Just The Beginning

August 26

Read: Judges 13

Just the Beginning

“…and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” (v.5)

Next month I will turn 44 years old. I mention that because reading Judges 13, I can’t help but be struck by the timeline: “And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.” (v.1) For almost the entirety of my earthly life the people of Israel had wandered from God and been oppressed and bullied by the Philistines by the time that Manoah’s wife was met by the Angel of the Lord. I know what it is like to have a “tough season”… to feel down in the dumps for a spell… but man 40 years is a long time.

The Angel of the Lord delivers the words above to a barren woman. As if the moral decay of her people wasn’t enough… or the oppressive foreign rulers weren’t sufficiently frustrating in and by themselves… she has been struck childless as well! I can’t help but wonder how she felt about this news. There is one word that would have haunted me if I were her: “begin”. The Angel declares that this woman must adhere to a strict code during her pregnancy and that she would be bringing into the world one whom the Lord would use to ““…begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” Her son would only be a START to the process that God was carrying out! Despite all of the supernatural “pomp and circumstance” - the FULL redemption and rescue that this woman - and the people - longed for would still take time. The rescue wasn’t going to come overnight. She would have to wait 9 months till her son's birth. She would have to endure raising the child. And even then, his role would be “beginning” a work that would stretch beyond him. There is a bright side, the “issue” or “problem” of her barrenness WAS solved in an instance - at least she had that going for her. This is the truth of walking in faith with the Lord: some problems take time, some are solved instantly, and sometimes we only get to experience the beginning of something larger than us or even our offspring.

What does it look like to rest in this truth? How do we respond when our prayers are answered, but outside of our TIMEFRAME? Would we welcome interaction with the supernatural - our own proverbial “Angel of the Lord” sort of moments - even if it meant knowing that some of the resolution we long for is still going to be held out… left for us to wait on? Don’t get me wrong - this coming boy would genuinely be the “beginning” - but it was going to take more time. There was one other thing it was going to require from the boy's mother, and that is discipline and sacrifice. She was going to have to alter her life for a season, adhere to a strict code of conduct while she carried this baby in the womb. Would she be willing to do this even if it only meant planting a seed… starting a process… that she may or may not reap the benefits of? It is tough to sacrifice for something that we may not reap the full benefit of… to be committed to beginning something that someone else will finish!

As we look around us today, we may feel a certain sense of desperation… frustration… fear… or sadness. It has not been 40 years of difficulty yet… or maybe for some of you it has! Would you be willing to hear the voice of the Lord as he tells you how he is going to work in you and through to be a part of carrying out something that you may not see the culmination of in this lifetime! Could you find HOPE in the new things God is doing… even if they are “beginnings” that are going to take more time than you expect… to frankly are excited to give? I don’t think God leaves us hanging this way though! I trust he is going to bring some resolution NOW - like an end to this woman’s barrenness - as much as he is asking for hope deferred. It will always be a mixture of BOTH. There will always be seasons of “abstaining”… seasons of sacrifice followed by seasons of supernatural resolution and provision. May we be encouraged by this biblical truth. May we “carry the children” God has entrusted to us well. May we find HOPE is both what is coming and in what has already been supernaturally given! Love you guys. - JDP