Sunday our children will sing again, leading us in worship at Tallowood. As we look at the faces of the children and of our own grandchildren, we may wonder, what is the hope for this next generation? By all accounts, the world is a dark place these days. Is there any hope for the children?
After the Lord raised up Deborah, Gideon, and Jephthah as judges to rescue his people, the Israelites returned to sin and consequently, to oppression under the yoke of the Philistines. But God. When all seemed lost, God sent an angel to a woman and her husband to predict the birth of their son. The boy was to be born with a special purpose of delivering Israel. What did the boy’s parents do? They prayed and asked for the angel to come back and give them instructions about how to raise the boy. I have prayed that prayer. Have you?
God answered Manoah’s prayer by sending the angel back. The angel repeated the instructions to raise the boy as a Nazirite who would not touch alcohol or anything unclean. Then the man and his wife worshiped making an offering to the Lord. God consumed the offering with fire and they fell before him with holy awe. To be sure, this is not an ordinary story of pregnancy. But God still gives children to us by his choice and for his purpose. I feel safe in saying that we do not have greater plans for our children than God does.
After Samson was born, God blessed him and he grew. Best of all the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him while he was in Mahaneh Dan. Where were you when the Spirit of God first stirred you? I was in Gross Gerau, Germany. As I began to read the Bible as a seventh grader, God’s Spirit began to move in my life. There he called me to preach and set me apart for his purposes. Pray this for your children and grandchildren: that God’s Spirit will stir in their lives. This is their hope. We might settle for them to be the smartest, or wealthiest, or most athletic or most attractive among their friends or in their schools. That would be settling. Pray that God’s Spirit will stir them. This would be the best thing for them and the world. Watch what God does.
