July 6

The Promise of Samson

            Then Manoah entreated the Lord, and said, “O Lord, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born.”  God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.”  Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.”  Then Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy’s rule of life; what is he to do?”  The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her. She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine. She is not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. She is to observe everything that I commanded her.”

                 Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Allow us to detain you, and prepare a kid for you.”  The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat your food; but if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.)  Then Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?” But the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.”

                So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to him who works wonders. When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground.

            Judges 13:8-21

             Everyone knows the story of Samson.  God gave him super-strength.  He fell in love with a woman who betrayed him.  Repeatedly.  His head was shaved and he lost all his strength.  Then he performed one final act of strength, sacrificing himself while destroying his enemies.

            Samson’s story actually begins before his long hair and super strength.  Manoah and his wife have no children and then an angel of the Lord appears to tell them that they will have a son who will become the deliverer of Israel from the Philistines.  They are to not give him wine and not cut his hair as he is to be separated to God as a Nazirite.  They are blown away by this message and pray that the angel will return in order to instruct them on how to raise the boy and what his life was to be devoted towards.

            The angel returned and gave them a little more instruction, but really it was not for the parents to know what would happen with the child…it was simply for them to obey and not put obstacles in his path so that he could hear the voice of the Lord and obey as he grew older.

            I desperately want to know what will become of my son, and all my children, as they grow into adulthood.  I ask God and I look for clues.  He likes cooking; maybe he will be a chef.  Let’s enroll him in cooking classes to help foster that passion…and then he loses interest.  He likes music; maybe he has been born to be an artist and a musician.  Let’s get him instruments and lessons and create spaces for him to allow that gift to mature…and then he loses interest.  He loves tinkering and taking things apart and building things; maybe his temperament and mind are geared towards engineering.  Let’s pull out his desk and put in a workbench and give him tools and broken things to take apart…he has not lost interest yet, but he is also not charging ahead.

            I want to know his calling so that I can best prepare him for this life.  I want to know why he has been given to us and how we are to best steward this gift.  But maybe we are like Samson’s parents.  What is revealed to us are our parental responsibilities.  Love the boy.  Raise the boy to know and love God.  Do not put obstacles in his way that would hinder his ability to respond to the Divine Leading.  For Samson’s parents that meant no drinking and no cutting the boy’s hair. 

            What would hinder my son from hearing the voice of God?  First and foremost, I think of Fear.  He has the most difficult time following my directions when he is afraid that failure will lead to punishment and anger.  So we create environments where risk is applauded and failure is simply an opportunity for learning.  We state over and over again how great he is and how proud we are of him.  We applaud bravery and set aside space to compose himself.

            I want to know.  I want to control.  I want an instruction manual with how we are to parent well.  I get none of those and that will be ok.  All that is asked of me is all that is asked of my son.  Listen for God’s voice and obey.

A moment to reflect:

What would get in the way of your child hearing and responding to God’s voice?  How could you work against that roadblock?