Who Is The Angel Of The Lord? (Manoah and his wife, their story with Sampson)

The Israelites were God's chosen people, but we find that they were not perfect. Nor a sinless nation. Time and time again, they did evil. And yet, time and time again God forgave them. The angel of the Lord, or God himself came to various ones to make known the things that were going to happen. In the case of this husband and wife, he was once again sending a son with which to deliver them out of the hands of their enemy.

Manoah and his wife were to have a son as announced by the angel of the Lord in this passage. He was named Samson and he grew up to have great strength. God's spirit came upon him many times to fight the Philistines. He was a judge for 20 years and a "Nazarite"  chosen by God from before his birth but he broke many of the Nazarite rules.

He was a womanizer and one of the things that we should take from his story which can be found in Judges 14 & 15, is that he was a sinner just like every human being that has walked the earth. And even though he was chosen of God, there were consequences to his sin. Just as there are consequences to our sin today.

 Sometimes we think we are so bad that God could never or would never even want to use us for his glory.  Why should he, we might ask ourselves. Or we do not understand how God can love us. And yet God used Sampson, despite all the bad in him, we see by his life that God can use anyone. And he can and will use us despite our failures and our disobedience at times. Why? Because he is God, that is why. But more then that, because he loves us.

Up next time: Who Is The Angel Of The Lord? (David's story)

September 9, 2019 Promise: The Lord is my strength and my shield,  my heart trusts in him and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song, I will praise him. Psalm 28:7

Thanks for coming by Friends! God bless you this week!

Who Is The Angel Of The Lord (Manoah and his wife)

God's people had done it again. They had gone back to doing evil and God did not like it at all. So he gave them over to the Philistines. Not for a day or a week or even a month. It was for 40 years.

But there was a man named Manoah who had a wife that could not bare them children. It was she that the angel of the Lord appeared to first and he told her that she was going to get pregnant and have a son. God was going to use her son to release his people from the Philistines.

She went to her husband and gave him this news. "A man of God came to me, and his countenance was as the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible; but I asked him not whence he was, neither told me his name."


She went on to tell him what the angel of the Lord had told her.

Monoah then asked the Lord to send the man of God that had appeared to his wife, to come again to the both of them and teach them what they were to do with the child.

The angel of the Lord did come again, but again just to his wife, as her husband was not there. His wife went to her husband and told him that the angel of the Lord had come again. They both went back and her husband asked him if he was the one that had appeared to his wife. He then asked him what they were to do to raise  him. The angel said the same as what he said to her before. .

Monoah did not know this was really the angel of the Lord and he asked him his name. But the angel of the Lord asked him why he wanted to know his name because it was a secret. Then the angel took a kid and laid it on a rock and offered it to the Lord as the man and his wife looked on. The flame went up toward heaven from the rock and the angel ascended into the flame and this is when they realized it really was the angel of the Lord and they fell on their faces to the ground. Judges: 13:1-23

What can we take from this passage in Judges 13? What can it mean for us? Did Monoah and his wife have their son? Did he grow  up to defeat the Philistines?

Come back tomorrow and I will try to have some answers for you.

September 8, 2019 Promise:  I have sworn and I will preform it, that I will keep thy righteous commandments. Psalm 119:106

Thanks for coming by friends! God bless you in the coming week!

His mercies are new every morning

Hello Friends. Allow me to defer from my current topic about the angel of the Lord for a night and go with the following scripture which is found in Lamentations 3:22-23

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions they fail not. They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness.

God's mercies to us are new every morning for those that love him. He has compassion for us that never goes away. It is never lost on us. No matter what we are going through. He renews our strength every day even when we don't even feel his presence. John 15:7 promises us that if we abide in his word he will abide in us. He wants a relationship with us just as an earthy father would want. And even when we fail, his compassion is still there for us because he loves us. He is there to pick us up when we are down. Because we know that we love him only because he first loved us.1 John 4:19. God is good all the time and all the time God is good. Remember these things the next time you are having a difficult day.

I hope to back tomorrow with the next part of: Who is the angel of the Lord. God be with you and bless you . Thanks for your visit.

Who Is The Angel of The Lord? (Gideon's story)

In the story of the angel of the Lord and Gideon, I think about two questions in relation to you and I in today's world. But first, we find Gideon in Judges 6, and more about his life in some detail on Who was Gideon in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

The Children of Israel had been released from slavery when God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him that God said he must let them go. But the problem with them was, they weren't really all that happy once they got free. They felt that it might have been better to still be slaves rather then to be in the desert heading for the Promised Land. Even though God was providing all they needed on their journey there. It turned out that they began to worship other gods. This was a 'no-no" of course, where God was concerned, and they paid a price for their disobedience to him. It was so bad at some point later, that the Midianites took to hiding in caves.However,  God gave them over to the Midianites who for scven years destroyed their animals and crops. Until finally, they cried out to God for help.Why should God hear them. After all, they had really been disobedient to him for all that time. Still he did. He sent Gideon to their aide.

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Gideon replied, "Pardon me, my Lord, but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us. Where are all the wonders that our ancestors told us about, whey they said, "Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?" Now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hands of the Midan." 

The Lord turned to him and said, "Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?"

Gideon was a man of God, but he still did not understand what the people were doing wrong.

And he was not too sure about this thing that the Lord was telling him to do. He asked God how he could do it. He said his clan was the weakest in Manasseh and he was the weakest of his family.

But that didn't stop God, of course. He told him to go and he would be with Gideon who would strike down the enemy, leaving no one alive. 

So my question here was two-fold.

1 Have you ever, as a Christian, at some point turned away from God. Maybe not your belief in him. Maybe just interested in other things that have gotten your attention too much. Have your worshiped those things and put them first before God"

I know I have at times. But thankfully God, is always at the ready to forgive us, just as he did the Children of Israel that did when they turned to other gods. Oh, they paid the price. Just as we have to some times. But because we belong to God, we have the same promise of his love and grace that they had.

2, Have you ever felt too weak to deal with a situation in your life. With your own family? Have you ever felt the least of your family? Have you made decisions in your life that was less then popular with your family. Even so far as God and/or your faith is concerned.

 Again, I know I have. Many times. I have struggled with these things most of my life even though as I have gotten older, I have done what my sister had said once about another family member, "He needs to grow a backbone."

Indeed I needed to grow a backbone especially for spiritual matters, and for the most part I have done that as I as the years have gone on.  In doing that has come having a closer relationship with the Lord. And sometimes my decisions about my faith were not popular within my family. 

Gideon's own father worshiped the idol of Baal along with other wooden gods that the people worshiped. And so Gideon and ten other men went into the village to cut down those idols.  When they saw this, the people went to Gideon's father and told him they were going to kill him. His father said that if Baal was real, he would punish the one that had done it.

But guess what? Baal wasn't real. He couldn't lay a finger on Gideon or any one else for that matter. When the people saw this, they turned back to the God that was real. The one that loved them enough to save them from their enemies. Your God. My God. 

Gideon was afraid of what his father might do, no doubt. He considered himself to be the weakest of his family. But he did what God called him to do and even his family could not fight him on it. 

And so Gideon was ready for God to save Israel through him.'

Still he wanted to be sure that the angel of the Lord was really God. And so he asked God for proof of who he was. What was this proof and did God really supply it? He certainly didn't have to prove who he was. .  Come back tomorrow for this part of the Gideon's story. 

Today's bible reference: Judges 6:1-16, 27-31, 36

September 6, 2019 Promise:And he said, "My presence shall go with you and I shall give you rest." Exodus 33:14

Thanks for coming by today Friends. I hope you will come back tomorrow for more of Gideon's story. God bless!

Who Is The Angel Of The Lord? (Joshua's story)

It appears that Joshua's visit from the angel of the Lord was shorter then some of his other appearances. Joahua 5:13-16 doesn't give us much information about why he had appeared to Joshua. We do know that Joshua was close to Jericho when he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him. He asked the man if he  was for them or their enemies. The angel said, "Neither, but of the captain of the Lord's army, I have come."  Joshua fell to the ground worshiping him. And then he asked, "What message does my Lord have for his servant? And just as he had told Moses in Exodus 3, he said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground. "

Imagine standing in the presence of the almighty God. This being that is more then just a being. He has to ability to change into whatever he wants to be, when he wants to and where he wants to. Imagine falling on our face in worship of him. 

There are plenty of skeptics about God. And there have been since practically the beginning of time. He is not a fairy tale. He was not made up in the imagination of some distant non-believer trying to turn people away from the truth. 

The sad thing for those people is that if they don't get their hearts right, there will come a time that they too will fall to the ground on their faces. They will not be able to deny him any longer. The angel of the Lord, the burning bush, the pillar of cloud, and whatever other form he might be or ever be, will be acknowledged by all. And for many who didn't believe or didn't accept him, it will be too late. 

He said in Exodus 3:14 "I Am that I Am."

We don't have all the answers as to why he appeared to people in the forms he did. For now, we don't have to know. Maybe someday we will. But for now, we know that he is God, the Great I Am.

September 5, 2019 Promise: Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6

Hello Friends! Thanks for coming by today. May your day today be happy and blessed of the Lord!

Who Is The Angel Of The Lord? (Moses stories)

Moses had been successful at getting God's people freed from slavery in Egypt. They were on their way to the "land of milk and honey" that God had promised them. The "Promise Land."

However, suddenly Pharaoh changed his mind about having let them go because now they didn't have them as slaves anymore. What was he thinking?  So he and his army went after them. And believe me, this was no small army.

But God was not going to let him get away with setting the Israelites free, just to have them recaptured. The whole thing was not up to any earthly man, authority or otherwise, to decide their fate. Still, God's people, when realizing the army was after them, became afraid and actually felt that being the slaves that they had been, was better then to die in the desert. But, Moses told them to them not to be afraid but to stand firm and they would see the deliverance of the Lord. God would fight for them.The angel of God and the  and the pillar of cloud that had been traveling with the Israelites moved from the front of them to the back, and they stood in between God's people and the impending army that was coming after them.

Moses did as God had instructed him by stretching out his hand and parting the sea so that the Israelites could go across to safety on the other side. Pharoah's army was not so lucky. Or blessed as it were. Because when they tried to get to the other side, the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and the cloud and he closed the waters over the army so that no one survived.

The Israelites were indeed free from slavery for sure. Genesis 14:1-31

The question for today is: What can we take away from this story of Moses and God's people and their freedom from the slavery which they had endured for so many years? What does it really have to do with you and I?

I do not pretend to have all the answers. I only know what God has given us through his Word. And so here are a few of my thoughts are this:

1.God can and does redeem and rescue us from hard situations in his time.

2.He gives direction to us in our lives. He makes our crooked paths straight.
3.He protects us from our enemies.
4. He proves himself to us over and over so that when we see his work in our lives, we know that beyond a shawdow of a doubt, we can trust him.

God can be who he wants to be. Where he wants to be. When he wants to be. Call him an angel of the Lord, a burning bush, a pillar of fire, or a pillar of cloud. He knows what we need when we need it. And he provides it. And all because as our Creator, for those that love and acknowlege him as their Lord and Savior, he loved us first!

Has he rescued you from the waters that threaten to overflow you everyday? I know he has for me and frankly, he still is doing it. I just have to keep remembering who he is and who I am in in him. My son texted me a couple days ago about something that he and his family had been going through and he said to me, "Mom, I just have to keep remembering that God is great and I am not." Yes, God is great, and we are not. Not in ourselves or on our own. But we don't have to be, when we have God is our lives. Because he fights for us,  and all because he loves us. 

September 3, 2019 Promise: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

Thanks for our visit today Friends. Up tomorrow is, Who is the angel of the Lord? (Joshua's story) Have a a blessed day in Jesus!

PS If you can't find a blessing, at least give me thanks for what he has already given you.

Who Is The Angel Of The Lord?( Moses' stories)

Have you ever heard of a bush that talks to you? Probably not. Although some Christians or so-called Christians/groups have reported some pretty bazaar things in their circles such as this. But if we are to believe this account in the bible, this bush did talk. It had something to say and it said it to Moses.

Actually, it wasn't the bush that talked, but the angel of the Lord that was within it. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but it was not burning up, like a bush on fire normally would. So he decided to check it out. And that is when God called his name. "Moses. Moses."  Who responded with, "Here I am."  God told him not to come any closer to the bush, but to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground, and then God tells him, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."

You see, the Israelite's had suffered at the hands of the Egyptians as their slaves for many years and now God wanted Moses to go to Pharaoh and have them released from the oppression that they had known. And this burning bush was God's way of letting Moses know that he was the one chosen to do his bidding for his people.

By this account and others, we know that God can manifest himself in whatever way he chooses. Did he do it this way for Moses, to get his attention. Probably. But also in chapter 33:20 God tells him: "..you can not see my face, for no one can see me and live."

Moses was not allowed to see God and so this was God's way of letting him know what he wanted to do about getting the Israelite free from the Egyptians.

At the same time, God is referenced here as an angel of the Lord as well. The  NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible  states this: "As else where in the OT(e.g.,Gen 22:11-18, Judges 13) this character is closely identified with God himself, reflected here in the interchangeable us of 'the Lord' (vv 4,7) and 'God' (vv.4, 5,6) that immediately follows. His manifestation of flames forms a strong link with the sign of God's presence elsewhere in the book.."

And so if you ever see a bush that is on fire but not actually burning, it may just be the angel of the Lord. It probably isn't going to happen that God will ever show himself to us in this manner. But then who knows: Anything is possible.....

Today's bible reference: Exodus 3:2-7

September 9, 2019 Promise: Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

Hello Friends. Thanks for coming by. Next up on our study of who the angel of the Lord is, will be Moses and the pillar of cloud. God bless!

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