Not THE Samson, mind you, but A Samson nonetheless.
While I could either take dogs or leave them (and in my experience it has primarily been leave them), there’s something about this one that I like. If you are the only person in the house he will follow you everywhere, even if it requires opening doors that were not open to him. He knows the difference between when you ask him to go outside because of routine and when you plan to leave him out there for hours so you can go to the grocery store. He also would be the best watchdog if you ever needed one because any car on the street of louder-than-average decimals will send him into a tailspin. Every time.
Samson.
This Samson made me think of THE Samson the other day. I grew up going to Sunday school so I have ingrained in my head the picture of the big strong guy with the glorious hair pulling down the arena (which today on NFL Sunday reminds me strangely of Clay Matthews…whatever), but in my adult life I have not really delved into it much.
Being that Samson, not the Samson but A Samson, was around me so much last week I thought I should do a little trudging through Judges. I say trudge because, like a lot of the good books in the Old Testament, Judges is one that you have got to strap yourself in to get to the heart of God.
I love the Old Testament, b-tee-dubs. I will go out on a limb and say that you cannot have a full grasp on the character of God until you know the OT.
Period.
Fight me later.
The story of Samson starts out interesting. I say starts out because I haven’t gotten past the first chapter of his story. If you haven’t read it in a while, go do it now.
Judges, chapter 13, all verses.
Go now.
I promise I will still be here when you are done.
Go, Go.
Now.
Thank you.
Moving on.
Before I even dive into the text did any of you women notice the overtly woman response of Samson’s mama to the situation?!!!? There she was, going about her business, when a strange man comes to her and says (vss 3-5) “You have no children now because you are barren, but you will. So don’t drink anything and don’t cut his hair and eat only the good stuff because he is going to get the show going of some big things that God wants to do for the Israelites.”
If you read chapter 13 of Judges you will know that is a slight paraphrase.
J
AND DID YOU CATCH WHAT SHE DOES!? This is hilarious. She goes running back to her husband and, can’t you see her? Hair askew, all out of breath, she says to her man, “You are never going to believe what just happened! This guy, who looked amazing, came to me and said that while I have no kids, I am going to have one, and I shouldn’t drink anything or cut his hair. Now before you ask for details, let me just say this: I don’t know. I didn’t ask who he was, or where he was from, or what his name was! I don’t know any of that. All I know is that he looks like he knows what he is talking about and I just think I should believe him!!”
Isn’t that so terribly womanly of her? “Don’t ask me for more information; I don’t have it. All I know is that I am going to do what he tells me.*”
So she believed him. Through the whole story(or at least the intro chapter), and that is important to know.
How very fascinating to see that centuries and centuries and wars and technologies have not really changed us womenfolk that much. Women are women. We are not culturally programmed, we are culturally preyed upon by the enemy, but programmed? No, God made us FEMALES, we are God programmed.
(*Side Note: I think that trait in women can sometimes get us into trouble; trusting someone just because they “Look like they know what they are doing.” But that we do in general have a soft heart that wants to believe said person is good, is adorably naïve. It’s adorable, but MUST be watched VERY carefully. It gets too many women hurt. Eve is a pretty good example of this.)
All that woman stuff aside, I am stopped in my tracks by how much my temperament would probably act more like the man in this situation. His wife just came to him with crazy news, a calling if you will, being told the information she needs to know NOW and for only the next nine months, with only enough of a reason to give her motivation to do what he says (i.e verse 5 “and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”). But that’s just it. That’s all she needs. She must think that she has no reason not to trust this guy, but the husband is saying, “Give me more details!” He doesn’t negate what she says, he just needs more information. Knowing what she needs to do TODAY is not enough.
So he prays for God to send the messenger again; thinking that if he comes he will be able to pry more information out of the guy. God is good and sends the angel again---but he sends him to the one who believes at face value; the one who believes the info she knows.
Moving along, the hubby comes to the angel and wants to know the big picture. What will the son’s life be as someone set apart to God? Where should we place him? What’s our ten-year game plan? The angel responds with, “Make sure your wife does today what I told her to do today.”
Well that didn’t work.
Yikes.
Next tactic: Come on over to eat so we can stall you and honor you. To which he gets the answer, “How about you honor God with that food instead?”
Well then what is your name, the husband wants to know. “You wouldn’t understand my name,” the angel replies.
Manoah, the husband, finally gives up, offers a burnt offering, and the angel flies away in the smoke.
The end.
I’m kidding. That’s only the end of the intro chapter.
Like I said before I see myself so much in the man; wanting to know all of the details and wanting to know them NOW. At times I really wish I had the heart of the woman who DID say, “I don’t know details, but I know that this man knows something about me that most people don’t, so I am going to believe what he said is true, so today I won’t drink. And when the boy comes I won’t cut his hair.”
Her response seems too simple, doesn’t it? I want to yell, “You can’t just be ok with that! You deserve to know more! It’s your life, after all. He never asked if you wanted to deliver that son into the world; he owes you more information.”
She didn’t say that, though, did she? The husband wanted to. He knew the same information she did, but came up with a completely different response.
I can’t read this and not ask myself the question, “How do I cultivate a response like hers?” because today that is probably not my response. How can I trust God about this situation at face value? How am I supposed to handle the situation when God is keeping his cards pretty close to the chest? It goes against my grain to not ask questions when He is not giving details.
If I can venture far enough to say it, I would say that there are a lot of times in life when God doesn’t give details. Maybe even the majority of life. I know for myself that I have long been on one of those trails where not only do I not know what’s around the next bend, but I don’t even know where the next bend IS! Will I be walking this for long, Lord? Because to be honest, I don’t want to!
In my struggle sometimes I don’t even want to pray that he would give me a heart like hers to simply trust him and keep walking, because I don’t WANT to keep walking this same old trail. I want details, or I want off.
Sigh.
Unfortunately I already know that will get me nowhere.
Sigh.
There has to be something more to this story than blind faith.
If I back up, I guess maybe earlier in her life she could have felt like me at times, too. She had to have known what it was like to keep walking down the same dreary trails, right?
She was barren, and she was an Israelite.
God’s promise was to make them great with descendants, wasn’t it? So what happened to her? Where did she fall into that promise? Did she ever feel that she was doing something wrong? Or maybe even that SHE was wrong? What about his promises? Did they not apply to her?
Surely she had thought that. We’ve already covered that she was a woman; and I would have thought that. I have thought that.
Is it possible that that’s where the secret to her belief lies? For whoever-knows-how-long the promises had not applied to her. Is it any wonder then, that when out of the blue she’s told that the time for them to not apply has come to its end, that she is filled with belief? Blessed are you now, woman, for God is fulfilling his promises.
When her life had been a series of no movement how else could she respond to the rumblings of something than to say, “I believe. And I don’t need the details”?
Maybe that’s what long, dark trails are all about: Getting me ready to believe, so that when the light on a situation finally does come I don’t demand my “rights for information.” I just look at the One who knows what He’s doing and say, “I believe you now, and I don’t need details.”
Ok, God.
Sigh.
Give me a heart like hers. A heart that says, “I trust you, even when you are keeping your cards pretty close the chest.”
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