Giving your last breath

For many people there comes a period where the workload becomes a lot more strenuous than the rest of the year. You really have to graft in those times, sacrifice a lot of other things just to hang on and still you are exhausted, still you feel that you are on your last breath.

But the project is not done, you still have work to do, but you simply can’t. So how do you carry on? How can you replenish that must needed energy of yours?

Recently I felt that I needed to read Samson, in the book of Judges, maybe it’s because I’m growing out my hair so I can now relate to all the problems he would have. Anyways, reading Samson has given me a revelation of how to get that extra energy, and it doesn’t revolve around growing out your hair.

Now to those of you who may be a little rusty on the history of Samson, or have just never heard of him: Samson was an Israelite who was born to rule over Israel and be the protector against the Philistines. He was not just a regular man but rather someone with superhuman strength.

But there was a catch.

No razor may ever touch Samson’s hair or he would lose his strength. Long story short the Philistines found out his strength through Delilah, a woman from the Philistines that Samson loved. The Philistines cut his hair off and captured him, mocked him and made a fool out of him.

Samson had nothing left, his power was gone. He was sorrounded by Philistines and there was nothing he could do. He was hopeless. He was supposed to be the shining light amongst the Philistines but was instead the fool.

Samson knew what his duty was and he never gave up. It was then that he cried out to the Lord for strength. The Lord responded to Him by giving him the strength back. Samson broke through his chains and then pushed the two central pillars holding the building they were in and it let the whole building collapse with all the Philistines that were in it including Samson. That day he killed more people than all the other times over the years combined.

Last week I was exhausted from everything going on and the weekend that was ahead would include a lot more hardwork. I had nothing to give but there was still so much to do. When Samson’s story came up I realised that I too can have that renewed strength to push through and endure what lies ahead. It sounds silly to mention but I think often we don’t do it or we feel that it’s not going to work, but it does!

That week with the little sleep I had I was able to stay awake and sometimes feel full of energy. It wasn’t a very sustainable thing to do but for the time being it was enough.

I hope that none of us have to be in that situation of Samson that you give your life to a cause but you will be faced with times where it is guns blazing. Then you will need that inner strength. That extra boost that only God can give you.

Just cry out to the Lord and see how He can renew you.