GOD USES SMALL THINGS! Why does a jawbone seem so strange? (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on Jan. 10, 2016)

From the time I was a kid, I wondered why Samson picked up the jawbone of a donkey.  What particular meaning can be found in this object.  What prophetic nugget lies at the heart of the mystery.

I think I have finally figured out the mystery.  He grabbed it because it was there.

Perhaps the story is not so much about the object used to slay the Philistines but, rather, about the way that God uses whatever is available.  Moses' staff, Samson's jawbone.  Maybe the real story is not about what they used but the One who stood above what was used.  Just per chance the point revolves around the God of the stick and the donkey and not the servant who used what was provided.