We Don’t Have to Carry It All: In the Field with Samson

Did you know that you don’t have to carry it all?

If you are like me, you can easily convince yourself that you do. Then, right after, allow other people to convince you of the same.

I can completely wear myself out somewhere between my Enneagram 4 perfectionist tendencies and my zeal to please people. I can easily carry the weight of the world on my shoulders until I break under that weight, worn out and spent.

The thing is, I was never supposed to carry all that weight on my “own” shoulders. So, first, God reminds me that He isn’t condemning me because I fail to be perfect. No, I am the one doing that to myself. Second, he stands ready to help me grow into the best version of me, never criticizing me because I am not there yet. Plus, Jesus has some broad shoulders to help me carry all the weight I tend to lug around all by myself.

We all have heard the story of Samson and his great strength. Whenever his locks were long that nothing could stop him. His hair symbolizes the source of his great power and ability to pull down and carry what no other human could do. Judges 16:3 tells us,

“Samson lay till midnight and arose at midnight and took the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts and went away with the bar and all and put them upon his shoulders and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.”

Even though Samson could carry all that weight, the word tells us that he served God more in his death than he ever did in his lifetime. A lifetime spent carrying all the heavy loads of others but never letting God help carry his. He didn’t truly turn to God until all his strength was gone. A much-needed lesson that we are never strong enough for all the burdens of this world until we plug into God’s strength.

Samson had been where he shouldn’t have been right before this big show of strength in Judges 16:3. Proof that we can sometimes manage to pull off some good things out of our own ability for a little while.  Before our power runs out, that is.

I admit I have been carrying a lot of weight all by myself over the last couple of months. One circumstance led to another situation until I felt myself falling under its weight somewhere in all the lifting and doing for others. I felt the Lord quietly convict my heart that just like Samson, we can carry the weight of the world on our shoulders and still be out of the will of God. A much-needed “ouch” moment, but sometimes for us to be encouraged in the Lord requires some change to occur first. God doesn’t always give us a pat on the back but instead a push in the right direction. Sometimes, we need to do a complete turnaround, step out of our comfort zones, or, like me, do some much-needed unloading.

We can get so caught up with doing all the good for the world that we forget we are put on this earth first to serve God and then help others. Therefore, it is vital to keep them in the proper order.
Sometimes, while I am over here doing for others, God is over there trying to get them to do it themselves. So, technically, I am wearing myself out, trying to stand in God’s way. Anybody?

Jesus is teaching me that, just like with Samson, the more committed I am to God, the more remarkable my strength will be. Samson took down more Philistines in his death than he did in his life because, in the end, he completely turned his life and heart over to God. Samson had to do some getting himself out of God’s way, too, so God could get the job done.

Samson’s enemy tried to pin him in, weigh him down and steal his natural source of strength. We all have an enemy wanting to do the same to us. He came but to kill, steal and destroy and for every one of us, he will disguise it to look like something different. For me, it just happened to be from taking on too many “good” things.

We can become pressed down under the weight of the cares of life, hardships, trials, sickness, and disappointments. We can also become weighed down by over-serving. I guess that saying “you can have too much of a good thing” is true.

So today, this girl has another job to do—the task of unloading. I plan to do some much-needed rolling some weight off my shoulders onto some much wider ones. I am also rolling off some worry and stress in the process. I have pledged to myself to step out of God’s way on a few things as well. He is much more capable than I am to get some other people’s jobs done anyway.

And in the meantime, I hope to see you in the field with a much lighter load.

Susan