Judges 2-4, 6-8, 13-16

I’ve tried working out to bulk up a couple times in my life, but it hasn’t quite worked for me. Once, when I was in college, I did strength training for a whole summer. It was to help with a job I was doing on campus. The job was to drag out all the desks and tables from classrooms, wash them, and then put them back. It took a lot of pushing and pulling to make it happen and I did it by myself. I thought working out and stronger would help, but it just made me more tired and didn’t give me bigger muscles. Looking back at the job, I put in a lot of hard work but I missed a better way to get the assignment done.

What is one of the hardest things you’ve had to do in your life? Why was it hard?

The book of Judges is filled with some interesting people. It’s a book about how Israel didn’t live how God wanted. They would get stuck in a hard situation, cry out to God for relief and God would send help. That help was in the form of different Judges, or leaders who would save Israel and point them back to God. But even those Judges weren’t all perfect.

One of the Judges was named Samson. In his story, Israel was under the control of the Philistines. So God sent Samson. This guy was strong. One time he wrestled a lion to the ground with his bare hands! If anyone could help Israel, it seemed like it was Samson. And he did help… but he also ended up making a big mistake.

Samson’s strength came from God. As long as Samson didn’t cut his hair, then he could keep that strength. One day, Samson shared the secret about is hair, a pretty lady cut it off, and the Philistines captured and brought him to jail. After some time in jail, they brought Samson out, and chained him up to some pillars to humiliate him. It’s here, that Samson does something that we can all learn from: He asks God for help. He asks God for his strength back to defeat the Philistine people. This is what he was supposed to do from the beginning! God answered his plea and Samson knocked the pillars down that he was chained to, killing the Philistines around him.

Have you asked God for help in your life? Did God answer when you asked? I wonder: Did that answer look exactly like you thought it would?

Remember that job I talked about at the beginning of this video? The one where I was working really hard, by myself, feeling exhausted? If I had just asked for help from another worker, our strength and energy together would’ve made the job easier to handle.

That’s exactly what Samson did. He asked for help, and his help came from God. God heard his prayer and He hears yours when you cry out to him too!

Psalm 50:15 says: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”

Before you leave, Ask God for help for the difficult things happening in your life right now. Ask for his Holy Spirit to show you the best way to honor Him.