Day 131

Judges 12:1-13:25, John 6:60-7:13, Psalm 59:9-17

Some people say a lot and some people say very little. Some people also need to know as much as possible. I found the interaction between Manoah and his wife quite funny, it is also scary when you can identify with people.

First there is Mrs Manoah, “A man of God came to see me, well he looked like a man of God, he didn’t actually say he was, no, he must have been because he certainly looked like one. Anyway, I’m not sure where he came from or his name, he didn’t tell and I didn’t ask. But that’s not the best of it, we’re going to have a baby”. And Manoah responds like a man: “Yeah, but did he tell you how to look after the thing, get him back fast!”

‘The thing’ though becomes Samson and the story of Samson is one that I will always remember from my Scripture Exams at Sunday school as a 10 year old. It is one of the classic stories of the Bible, and we will come on to him and Delilah later. Samson’s is the story of strength, God given strength that goes beyond the human. Strength that might baffle us (honey in a lion!) or leave us in awe (1,000 men with a jawbone) but still strength from God.

What is it the psalmist says today? “Oh my strength I will wait for you, you oh God are my fortress”. It is very clear that strength for Samson is from the Lord, the same as God is strength for the psalmist.

Sometimes we are in need of strength for the fight, or even strength just to get through the next stage of the journey. There have been many parts of this journey through the Bible that have been tough, a good number of disciples found that the going just got too tough and they walked away from their journey with Jesus. I found that I had to read some of yesterdays reading twice but I didn’t find it that hard that I needed to leave the walk. When the going gets tough, God is willing to step in and give us the strength that we need.

Call on the strength of the Lord today.