The One who Works Wonders

 

January 12, 2021

 

Judges 13:18-25

 

 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”  So, Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching.   And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.

The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord.   And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”   But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”   And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him.   And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

 

How I desire to have the faith of Manoah, he heard and believed, and acted, on what his wife and the angel of the Lord had said.  He did not understand that it was the angel of the LORD, till he made the offering, and the angel of the Lord went up in the flames of the altar.  We are told that both Manoah and his wife fell on their faces to the ground.

 

How Manoah believed that if he saw God he must die, but God gave him a wife with great wisdom, and she said; “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”  She became the mother of Samson, and God was with him and the Spirit began to stir him.

 

I believe God desires His Church to study the Scriptures, If that were not so He would not have said, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15.  We are called to be free, but our freedom has never come from the government, but in Christ, we have been set free.  You will find that in Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”

As a follower of Christ, we have been instructed to set our minds, not on what happens in our nations, but on Christ, for in Colossians 3:2, we have this instruction, “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

 

I am concerned that we lost sight of home, we have conformed to the world, and have more of the desires of the world than the Kingdom of 
God.  What can we do to get back to being the hands and feet of Jesus? 

Only one way is to learn from Manoah, listen, believe, and act on the word of God.  Do not take as truth, what I say, nor your teacher or preacher, but study the word of God and see Truth, for all truth is found in Christ.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice