Scripture Daily

Context No. 2011 of 4322 · Judges

Context · Reflection

Judges 15:11-20: in context

11Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in Etam’s rock, and said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” He said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.” 12They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 13They spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will bind you securely and deliver you into their hands; but surely we will not kill you.” They bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock. 14When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. Then the LORD’s Spirit came mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that was burned with fire; and his bands dropped from off his hands. 15He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it. 16Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck a thousand men.” 17When he had finished speaking, he threw the jawbone out of his hand; and that place was called Ramath Lehi. 18He was very thirsty, and called on the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day. 20He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

After Samson strikes down a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, a great victory, he is left utterly spent. He was very thirsty, the account says, and he called on the LORD: you have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die of thirst? God answered by splitting open a hollow place, and water came out; and when Samson had drunk, his spirit came back to him, and he revived. The one who had just won the victory was near collapse, and God provided for him.

There is something instructive in what follows Samson's victory: not more triumph, but exhaustion, thirst, near collapse. Having spent himself in the great effort, he is depleted, so weak with thirst that he fears he will die. The high moment of victory is followed by the low ebb of exhaustion. And it is there, in his depletion, that Samson cries to God, and God provides, splitting the rock, giving water, reviving the spent servant. God's care met Samson not only in the victory but in the exhaustion that came after it. This speaks to a pattern many of us know. After a great effort, a demanding season, a hard-won accomplishment, comes not elation but depletion: we are spent, drained, near collapse, sometimes more vulnerable in the aftermath than in the struggle itself. Elijah, after his great victory on Carmel, collapsed under a broom tree and wished to die, spent and depleted; and God met him there with food and rest, saying, the journey is too great for you, arise and eat. The high moment can be followed by exhaustion, and it is a real need, not a failure. And the encouragement here is that God's care meets us in the depletion too. He does not abandon us in the weariness that follows great effort; he provides, revives, restores the spent. Samson cried to God in his thirst, and God gave water and revived him; Elijah collapsed, and God fed him. When we are spent after a demanding season, drained and near collapse, we may bring that depletion to God as Samson brought his thirst, trusting that the God who was with us in the effort is with us in the exhaustion, and that he provides for the spent. Those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength, Isaiah says; and God meets us in our depletion, reviving the weary, giving water to the thirsty, restoring the spent servant so that, like Samson, our spirit comes back to us.

When I am spent after a great effort or demanding season, drained and near collapse in the aftermath, do I imagine God's care was only for the struggle and not for the exhaustion that follows, or can I bring my depletion to him as Samson brought his thirst and Elijah his weariness, trusting that the God who was with me in the effort meets me in the exhaustion too, reviving the spent and restoring the weary?

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