Response to Victory: Ramathlehi or Enhakkore?

[iridiscente]

Judges 15
16: And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
17: And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.
18: And 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, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19: But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
20: And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
(my bold emphasis)

After a huge, victorious battle with the Philistines, Samson initially named the battle place Ramathlehi. According to the Strong's Concordance on Esword, Ramathlehi was the combination of two words. 1) Height (as a seat of idolatry) and 2) Jawbone. Initially, out of pride, he named it to reflect his achievement. Like many people, he did not actively recognize that he was only a tool of God and not really able to take credit for all that he had done. I think it's interesting that right after this naming incident, he almost dies of thirst and God uses the jawbone to deliver him. God used his symbol of pride in his victory to miraculously point out one more time that Samson wasn't self-sustaining, but rather a God appointed messenger for an important part of Israel's role in history.

I've done this before. I've gone through battles and come out on the other side inflated by my success and forgetting that through my weakness, God was made strong and that was really why I even survived the battle. And, like Samson, it seems God has a way of gently reminding me. He's awesome at taking our victories to show us how really weak we are; our "jawbones" and revealing His hand through it all over again. And, hopefully like Samson, I want to be quick to realize my mistake and rename my victory as His. Samson, after naming a place with the purpose of worshiping  himself and his victory, after this reminder of reality from God, renamed Ramathlehi: Enhakkore. This name means the "fountain of One calling."

I know that in the future and in the present I have battles. I know that God will give me strength to fight them victoriously, and I hope that when I look back at the place where I overcame something that I won't call it something symbolic of my pride, but rather say "that's a place where I had an encounter with God."