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Context No. 1864 of 4322 · Judges

Context · Reflection

Judges 13:6-10: in context

6Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, “A man of God came to me, and his face was like the face of the angel of God, very awesome. I didn’t ask him where he was from, neither did he tell me his name; 7but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son; and now drink no wine nor strong drink. Don’t eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’” 8Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, “Oh, Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us, and teach us what we should do to the child who shall be born.” 9God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but Manoah, her husband, wasn’t with her. 10The woman hurried and ran, and told her husband, saying to him, “Behold, the man who came to me that day has appeared to me.”

The wife of Manoah is visited by a man of God with an awesome appearance, who tells her she will bear a son who is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from the womb. She tells her husband. And Manoah, rather than presuming he knows how to handle such a charge, prays: O Lord, please let the man of God you sent come again to us, and teach us what we are to do for the child who is to be born. God listens to Manoah's request, and the angel comes again.

Manoah's response to the news of the coming child is worth learning from: he prays for guidance. Told that he will be father to a son with a special calling, Manoah does not assume he already knows how to raise such a child; he prays that God would send the messenger again to teach them what to do. He recognizes that the responsibility being given to him, the raising of this child, is beyond his own wisdom, and he asks God for instruction. There is a humility here that we need in the face of the responsibilities God gives us. When we are entrusted with something significant, the raising of a child, a role of leadership, a task or calling beyond our ability, the temptation is to presume we know how to handle it, to rely on our own wisdom and figure it out ourselves. Manoah shows a better way: to recognize that the responsibility exceeds our own understanding, and to ask God for the wisdom and guidance to carry it out. This is especially fitting for the great responsibilities, like raising children, that are plainly beyond our competence, that we cannot get right by our own cleverness. Manoah, facing the task of raising a child set apart to God, prayed to be taught what to do; and the God who invites us to ask for wisdom when we lack it heard him. There is an invitation here to bring the responsibilities that are beyond us, the parenting, the leading, the tasks we feel unequal to, to God, asking him to teach us what to do rather than presuming we already know. If any of us lacks wisdom, Scripture says, let him ask of God, who gives generously. Manoah asked, for a task beyond him; and the humility to ask God for guidance in the responsibilities he entrusts to us is the beginning of doing them well.

When I am entrusted with a responsibility beyond my own wisdom, the raising of a child, a role of leadership, a task I feel unequal to, do I presume I know how to handle it and rely on my own cleverness, or can I do as Manoah did, humbly praying for God to teach me what to do, asking his guidance for the responsibilities he has given me?

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