Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1340
“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 showed us all these things, nor would He at this time ha ve told us such things as these.” Judges 13:22,23.
The first remark arising out of the story of Manoah and his wife is this—that oftentimes we pray for blessings which will make us tremble when we receive them. Manoah had asked that he might see the Angel and he saw Him—in answer to His request the Wonderful One condescended to reveal Himself a second time, but the consequence was that the good man was filled with astonishment and dismay. And turning to His wife, he exclaimed, “We shall surely die, because we have seen God.”
Brothers and Sisters, do we always know what we are asking for when we pray? We are imploring an undoubted blessing and yet if we knew the way in which such blessing must necessarily come, we would, perhaps, hesitate before we pressed our case. You have been entreating very much for growth in holiness. Do you know, Brother, that in almost every case, that means increased affliction? We do not make much progress in the Divine life except when the Lord is pleased to try us in the furnace and purge us with many fires. Do you desire the mercy on that condition? Are you willing to take it as God pleases to send it, and to say, “Lord, if spiritual growth implies trial. If it signifies a long sickness of body. If it means deep depression of soul. If it entails the loss of property. If it involves the taking away of my dearest friends, yet I make no reserve, but include in the prayer all that is necessary to the good end. When I say, sanctify me wholly, spirit, soul and body, I leave the process to Your discretion.”
Suppose you really knew all that it would bring upon you, would you not pray, at any rate, with more solemn tones? I hope you would not hesitate, but, counting all the cost, would still desire to be delivered from sin. But, at any rate, you would put up your petition with deliberation, weighing every syllable, and then, when the answer came, you would not be so astonished at its peculiar form. Often and often the blessing which we so eagerly implored is the occasion of the suffering which we deplore. We do not know God’s methods. This is the Lord’s way of answering prayer for faith and Grace. He comes with rods of chastisement and makes us smart for our follies, for thus, alone, can He deliver our childish spirits from us.
He comes with sharp plowshares and tears up the soil, for thus, only, can we be made to yield Him a harvest. He comes with hot irons and burns us to the heart. And when we inquire, “Why all this?” the answer comes to us, “This is what you asked for. This is the way in which the Lord answers your requests.” Perhaps, at this moment, the fainting feeling that some of you are now experiencing, which makes you fear that you will surely die, may be accounted for by your own prayers! I should like you to look at your present sorrows in that light, and say, “After all, I can see that now my God has given me exactly what I sought at His hands. I asked to see the Angel and I have seen Him, and now it is that my spirit is cast down within me.”
A second remark is this—Very frequently deep prostration of spirit is the forerunner of some remarkable blessing. It was to Manoah and to his wife the highest conceivable joy of life, the climax of their ambition, that they should be the parents of a son by whom the Lord should begin to deliver Israel. Joy filled them—inexpressible joy—at the thought of it! But, at the time when the good news was first communicated, Manoah, at least, was made so heavy in spirit that he said, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” Take it as a general rule that dull skies foretell a shower of mercy. Expect sweet favor when you experience sharp affliction.
Do you not remember, concerning the Apostles, that they feared as they entered into the cloud on Mount Tabor? And yet it was in that cloud that they saw their Master transfigured! And you and I have had many a fear about the cloud we were entering, although there we were to see more of Christ and His Glory than we had ever beheld before. The cloud which you fear makes the external wall of that secret chamber where the Lord reveals Himself! Before you can carry Samson in your arms, Manoah, you must be made to say, “We shall surely die.” Before the minister shall preach the Word of God to thousands, he must be emptied and made to tremble under a sense of inability.
Before the Sunday school teacher shall bring her girls to Christ, she shall be led to see how weak and insufficient she is. I believe that whenever the Lord is about to use us in His household, He takes us like a dish and wipes us right out and sets us on the shelf—and then afterwards He takes us down and puts thereon His own heavenly meat, with which to fill the souls of others. There must, as a rule, be an emptying, a turning upside down and a putting on one side before the very greatest blessing comes. Manoah felt that he must die and yet he could not die, for he was to be the father of Samson, the deliverer of Israel and the terror of Philistia!