 6:13-16

God’s Presence goes with us!  We are never alone!  We may forsake Him, but He will never forsake us.  We are inscribed on the palms of His hands.  Gideon’s God would be Gideon’s strength in weakness.  He would undertake for him...and for Israel.  The Great I AM would guide him, strengthen him, animate him, support him and assure him of success.  Like Gideon, the Becoming One is with us and He becomes for us whatever our need may be.  

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.—2 Corinthians 12:9

The Way-Maker…

 

Then Moses said to the LORD, "See, You say to me, 'Bring up this people.' But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.' Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people."

And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."

Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth."

So the LORD said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name."

And he said, "Please, show me Your glory."

Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." But He said, "You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." And the LORD said, "Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.—Exodus 33:12-23

There are certain days in the year that are always difficult for me to get through. I don’t actively think about them or even know that I am aware that they are coming.  My heart, however, always does. It always remembers.  Weeks before the actual dates arrive my heart begins to remember and grieve. The grief is ongoing because what causes it is still very much ongoing. For the most part, God has enabled me by His grace to thank Him daily for it because He has used it in my life to make me cling to Him in love and gratitude. Because of my trials, I know Him infinitely better than I would have otherwise known him. Because of my trials, I understand these words of Paul better than I otherwise would have.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.—Philippians 3:7-11

I agree and commiserate with Moses when he says this in the precious passage above:

"If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 

As believers, Jesus, the Way-Maker, goes before us and makes for us a way through the wilderness of this life. He is our Immanuel…our God who is with us.  John 14 tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one, John says, comes to the Father, except through Him. It is Jesus that hedges us behind and before. It is His hand that is always upon us and His Spirit that dwells in us as we make our “way” through this world.  God’s covenant love, His lovingkindness, is ours forever because as His children, He has pledged to never leave us nor forsake us.  In Christ, we stand permanently in His favor or grace.  Like Moses in the above passage, we have also found grace in His sight. He knows us by name and has made His home within our hearts. The very glory of God dwells within us. Because our Immanuel is with us His “way” is with us as well.  

Beloved…It is Jesus that gets me through and will get me through the difficult days and seasons of my life. Make your way through this world with the Way-Maker.  Keep His word. Surrender to the great love with which He loves you and make His footsteps your pathway. As Alan Redpath has said:

“A throne is God’s purpose for you; a cross is God’s path for you; faith is God’s plan for you. The arrow of God on the target may leave a scar on your heart. In the years to come you may look back upon this time and your eyes fill with tears as you remember the moment when the arrow went beyond. But the Savior is alongside: He is reminding you that the blood which He shed for you, which takes you within the veil—to the place of constant access to His presence—is the blood that takes you outside the camp to the place of consecrated availability for His plan.”

For Your lovingkindness is before my eyes,

And I have walked in Your truth.—Psalm 26:3

Show me Your ways, O LORD;

Teach me Your paths.

Lead me in Your truth and teach me,

For You are the God of my salvation;

On You I wait all the day.—Psalm 25:4-5

Prescription for Smoothing “Wrinkled” Thinking…

 

 

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though its waters roar and be troubled,

Though the mountains shake with its swelling.

Selah

There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,

The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;

God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.

The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;

He uttered His voice, the earth melted.

The LORD of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD,

Who has made desolations in the earth.

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;

He burns the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

The LORD of hosts is with us;

The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah—Psalm 46

Be Still and Know That I Am God…

When my daughter, Rebecca, was a little girl and feeling out of sorts she would come up to me and say, “ Mom, my mind feels full of wrinkles.  It needs straightening. I am gonna go read my Bible for a little while. There are no words to express the joy that rose up in this Momma’s heart whenever I heard those words.  What a gift for me to know that God was becoming her “go-to” in times of trouble.  

As I read Psalm 46 this morning, the Lord brought Rebecca’s sweet words of long ago to mind.  She would often read Psalm 91 (and still does) for comfort, but for me it is Psalm 46 that smooths out the “wrinkles” in my thinking. 

Beloved…keep these precious words of David nearby.  Read them after you read the news. Read them whenever your thinking begins to go awry during the day. Turn away your eyes from looking at useless things and focus them on the truth of the word of God. One prayerful read through and you will begin to feel the Spirit renewing your mind, quelling your anxious thoughts, strengthening your inner man and making the crooked places straight.  Keep reading and keep resetting. The world and its problems, your world and your problems will, as the song says, grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. 

You will keep him in perfect peace,

Whose mind is stayed on You,

Because he trusts in You.

Trust in the LORD forever,

For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.—Isaiah 26:3-4

You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.—Psalm 16:11

Here is Psalm 91 in its entirety…

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust."

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side,

And ten thousand at your right hand;

But it shall not come near you.

Only with your eyes shall you look,

And see the reward of the wicked.

Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

"Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation."