Sermon Tone Analysis

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.

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,

David also here is overcome with grief

Some of them sat down and wept until they has no more tears to shed.

But others complained and blamed David.

Verse six,

“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).

What did Jonathan do?

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

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)

“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

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,

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.