God chooses His servants before they are born. He gives directions for the most intimate details of how He wants them to live for His glory and their own good. How their parents live is also of prime importance. We see this clearly as we consider the story of Samson. Manoah and his wife were childless, for his wife was barren. One day the Angel of the Lord appeared to the wife with the message that she would bear a son who was to be a Nazirite to God even before birth. He would begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines, their enemies. Manoah’s wife was given vital instructions as to what she was not to eat or drink and what would be important for her son to observe.

The lives we lead as parents and the example we set have a vast influence on our children. It is essential that parents work together in resolute harmony to bring up their children.

Manoah prayed that the Man of God might come again and teach them how to bring up the child they would receive. How important it is for parents to pray to God for directions how to rear their children. The directions they had been given were simply repeated. God has clearly shown us in His Word how to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. His instructions are fully adequate. May we thank God for them and pay careful heed to follow them!