Finding Your Strength 2/24/2019

So happy that you are at Branches Church today. At the end of my message it is our practice to gather at the front and give the Spirit of the Lord the opportunity to minister, speak to us. As our guest we don’t expect you to come, but if you choose to join us we welcome you and we know that God will respond to you.

I am going to be preaching from 1 Samuel 30 today. I have titled this message FINDING YOUR STRENGTH.

Who David Was At This Time

1 Samuel 30:4 NKJV

Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

Have you ever cried until you had no more cry in you? Tears would not flow. Sound would not come from your throat. You were still greatly sorrowed but there was just no more power to weep.

It had been over twenty years since an old priest named Samuel had called him from tending the sheep. Some days twenty years can seem like nothing. Time is an amazing thing. It can fly by like watching your kids grow up. I have never heard a parent say that took way too long.

On other days though. Time seems to drag. To creep along slowly. I can remember a day at work when there was not much work to be done and the eight hour shift I was supposed to put in seemed as though it was never going to end.

How many can relate? Some things happen way too fast. Other moments, time... tends... to be.... crawling....

It was one of those latter days for David.

Twenty years he had been God’s anointed King of Israel.

A man after God’s own heart. This was never said of another man or woman. Only David.

He was a very special, chosen vessel with God.

Twenty years. Him King, look at him now.

Where David Was At This Time.

He had been running from Saul the last four years.

He was finding more favor among the Philistines, the enemy of Israel, than he was his own people.

Where you are does not determine who you are.

He may have been on the run but he was still King.

He may have spent a season in the caves but he was still chosen.

He and his army of 600 men had made Ziklag their home for the time. David was responsible for being sure the men and their families were taken care of.

While he and his men are away from Ziklag the city was attacked by the Amalekites. Their homes burned to the ground. Each of their wives, sons, and daughters all taken captive.

Had Saul obeyed God and destroyed all the Amalekites they would not have done this damage. His disobedience affected others. It touched Saul’s own life. It touched Jonathan’s life who lost his claim upon the throne. It now touched David’s life and lives of David’s men.

Our disobedience has far reaching affects.

David and his men wept until they had no more power to weep. The men became so bitter in their souls that they threatened to stone David.

His own men turned on him.

1 Samuel 30:6 NKJV

Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

David strengthened himself in the Lord.

He had no one to turn to. The ones he might have normally sought solace from were either against him or they were taken captive. He had no where to turn.

Altar Music

When it seems like there is no one and no where to turn. There is always a place where we can find strength.

Job said “If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong;”

Job 9:19 NKJV

If it is a matter of strength, indeed He is strong; And if of justice, who will appoint my day in court?

Paul said of the Lord that His strength is made perfect in weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9 NKJV

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

When I am weak, I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:10 NKJV

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Your weakness is not your deficiency. Your weakness is a place for His sufficiency.

My God shall supply all of your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

David had no one to turn to. When you turn to the Lord you will always find the strength you need.

Final Test

This was David’s final test before going to the throne that God had promised him twenty years before.

I often wonder what waits around the corner when I face times such as this.

What does God have around the corner of this time when you feel turned on? When you have lost the power to weep? When you feel like you are at the point of failure?

What awaits you if you turn to the Lord and find strength?

God restored to David all that he lost at Ziklag. Plus added to him the wealth of the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 30:20 NKJV

Then David took all the flocks and herds they had driven before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”

In the next chapter Saul dies, and David starts his final steps to the throne.

Someone here needs to strengthen themselves in the Lord today...