by Pastor Afolabi Oladele

And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord.  And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord: and the angel did wonderously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have shewed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these. Judges. 13:15-23

If there is one attribute of the King of the Kingdom that we as believers must understand, it is as relates to TIME. Inherent in the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18:21-35, is the notion of the time it will take to pay off the debt owed. Not only must we understand that He has plenty of it, but that He patiently waits for us, to instruct us, but never in a hurry, until we come to the realization of His intents and purposes for us.

Think about the amount of time that transpired in the conversation between an angel of the Lord and Mr. and Mrs. Manoah in our text of today; the amount of time it took to prepare the offering (preparing a kid with a meal offering) and the angel physically standing by. It is man that is always in a haste. No wonder we are severally admonished in:

• Isaiah 40:31 that to be revived and have our strength renewed, we must wait on the Lord;
• Isaiah 28:16 that those who wait on Him will not make haste; and more
• Psalms 25:3, 21 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause…Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on thee; 
• Psalms 27:14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord; and
• Psalms 31:24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord

In a generation that just cannot wait, from microwaved meals to instant payments everyone is in a race, and to where? Look at your ways and be careful that you are still on the Lord’s side. Selah.

Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash