Never heard of Manoahism?

Me neither.

I made it up.

The word that is, not the concept.

The concept is found throughout the Bible. Perhaps its simplest articulation is in Deut. 29:29 – “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.”

But one place where we get this principle I’ve dubbed – Manoahism – fleshed out, is in Judges chapter 13.

The story of Samson is legendary, even outside of the Bible. But the back-story is full of its own revelations and in need of consideration. Not the least of which occurs when the Angel of The Lord appears to Manoah (soon to be Samson’s father) and Samson’s mother.

You’ll recall that this Angel appears to Manoah’s wife (she is never named in the text) and tells her that even though she has been barren, she is about to conceive and bear a son.

The good woman runs home to tell her husband Manoah all that the Angel had said. Of special note is how the Angel instructed her to refrain from all wine, strong drink or eating anything unclean. The reason for this regimen was due to the fact the boy to be born was to be a Nazirite from the very get go.

If you didn’t know, the Mosaic Law made provision for any who would feel so moved, to take a special vow of service to the Lord. (See: Numbers 6) This was called a “Nazirite” vow. With this single exception, Nazirite vows were completely voluntary. And among other things, during the duration of the vow – the one vowing had to refrain from wine, strong drink, even grapes and raisins until the period of the vow expired. Oh yeah, and they could not cut their hair during this period either.

Continuing with the narrative: After filling Manoah in on her angelic encounter, Manoah then prays to the Lord that the Angel might return and give them further instructions about this wholly unique circumstance, and especially their role as parents to this promised child. God answers Manoah’s prayer and before you know it, the Angel reappears.

Now we get to the key verse: Judges 13:12 “Then Manoah asked, “When your words come to pass, what will be the boy’s rule of life and mission?” Pretty reasonable I’d say. “We’re gonna have this special kid – spill the tea. what is to be his rule of life – and his mission? How do we prepare him for whatever it is God has in mind?”

Are you ready for the great revelation they are about to receive? Here it is in 13-14: “So the angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “Your wife is to do everything I told her. She must not eat anything that comes from the vine, nor drink any wine or strong drink, nor eat anything unclean. She must do everything I have commanded her.”

Did you get that? In case you missed it, let me put my finger on it.

In effect the Angel of The Lord said: “None of your business. Just do what I’ve already revealed to you.”

Here is the essence of Manoahism – always wanting to peek behind the curtain, to get inside information, perhaps (as in this case) even extra revelation – so that we know what to do about the future.

And the response is?: “Pay attention to what I have revealed, and leave what I haven’t – to me.”

We want increased revelation so we don’t really have to trust him with the unknowns. He wants us to live by faith, by believing and acting on what he HAS revealed, and then trusting him with the unknowns.

We want assurances about the darkness. He wants us to trust him in that he rules the darkness, and that he has given us the light we do need to fulfill what he’s called us to.

We want to know what’s going to happen tomorrow.

He says: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:34)

Oh how much angst and foolishness we would avoid if we would repent of our Manoahism, and trust the Lord of today, tomorrow and eternity.

If we would but fully occupy ourselves with what he HAS revealed – we’d already have more than we can master. We wouldn’t go wrong. We wouldn’t try to force the future along. We would live with far more settled and peaceful hearts.

So for all of us Manoahs – and I count myself among you – may we hear and take to heart the wisdom so plainly displayed for us in this familiar passage.

We can trust him. So let’s leave the secret stuff to him.