After fighting a bloody battle against Israel’s enemies and achieving a stunning victory, Samson felt thirsty. Beating to death a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass drys a man out.

In desperation Samson cried to the Lord, You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?

Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.

En Hakkore in Hebrew translates to Caller’s Spring in English. Like He did for Moses in the wilderness, the Lord provided water from a rock for Samson. I love the name given the new spring, which still flowed at the time this account was recorded. The label served as a reminder to always seek the Lord, especially in our thirst.

Keep calling. The Lord hears the desperate.

Judges 15 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Michael Surazhsky

Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!

He is risen indeed!

Luke 24 in reading the Bible in 2023

Dawn of Resurrection by Joaquin Vaquero Turcios, 1956

As a staff member with Campus Crusade for Christ I sat under the teaching of Bill Bright, the founder of the organization, many times. One talk still resonates after all these years. In a gathering for young staff men Dr. Bright predicted three great temptations—sex, pride and materialism.

Over the years I’ve grown to appreciate the wisdom of these warnings. As a psalmist, David couched similar sagacity in the words, the sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply.

What gods tempt today? Sex, pride and materialism dance before us. Add to these the incessant drums of narcissism and self-fulfillment. Dr Bright’s talk (he always spoke at length) would need a few more points.

Contrast running after another to sticking close to the God of the Bible. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Expanding sorrows or a pleasant inheritance? One certainly sounds better than the other, and as Dr. Bright clarified, both are within our grasp.

Psalm 16 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Guido Hofmann

While we make many small choices every day, we pause over only a few major ones in life. Joshua laid such a judgement before the children of Israel:

Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Of a select group of monumentous life decisions, this one stands as the pinnacle. Everything flows downhill from here. Joshua stood resolute. Despite what anyone else decided, he and his family intended to follow the ways of the Lord.

It’s best to resolve whom we’ll serve before life crashes around us. Because crash it will, and we won’t have time to think. To choose the Lord, and to remain in this position, settles and solidifies ourselves and our families.

It’s one decision you won’t regret.

Joshua 24 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Jason Hogan