a better hope

This is an odd story . Every time I read it, it sticks out to me. Manoah and his wife were the parents of Samson. But how Samson's mother was depicted and how she was treated by her husband always puzzled me. She talked with the angel and relayed everything to her husband. Her husband clearly didn't believe her. I think even the angel was a little put off by his unbelief. Here we have a woman who is godly but her husband lags behind her in faith and belief. She has more sense than her husband spiritually (and maybe in other ways) yet we don't know her name. I thought that was unfair. Part of the reason she wasn’t believed right away was the fact that this was a patriarchal society and women didn’t have many rights. I don’t know how right that was (look at how Job treated his daughters and it’s a different story), but that’s how it was. If an eyewitness to a crime was a woman, her testimony wasn’t allowed in court. And, we have the Bible verses regarding when a woman under a...

The following was sent to me quite some time ago. I don't know the book in question, but I believe the quotation is true. There is so much that is hidden from our mortal eyes yet visible in the spiritual. I believe that, just as God has a plan for each of us, the devil (counterfeiter that he is) also has a plan. It's up to us which plan we follow. Though we each have a God-created plan for our lives, not all will attain it. What separated those who did and didn't attain God's plan? I believe it comes down to obedience. We see David burst onto the stage and kill Goliath and wonder in amazement, but what we didn't see was how he grew in knowledge and faith while tending sheep. God will never give someone something big without first testing them with something small. David was tested. He was faithful. His obedience made him a man after God's own heart. This is something we can all have!  From the book from the English deliverance ministry: “It is clear from the scr...