We’re going through Judges in church right now, and we’re currently on Samson — ironically, I have been listening to a lot of Regina Spektor recently, and her song “Samson” in particular. Coincidence? I think not. Actually, I’m not really sure if there’s any point I was trying to make at all, other than to say that Samson has been on my mind recently.
Samson is one of those guys its easy for me to think: “Dude! Come on, why did you tell her your secret?!? That’s the oldest trick in the book: “if you really love me than you’ll tell me how you can be killed” — “Oh, okay! Let me tell you my secret to my strength since you’re so pretty and all.” I think, what a dumb guy! Didn’t the guy read proverbs 31:2, “Do not give your strength to women”??? That’s pretty much exactly what Samson does! (Granted, Proverbs wasn’t written until a couple hundred years after Samson, but he still should have known about those Philistines!)
But then I was reading about him in Judges 15, and I realized how much I am like him so often. Samson has gotten tied up with ropes and these men come to kill him, but “the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him” and he takes out 1,000 men with a donkey’s jawbone. That’s pretty epic! I’d like to be able to do that sometime. But what I always miss is what Samson does next. It says that he was “very thirsty” and he called upon God and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst…?” He just killed 1,000 men with a bone and the next second he is complaining and whining that he’s going to die of thirst! Really? How absurd is that? As if the God who enabled him to kill 1,000 men isn’t able to provide him with a little water.
But then I get to thinking: is that really that absurd? Is that so foreign to me? How many times have I done the exact same thing? I see God do some great and amazing work and know that he is with me and will take care of me, and then some tiny thing goes wrong and I start whining: “God! Why have you forsaken me!? Are you never going to let me have rest? Is it just going to be trial after trial?” How fickle we humans are! No wonder we have to be reminded of God’s faithfulness over and over again. We get distracted by the littlest things, even after God has just shown us his glory and power!
But what I love most about this story is God. He doesn’t say, “Oh, quit complaining Samson you baby!” He doesn’t leave him to die in the desert. But he splits the ground and provides water for Samson to revive his spirit. What a LORD we serve! And I am so thankful that he is that gracious! Even when we think that the littlest thing will overtake us, God is there and able to provide exactly what I need.
Reading that story is a good reminder: a reminder about me, and how fickle I am and how easily I forget that the God I serve is able to do mighty things, and a reminder about God and how gracious my LORD is to me even when I forget the display of glory he has just given me five minutes ago. If only I could stop focusing on these little things that distract me and keep focused on the God who is faithful to provide anything and everything that I need, according to the riches of his grace. May his name be praised!