The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 13:17-18,
"Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the Lord, 'What is your name, so
that we may honor you when your word comes true?' He replied, 'Why do
you ask my name? It is beyond understanding.'"
The account of Samson's parents is an astonishing story. In a cycle
oft repeated in the book of Judges, Israel, yet again, turned from the
Lord and found herself under his judgment. We are told, "so the Lord
delivered them [the Israelites] into the hands of the Philistines for
forty years." After this period of time the Lord visited a couple,
Manoah and his wife. They would become the parents of the deliverer,
Samson, that the Lord would raise up to free Israel from the grip of
the Philistines following the forty years.
At first "the angel of the Lord" visited Manoah's wife and told her
she would bear a son that would be dedicated to the Lord as a
"Nazirite". As such she was not to drink alcohol or eat unclean food.
When Samson was born he was to never cut his hair, "No razor may be
used on his head." She reported this visit to her husband who prayed
to God for direction on how to raise such an unusual child. The angel
returned to Manoah's wife and when she retrieved her husband, he asked
the angel "What is to be the rule for the boy's life and work?" The
angel repeated what he had told Manoah's wife. After inviting the
angel to stay and have a meal (which the angel refused), Manoah asked
the angel his name so he could honor the angel when the boy was born.
What the angel had to say is what is striking to me this morning. The
angel told Manoah that his name was "beyond understanding" or
"wonderful", such that it was pointless for Manoah to ask it.
Apparently, the angel's name was beyond Manoah's ability to grasp it
in one way or another.
As is for many, I am sure, the interaction of angels and mankind is
just fascinating to me. A visit from heaven, a realm we know very
little of, yet exists as certainly as any other place we know of, is a
reminder that there is far more to life than we perceive. To have a
visitor from there is astonishing. Only in the accounts of a very few
events we read of in Scripture do we know of such contacts. Yet, in
some of the accounts, there seems to exist the teasing possibility of
much more interaction between heaven and earth that we might imagine,
much more going on.
Such an example comes to mind in Genesis 28 where we read of a vision
that Jacob had, "He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on
the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were
ascending and descending on it." It turns out this dream was a vision
of a reality kept from us. Of the place, Bethel, Jacob said, "How
awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this
is the gate of heaven." Genesis 28:17.
I suspect there is much that surrounds us that we are entirely unaware
of. Just as when I watch a dog exploring with his nose a whole
dimension I know nothing of, there is that which is imperceptible,
that which we only get a peek of from time to time in the Scriptures -
a reality surrounding us that would astonish us to stumble upon.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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