By Shirley Rosemarie Evans
Samson was now very thirsty, and he cried out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory by the strength of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these pagans?” So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground at Lehi, and Samson was revived as he drank. Then he named that place “The Spring of the One Who Cried Out,” and it is still in Lehi to this day.
Judges 15:18,19 NLT
Samson as we know was supernaturally empowered by the Lord. What some may not know is that Samson’s story is way more than just the story of Samson and Delilah. In this episode, Samson has singlehanded taken out the entire Philistine army sent to kill him. He is armed with nothing more than a donkey’s jawbone, then he piles up the corpses of his enemies. We can only imagine how long this task would have taken him. After this mighty feat, we can imagine how spent Samson would have been. Spent and dehydrated, he cries out to God he almost sounds angry, “Must I thirst and fall into the hands of pagans?” Despite his tone and somewhat lack of reverence scripture records that God caused water to gush out the ground so that Samson was able to drink and he was revived.
I recall growing up, that my father was a huge fan of wrestling and boxing. The athletes would slug it out in the ring, punching, throwing, ducking, diving and holding, until one was either knocked out to the point where he couldn’t continue or one fighter gained the upper hand pummelling his opponent into submission. The victor would then parade around the ring arms up holding the title belt triumphant in victory only to collapse in a heap in his corner moments later while the attendants rushed in with towels and water to revive him.
Sometimes serving God can be just like that, we are doing our best to do what we believe we are called to do. We are sold out for Jesus, committed, and giving our time and resources sacrificially. There are seasons when we are on top of the world and we indeed feel like we are the heavyweight champions, nothing can get us down and we approach each challenge with resilience bourne from our faith that God is able. Then we hit a bump in the road not that we haven’t hit bumps before but somehow this one just seems huge. We feel that no one else is as committed and if the truth be told we are in this alone. The adage “if you want something doing ask a busy person,” has never been true, we are exhausted, and this is really not how things are supposed to be. These are the days you feel you have been in the boxing ring with the heavyweight champion of the world. We are way out of our league and easily out-boxed.
It is good to know that there is a place that we can go, we can retreat to our prayer corner and we can cry out in our desperation, in our exhaustion, in our frustration and our weariness. He will meet us at the point of our need. Psalm 103:13,14 tells us “The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.” (NLT)
We are told that Jesus is our faithful high priest having during His time on earth entered into the very conditions we face every day. He shared our nature, He endured suffering, He was hungry and tired, He was ridiculed and rejected. He not only shares our nature but also our suffering! He knows like no other what it means to be human. He gets us, we don’t have to wear a mask when we go into His presence, Let us be honest, knowing that there we will find grace to help us.
Ask: Why was Samson angry with God?
Seek: Have you ever been angry or frustrated with God?
Knock: Take a few moments to speak honestly with God on how you’re feeling today and then give thanks to God for His continual patience and faithfulness.
(Upper Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash)
(Inner Photo by Joseph Greve on Unsplash)
