LORD I NEED YOU - Lent Devotional
Every single one of us on this earth believes - to a greater or lesser extent - in our own self-sufficiency. It’s what allows us to breathe. It’s what allows us to stand. It’s what allows us to take risks and make choices.
Being confident in our independence and resourcefulness is a good thing. But knowing our limitations is even better.
Some of us never work out that we’re dependent on God. Some discover it early on. For some, like Samson, it’s the very last thing they understand in their life.
‘Then Samson prayed to the Lord, ‘Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes.'’
[Judges 16:28]
Thought:
Picture Samson at the end of his life. His strength has gone, his eyes gouged out, Samson is taken to Gaza, the scene of one of his mighty and miraculous escape when he ran off with the city gates.
But he’s powerless now. He’s a mere play thing, an oddity to be wheeled out when the crowd were nicely lubed on afternoon booze. 'Bring out Samson' they cried 'he's good for a laugh'. And there he is: alone, frail and such a long way from the glorious God-shaped vessel that so many times caused people to sit up and take notice.
Yet in the same way that Samson's life was full of mess-ups followed by Godly interventions, his death offers a few surprises too. We know the story - he pushes the pillars apart and kills a whole load of people, but there's more to the story than that.
This passage offers us the Bible's first and last record of Samson praying. That doesn’t mean he didn't pray, but I suspect that the author could be trying to make a point: Samson - ever the man who followed his own agenda - is finally asking God for help. In asking God to strengthen him 'just once more', we get a clear indication that Samson recognised his strength came from God. Perhaps this is the truth he has waited his whole life to fathom, and the last line suggests a timely end as he kills more people in his death than he did throughout his life.
Invitation:
God can use us when we're selfish and full of confidence in our own abilities. And God can use us when we're dependent on Him too. He’s God, after all. The real point here is that when God works through us it is for His own agenda, not ours. Did God really strengthen Samson that last time to avenge the loss of his two eyes? Perhaps not - perhaps God allowed it to avenge the loss of His peoples' hearts.
And so this is the invitation that God issues to every one of us: to reach the place where we know with our bones that we are dependent on Him. To reach the place where we say Lord, I need you. Every hour I need you.
It’s not a one-off deal. It’s a continual invitation. Why? Because we need reminding every day. Every day we need to surrender.
Prayer:
Lord, I need you.
Amen