January 21, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"He was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of Thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst?" — Judges 15:18 · KJV

Samson was thirsty and ready to die. His difficulty now was wholly unlike any he had met before. To have his thirst quenched was nothing so great a matter as to be delivered from a thousand Philistines; yet with the thirst upon him, Samson felt this small present trouble heavier than the great past danger from which he had just been so remarkably delivered. It is very common for God's people, after enjoying a great deliverance, to find some little trouble too much for them. Samson slays a thousand and piles them in heaps, then faints for a little water. Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel and overcomes Omnipotence itself, and then goes "halting on his thigh." Strange, that there must be a shrinking of the sinew whenever we win the day — as if the Lord must teach us our littleness and nothingness to keep us within bounds. Samson had boasted loudly, "I have slain a thousand men"; but his boastful throat soon grew hoarse with thirst, and he betook himself to prayer. God has many ways of humbling His people. Dear child of God, if after great mercy you are laid very low, your case is not unusual. When David had come to the throne of Israel he said, "I am this day weak, though anointed king." You must expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest triumph. If God has worked great deliverances for you in the past, your present difficulty is only like Samson's thirst, and the Lord will not let you faint, nor let the enemy triumph over you. The road of sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all along the way. So, tried brother, cheer your heart with Samson's words, and rest assured that God will deliver you before long.