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Advent Devotional for Saturday, December 20
Judges 13:2-24
Judges is a book about God’s chosen people in a time of messy transition into a downward spiral. No sooner had they crossed over into the Promised Land than things begin to fall apart. They still faced external enemies, but even worse, the twelve tribes fought each other. Time and time again, the people do evil in the sight of the Lord, and time and again they suffer the consequences by being taken into the hands of the enemy. The Israelites are under the rule of the dreaded Philistines when we join the story in Chapter 13. There, as so many times before and despite their fickleness, pig-headedness, and false pride, God sends them a deliverer. They have a covenant, after all, and God will not be the one to break it.
I can’t read the first two verses about Manoah’s unnamed and barren wife being visited by an angel and told she would conceive and bear a son without wiggling with a little smile. I know this story. I know the barren Sarah before her and Hannah and then Elizabeth who will follow. These women are my ancestors. They remind me to trust what I know to be true even when people close to me need more proof. Manoah’s wife, like Hannah and Elizabeth, knew what was true because it was awe-inspiring. She held onto that knowing, even though it made no logical sense and even though her husband doubted. She did not break trust.
Samson, however, did break trust. You can read up on the dramatic ways in which he failed as a deliverer in later chapters. For today though, I invite you to have a day out of Samson’s mother’s life. Sit with a little wiggly smile on your face, knowing for sure that you have been called to bear life in a time of messy transition, even if you don’t know whether the life you bear will bring deliverance. God will come again.
God of Promises, thank you for coming to us over and over again through places that we only see as dry and empty. Help us to be where we are and to be awe-inspired to do what you are asking us to do. Bless us, we pray, with a spirit of trust in your mysterious, steadfast work as we wait for you to come again. In the name of Jesus who fulfills all promises, Amen.
Melissa Wiginton
Vice President for Education Beyond the Walls, and Research Professor in Methodist Studies
For the glory of God and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary is a seminary in the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition whose mission is to educate and equip individuals for the ordained Christian ministry and other forms of Christian service and leadership; to employ its resources in the service of the church; to promote and engage in critical theological thought and research; and to be a winsome and exemplary community of God's people.
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