“And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the LORD were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these.” (Jud 13:22-23 AV)
This passage hits a little too close to home. Manoah is a pessimist to the point he missed the obvious. It is no wonder the LORD sent the angel to his wife and not to him. He would have seen any visitation from the LORD and a bad thing. Here, he assumes the angel of the LORD was God himself. He may very well have been right. The angel of the LORD could have been the Angel of the LORD. In his mind, they had just seen the LORD face to face and scripture would dictate they would perish. Yet the wise wife that he had, stated the obvious. God would not have given word they would soon bear a child and that child would grow up to serve the LORD. The angel of the LORD instructed Manoah on how to raise the child. Why do that if he was going to turn around a slay them? Manoah, for whatever reason, could not see God as benevolent. He was a pessimist. And his pessimism causes him to miss the obvious.
Manoah and his wife are my wife and me. She is an eternal optimist. Even to a fault. Me? I am the glass-half-full kind of guy. In my defense, I am getting a whole lot better. Since marrying my beloved, I have learned not all things turn out badly. However, if there is some potential for disaster, especially at church, I almost expect it to happen. Recently, I had a text and I automatically went to a church problem scenario. I had no reason to go there. This individual has never manifested any sign of discouragement to the ministry. In fact, this person is nothing but a blessing to everyone who comes. As I started going down the vortex of despair, my wife had to point out the obvious. It wasn’t at all what my mind was conjuring up. I had the dissolution of the church and failure as a pastor at the forefront of my mind. She had to pull me back. She was right. Just like Manoah’s wife, my Lisa is an optimist and can see the obvious. What a blessing she is to me. If it wasn’t for her, no telling where I would be right now.
The application is simple. We should control our hearts and stop overthinking things. When we allow our hearts to have unfettered feelings not bound by the promises of scripture, whether as pessimists or optimists, we can go places we should not go. Manoah made several mistakes in his parenting. He, unfortunately, supported Samson in his choice of a wife, even though it was clearly not permitted. Manoah let his guard down because he was pessimistic. If we are habitually pessimistic, what we think will come to pass probably will. Not that we knew beforehand, but our pessimism plays a part in what happens. If Manoah was more like his wife, he would not have given up so easily in discouraging his son to marry someone he shouldn’t. Every time I read about this event, I chuckle. That was me. Perhaps still a little bit so. Not nearly as bad as I used to be. But definitely not where I need to be. By the way, my wife and I are a good balance. I keep her feet on the ground while she pulls me up from the pit. Together, we face life in a balanced way. Praise the LORD He knows what He is doing.
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