Born for a Purpose

It was so hard for her to grasp, much less believe. Although Manoah's wife had not been able to have children, the angel of the LORD appeared and promised that she would have a son. When she told her husband, he prayed for another visit from the heavenly messenger. When the angel appeared, Manoah wanted some proof of identity. Then Manoah inquired of the angel of the LORD, "What is your name, so that we may honor you when your word comes true?" He replied, "Why do you ask my name? It is beyond understanding." - Judges 13:17-18 (NIV) The word translated "beyond understanding" is the Hebrew word peli. It describes something that is extraordinary, marvelous, miraculous, above our ability to comprehend. God said through the prophet Isaiah, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your tho...

Genesis 17:1-2 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.  Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers." Abram was seventy-five years old when God told him to leave his family of origin and "go to the land that I will show you." That instruction came with the promise that one day he would be the father of a great nation. Twenty-four years later Abram was wondering if he had misunderstood God. His wife, Sarah, was barren. He had only one son by her maidservant, Hagar. Most men, even in Abram's day, were not starting their families when they were one year shy of the century mark. But then most men in Abram's day did not walk with God Almighty (El Shaddai) . The Hebrew name El Shaddai comes with a sense of power. It means, "All-Sufficient One," "the God of the Mountains," "God Almighty." Hi...

Genesis 16:13 [Hagar] gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "I have now seen the One who sees me." It was a bad idea. Sarah could not have children.  She decided to give her Egyptian maidservant, Hagar, to her husband, Abraham, to be his wife. Abraham complied. It was a bad idea followed by a bad decision. When Hagar became pregnant, Sarah despised Hagar even more and blamed Abraham for the situation. Sarah treated her maidservant so badly that Hagar ran for her life. The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert. He told her to return to Sarah and then gave instructions that Hagar's child-a son-should be named Ishmael, which means "God hears." In response, Hagar gave this name to the Lord-El Roi, which means, "The Strong One who sees me." With amazement and gratitude Hagar said, "I have now seen the One who sees me." Don't miss the personal pronoun. God i...

Professor Ken Brown restored my faith in humanity. He created 12 lectures for a Great Courses program with the same title as this article, and I called him up to ask whether influence and persuasion were really just ways to manipulate others. Thankfully, he had a great answer for me. Ken started with a quick overview. "If you are a good person with good intentions and you explain what you are trying to get accomplished in a way that appeals to the interests of the people you are trying to persuade, you are 90% of the way there." In other words, influence isn't about employing tricks and techniques to get people to do what you want. It involves caring about them and being highly competent in doing what you promised. Ken continued, "This is a detail that tends to get lost among all the talk about the nature of your handshake, the importance of eye contact and the like:  If you are genuine, you are going to do most of the things right. " If you actually...