Day 36 Encourage Yourself In God
1 Samuel 30 (King James Version)
1And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire;
2And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.
3So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.
4Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
5And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
6And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
I have a rather long passage this time, but the words that I am emphasizing today are “….but David encourage himself in the Lord His God.”
In the previous posts on our journey, we have found out that God loves us and wants to be very personal with us.
Don’t you know that David was really hurting in this situation? Not only was he hurting personally, he was responsible for his men who also experienced this terrible, personal loss.
So what did David do? He “encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” He had a personal relationship with God. He went to God right away because he was hurting.
Most other versions of the Bible say, “….he strengthened himself in the Lord.” When the enemy throws things at us, it is with the intention to weaken us. “Let’s get him (or her) down, so she quits trusting God.”
That’s what it has always been about. Back in the Garden of Eden it was the devil (in the form of a serpent) who came between Eve and Adam and then between Adam and God. God threw him out of heaven and so he roams the earth trying to get back at God, by coming between God and us. He wants us discouraged, disillusioned and in despair so that we will no longer have our relationship with God.
We have a choice at that point: Are we going to trust God? David turned to God and asked for directions and God answered him with instructions of what to do. And He added His grace (His strength) to get the job done successfully. Whew! Now that is a good word!!
Today’s assignment:
1. Read all of I Samuel 30. How does this story apply to your situation? Have you lost your kids, your marriage, the respect of your company, your health, your joy…..
Here’s how it played out:
God led David to an Egyptian who could help him. No longer was David alone in this. God was there and the Egyptian, who had the information that he needed, was there. What was the result?? David recovered all his losses!!!
2. From reading this, what must we do when a difficult situation presents itself to us?
3. Read these scriptures for further clarification:
Isaiah 14: 12-14 Lucifer fell from heaven
John 10:10 Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy
I Peter 5:8 He roams around seeking who he can
devour
As a child of God (see Day 13 and 14), he cannot touch you or anything that belongs to us if we don’t let him. (Psalms 91)
The next few days we are going to find out how to encourage ourselves in the Lord just like David did that day.
Prayer:
Thank You so much that I am not in this alone. Not only do you help me and give me direction and strength, but you lead me to those who will help me. I can now see that whatever I am going through, I am going through!! I praise You for that, my Father. Amen.
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