Encouraging Yourself In the Lord

We all need encouragement from time to time. All of us at sometime or other face a crisis when everything seems to fall apart. There are times of discouragement, when things go wrong even when we are trying to do right. At such times, people may even say, “That’s what you get for trying to do right.” There are times of uncertainty, when don’t know how things are going to turn out. There are times of stress, when our load seems heavier than we can bear. The task is more than we can handle. There can also be times of fear when our very sense of security is threatened. In all of those kinds of situations we need to be encouraged in the Lord.

In the midst of a time of great distress it says of David in our text in verse six of 1 Sam 30,

1 Samuel 30:6 (ESV)

But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

That sounds great doesn’t it? But what does it really mean that David encouraged himself in the Lord? I would like to have that ability wouldn’t you? So let’s see if we can examine this passage to understand his secret.

David and his company of six hundred men had been off serving in the military of Kind Achish of Gath (that’s right Gath the enemies of Israel) and in the process had left their wives and children in Ziklag unprotected. A raiding band of Amalekites the persistent and longtime enemies of Israel, came down on the village, capturing the women and children for slaves, looting the place and carried of everything of value, leaving behind nothing but a smoking pile of rubble.

1 Samuel 30:1–3 ESV

Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.

When David and his men arrived home all that remained was heap of smoking ruins. Everything was gone; wives, children, cattle and all their property. What do you do when life falls apart? Many follow the adage, “When in trouble, when in doubt, run in circles and scream and shout!”

It is interesting to note how David’s men reacted when they discovered their terrible loss. Verse four,

1 Samuel 30:4 ESV

Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.

David also here is overcome with grief

1 Samuel 30:5 ESV

David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel.

Some of them sat down and wept until they has no more tears to shed. But others complained and blamed David. Verse six,

1 Samuel 30:6 ESV

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

“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….” Some went so far as to suggest that they stone David. It is always easy in a crisis to blame somebody else or to look for a scapegoat.

What does that have to do with encouraging your self in God? A lot of times when your life gets hairy you’re tempted to do what David’s troops did. You’re tempted to take it out on someone else. Misery loves company. You’re in the pit of despair and instead of spending time with God and asking Him what to do you do the stupid thing. You’re hurting so you hurt someone else. Hurt people hurt people.

So what happens after the crisis passes and you have time to reflect on having behaved badly toward someone else because you were in pain? Now you have another problem. You have to mend the fences you took down in your anger and your pain. So do yourself a favor, when troubles come be aware of yourself and behave yourself.

Think of what must have been going through David’s mind as he stood over the ruins of his home not knowing whether his family was dead or alive. He must have asked himself some questions. Like, “Why, if God is with me, is Saul trying to kill me? Why is Saul so insanely jealous of me? Why, if I am anointed do I have hide myself in the wilderness? Is this the reward I get for being a man after God’s own heart?”

Is it not possible that God intended that a crisis be allowed in David’s life that would force him to seek some answers from deep within? David had a choice. He could either, as a great many of us do, just stand there and continue to look, and see nothing but the disaster or he could look beyond them and see God. David looked deep within himself and there he met God and found the strength and direction to carry one. Then verse six continues with “…But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”

It is now, here in the book of 1 Samuel 30:6 we find one of the most eloquent “but” in the Bible. David had lost just as much as any of the rest of the men. David’s only worldly possession at that moment was the clothes wore. Everything else was gone; his property was carried off by raiders, his home was a mass of smoldering embers. But they was one thing that the Amalekites had not and could not take from him, they could not take his relationship with God. Although he could no longer say, “My house, my city, my possessions,” he could say, “My God.”

You cannot know God if you do not know him personally. You can know about God but you do not know God. You may be able to use all the correct religious term-inology and you may even attend worship services but you do not know God. David was able to strengthen himself in the Lord because he had a personal relationship with God.

Alexander Maclaren states it this way, “Whatever else we lose, as long as we have Him we are rich; and whatever else we possess, we are poor as long as we have Him. God is enough; whatever else may go.”

David Strengthened Himself in the Lord.

We know from our earlier studies that it is possible for others to strengthen us in the Lord. That is what Jonathan did when he visited David earlier (1 Sam 23:16).

1 Samuel 23:16 ESV

And Jonathan, Saul’s son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.

What did Jonathan do? The account tells us Jonathan had encouraged David by remind him of God’s promises,

1 Samuel 23:17 ESV

And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.”

Therefore to strengthen ourselves in God means we remind ourselves of what Scripture says about God and his promises and then we apply those truths to our current situation.

Strengthening yourself in the Lord is an intentional act, it is not something that just happens. When it says, David “strengthened himself” the Hebrew verb implies persistent and continuous effort. There is nothing passive about seeking out the Lord in times of despair. Sometimes we almost have to grab ourselves by the labels and give ourselves a stern talking to as the Psalmist does in (43:5)

Psalm 43:5 ESV

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God: For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.”

This story in the life of David points out three principles to guide us as we seek to “strengthen ourselves in the Lord.”

Seek Guidance And Direction From God

1 Samuel 30:7–10 ESV

And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.” So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men. Two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.

It seems obvious that David had not sought the Lord’s leadership in his decision to attach himself and his men to Achish, king of Gath. In fact in so doing he had violated God’s explicit instructions not to form alliances with the pagan peoples who had inhabited the land prior to Israel arrival.

This time before making any move, he first sought to determine what the will of God was! This time David deliberately stopped to ask the Lord if he should pursue this band of raiders and try to recover what had been taken. In verse eight he received clear instructions from the Lord, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” God told David that he would recover everything they had lost and David took God at his word. From that point on David could look back and boast in the Lord,

Psalm 138:3 ESV

On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.

He believed God and acted upon that belief in pursuing the band of Amalekite raiders and fighting to take back what they had lost. It would have done no good for David to sit around in the ruins of Ziklag and say, “Well I Am Just Trusting the Lord.” Real trust in the Lord is seen in David’s willingness to act on what God had said.

David’s six hundred man army was ill-prepared to hunt down the Amalekite raiders.

They had just returned from a long march back from the Philistine stronghold of King Achish. They were fatigued and battle weary. They were demoralized by being expelled from the army of Achish. And they were less than unenthusiastic about David leadership. David’s plan to run down the Amalekites did not seem at all promising.

Nevertheless when David said go, they went! David roused his men to action and led them in a forced march south. Pushing hard for fifteen miles they reached the Brook Besor (30:9). At that point two hundred of the men were too exhausted to go on (v. 10).They said in effect, “We can’t go another step, We don’t have the strength and we don’t have the spirit.” And so they were left at the Brook Besor, “with the stuff” (KJV, v. 24).

Where the Lord Leads He Provides

David and the remaining four hundred men crossed over the brook and pushed on into the desolate desert badlands pursuing the Amalekites. But they were not able to find any trace of their passing. With each passing hour it seemed more and more hopeless. God’s sovereignty is seen in small incident in the story. They just “happen” upon a sick Egyptian captive who had been left behind by the Amalekites.

1 Samuel 30:11–15 ESV

They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. And they gave him bread and he ate. They gave him water to drink, and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. And David said to him, “To whom do you belong? And where are you from?” He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite, and my master left me behind because I fell sick three days ago. We had made a raid against the Negeb of the Cherethites and against that which belongs to Judah and against the Negeb of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.” And David said to him, “Will you take me down to this band?” And he said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this band.”

It turned out that the Egyptian had been the servant of one of the Amalekite rulers, but when he became sick he was abandoned as too much trouble to bother with and left behind in the desert to die. That pretty much killed any sense of loyalty that the Egyptian might have had for the Amalekites. It is important to realize that if David had not been kind and generous to this hurting man he would have missed God’s provision.

The Egyptian once revived realizing that he had been saved told David that he knew where the Amalekites could be found. They were on their way to a victory celebration when the poor Egyptian had been left behind so he could tell David exactly where to find them.

1 Samuel 30:16–19 ESV

And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all.

When David and his men came upon the Amalekites the party was already in full swing – eating, drinking and dancing. The Amalekites were spread out before them feasting on the food and drink they had looted from Ziklag and other places they had pillaged on their raid. They felt they were far from any place of danger and therefore did not even post a guard. Consumed with their carousing they were sitting ducks for David and his men and soon they were dead ducks! The recovery was complete, they recovered everything they had lost plus extensive booty from Amalekites other raids.

David and his men return in triumph.

That may sound like the climax to the story but it is not. David and his men return to the Brook Besor and another challenge rears its head.

Be A Channel of God’s Grace

The crisis was over but it was replaced by another. Two hundred of David’s men had been left behind because they were so weary they could go no further. When it came time for a division of the spoils there was dissension.

1 Samuel 30:20–25 ESV

David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove the livestock before him, and said, “This is David’s spoil.” Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David, and who had been left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people he greeted them. Then all the wicked and worthless fellows among the men who had gone with David said, “Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children, and depart.” But David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the Lord has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike.” And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day.

Some of those who had gone on to the battle insisted that those who had stayed behind not share in the spoils (v. 22). David reminds them that everything they had was a gift from the hands of God (v. 23). The victory they had just experienced was sheer grace. What right did they have to talk about dividing things fairly? God had treated them with marvelous and generous grace. David would see to it that they treated one another with the same grace. It became a principle that would govern Israel from then on, those who stayed behind to guard the supplies would share just as much as they who had fought in the battle.

Encourage Yourself In the Lord

From this story we learn the invaluable truth that we do not have to be able to see God’s hand for to know that it is there and we do not have to understand how some-thing can be for our good in order for it to be so. Even while David was reaping the consequences of his sin and is at the lowest point in his entire life, God is graciously acting on his behalf to give David the throne of Israel just as he had promised. Just three days after this near revolt by his followers there came a fugitive into the camp

2 Samuel 1:2–4 ESV

And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. And when he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage. David said to him, “Where do you come from?” And he said to him, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.” And David said to him, “How did it go? Tell me.” And he answered, “The people fled from the battle, and also many of the people have fallen and are dead, and Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.”

with the news that Saul was dead and the way was now open for David to become king (2 Sam. 1:2-4). So it was not in vain that he had “strengthened himself in his Lord.”

Even the loss of Ziklag was God’s gracious action in his behalf, because it’s destruction was the end of his roots in the land of the Philistines and it opened the way for him to move to Hebron where he would begin his rule over Israel. Often God must destroy our links to the world so that we will open to receive his best.