Then Manoah prayed to the Lord: “O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”
Judges 13:8 NIV
Many years ago, as I read through the Bible, I tried to capture all the prayers I encountered. As I am reading through the Bible again this year I decided to edit and post my prayer discoveries. I admit that I started looking for clues to how to pray the right way. What I’m finding already is changing my thoughts on prayer. I got a late start on this project, so I’m beginning in Judges. Judges is a very discouraging book, but in between all the rebellion and disaster there are a few really positive stories. Today’s prayer comes out of one of those stories.
Manoah and his wife did not have any children. They were to become the parents of Samson and God had some special instructions to give them. We often expect God to communicate to the strong and powerful, but the truth is He usually communicates to those who we least expect. In this case God sends an angel with a wonderful message for Manoah’s wife. She tells her husband and that leads to this wonderful prayer.
We so often make a big deal out of forms and posture when it comes to prayer. The only thing that we find here is that Manoah addresses God in a very respectful way. I think his attitude is the key to the effectiveness of his prayer. He is a simple man who genuinely desires to do what God wills. His request is simple, direct, and specific. He is an unusual man at this time of history because he is a man of great trust. He trusts his wife and he trusts God. There is no indication in the story that the man questioned his wife in any way regarding the message from the angel. Instead, he responds immediately with this prayer.
And may God teach me how to bring up Chappy… Last night my wife Sumiyo and I discussed legally changing his name from Shion, ‘Chappy’ – nickname as Japanese citizens don’t have middle names, Bickel to Antonio, ‘Chappy’ – the name he is called 90% of the time, Bickel. You may be wondering why Antonio; well, my beloved mother wished that we would follow our tradition of naming him an Italian name as are our first three children… We kept his birth name. But on second thought, as we love my mother, and wish to reside a quarter of every year in Italy, we should take the jump and change his name. What do you think, Ron and readers? Sound like a good name? Antonio Chappy Bickel