Judges 16:28
And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

It was a tragic end to a tragic life.  Samson had had so much potential.  A barren woman got a message from heaven of a special son who would be born, but he had lived a carnal life even as a Nazarite.  He had often given in to his own desires and followed his own path.  He put himself in bad situations and made poor choices.  And in many ways it seemed he ignored the influence of God’s Spirit in his life.

But he did have faith in God.  And maybe in these last moments of his life he realized where his great strength had come from all along.  So he cries out, “Remember me,” and God does respond.  It is a cry that echoes throughout Scripture.  “Remember me in my sorrow.”  “Remember me in my struggle.”  “Remember me in my need.”  “Remember me down here just trying to get through this.”  It is a cry that recognizes that despite all we may be and all we may have, inherent in us is a desperate need for God.

And God will respond to us when we call upon Him.  When we are His people, no matter how far we wander from Him, we can always turn to Him and seek Him anew.  He responds to our faith in Him.  He remembers us and our need.  He is aware of our situation.  He is merciful even if we’ve gotten ourselves into the mess.  He is gracious even if we went our own way for a time.  That is His message over and over—a Father with arms open wide to receive us back to Him, ready to hear the cries of His children.

Perhaps the most famous utterance of those words “remember me” was from the thief on the cross who recognized that Jesus was the King of the Jews.  And what is that but simple faith in one so much greater than us.  The truth is, we don’t have enough strength or goodness or anything else within ourselves.  It has to come from God.  Sometimes we make it too complicated.  We think we have to become someone acceptable before we can approach God.  We think we have to be perfect to retain His favor.  We think it’s too late for us or we’ve gone too far astray or He’ll never hear us if we’ve sunk so low.  But all we have to say is, “Remember me,” and trust God to do what is best.