By Moody Marty | Opening Doorz Editorial | March 04, 2026
In the world of cricket, Sanju Samson’s journey mirrors a modern-day Meribah, where world-class talent was constantly shorn by the 'Delilah' of external pressure and the looming threat of the bench. Much like Jemimah Rodrigues before him, he endured a 'desert season' waiting for the rock to break while critics acted as the Philistines, mocking his place in the side.
God Will Provide As In Meribah
Have you ever felt lost in a place of frustration or uncertainty? That’s Meribah. Most of us have been in such a space, sometimes overcoming it, sometimes finding ourselves back there again. Many are still wandering in their own personal Meribah.
If you are one of those still stuck in Meribah, the Sanju Samson story will be a soothing balm to your soul. You don’t have to stay there, in Meribah. It is a ‘passing through’ place, not a ‘parking spot’. In our lives, Meribah symbolises times when we let complaints and uncertainty cloud our trust in God.
In the time of Moses, Meribah was where the Israelites, led out of Egypt, became consumed by grumbling and doubt. They questioned and complained, biting the hand that was feeding them, the hand of Moses. The moment you decide your circumstances are proof of God’s absence, you get trapped in Meribah. It’s the phase where we demand proof of His care before we’re willing to offer an ounce of trust.
For Sanju Samson, The Bench Was His Desert
If you want a modern face for this ancient struggle, look no further than Sanju Samson. For ten years, Sanju has been the poster boy for unrealised potential. In the cold, hard world of the Indian Playing XI, he has spent more time warming the mahogany of the dugout than he has actually middle-ing a cricket ball.
For a decade, Sanju’s career has been a walking, breathing Meribah. He’s been the guy everyone argued about. Fans grumbled. Selectors complained. And Sanju? He sat in the desert of the bench, watching the sure things fail while he wondered if he would ever be given a long rope instead of a piece of dental floss.
Imagine trying to perform your job while a billion people are staring at you, and your boss has sent his secretary with a termination letter to be signed, the moment you mistime a hook. That is the Meribah Pressure. Any good player will crumble when they feel that every single ball is a referendum on their entire existence.
The Prophet In The Dugout
But even in the driest deserts, there are moments of grace. There is a story from the camp when Sanju was at his lowest, dejected and weary from watching yet another game from the sidelines in the T20 World Cup. Rohit Sharma, former India skipper, acting like a modern-day Moses, walked up to the younger man and offered a prophetic lifeline. He told him, “Don’t lose hope. It is a big tournament, and your time will come.”
Rohit knew that the “quarrelling” over his spot in the team didn’t change the fact that the talent was still there. He saw a man stuck in Meribah and reminded him that the desert isn’t the destination. Rohit himself has wandered through Meribah, punching away the shadows of doubt, wondering if he was good enough. We all know about Rohit’s dejection at being dropped from the 2011 World Cup.
Then came Sunday, March 01. Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The 2026 T20 World Cup quarter-final. In the Bible, Eden is the Garden of perfection. What Samson displayed was a perfect knock under pressure, full of confidence, that can only come from a man who knows his time has come.
There was something different about the manner in which Samson went about his task. Maybe he remembered that ‘Moses’ had told him his time would come. Importantly, he was in the ‘zone’. And when he smashed that final, winning boundary into the Kolkata dirt to seal India’s spot in the semi-finals, he didn’t pump his fists in the air, or point at the dug-out with pent-up fury. He went down to his knees, raised his hands in prayer, and made the sign of the cross.
He was thanking God in Meribah.
Provision Despite The Mess
Here is the cold fact of this warm truth: Meribah teaches us that God’s provision isn’t a reward for your stellar attitude or your perfect track record. The Israelites at Meribah were being absolute jerks. They were accusing God of kidnapping them. Yet, God told Moses to hit the rock, and water gushed out; provision despite doubt. It suggests that help can arrive from the most unlikely, hard sources… like a dry rock or a player everyone had written off as a bench warmer.
We spent a decade debating Sanju. We made his career a monument of strife. Even his father, Samson Viswanath, mourned about his son’s ‘wasted decade’. And yet, when the survival of the team was on the line, the water came from the very rock that was being ridiculed.
Chin Up, Trust In The God Who Provides
If you are sitting in your own desert today (unemployed, overlooked, or just plain exhausted by the short rope life has given you), take a look at the man on his knees at Eden Gardens.
God doesn’t wait for the desert to turn into a garden before He gives you a drink. He brings the water into the desert. He uses the very thing that looks most useless (the rock of your current struggle) to save your life.
Stop picking a fight with the process. Stop worrying that you’ve been on the bench too long. The God of Meribah provides for people who don’t deserve it, in places where it shouldn’t be possible, through means that make no sense.
Sanju Samson is the reminder that your “time” isn’t dictated by the selectors or the critics. It’s dictated by the One who can pull water from a stone.
Take a breath. Put down the stones you’re planning to throw at yourself or your circumstances. Your time is coming. And when it does, remember to look up.
“In the wilderness I will make a way, in the desert rivers will flow.” (Isaiah 43:19).
PS: You know how Jemimah Rodrigues battled her desert storm, her Meribah. It is well documented in cricketing folklore.
[Moody Marty: Sometimes funny, sometimes informative, always downright forthright!]
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