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I Samuel 30:6 is where the topic of this post is taken from. 1 Samuel 30 is actually a great passage to read and meditate on as we go through trials and heartaches; a beautiful story of how to continue on when we have come to the end of our proverbial rope and our hope.
David had given up running from King Saul in the land of Israel and along with his 600 men and their families David went to live in the land of the Philistines.
He was emotionally drained, he was living a lie; he would plunder the Philistines and had to annihilate everything and everyone for fear that his activities would be reported to King Achish. To make matters worse he was asked to fight against King Saul and the army of Israel.
David was no longer physically living in the land of Israel but his heart never left. Somewhere in his mind he knew that he would be King of Israel and there was no way he could fight and kill his own people.
To David's relief the other Philistine kings did not trust him and he and his 600 men were sent away from the battlefield. This was like an answer to prayer they were happy to leave and return to their wives and children. However when they got back to their settlement they found it deserted, pillaged and all the women and children were taken. It seemed that the Amalekites saw a great opportunity to plunder when everyone else were preparing for battle. This was the last straw for David's men. They were emotionally drained, physically exhausted and completely desolated. Someone had to pay and the only logical person was their leader. They did not have the strength left to be rational. They did not care that David himself was hurting, probably even more than they were because he felt responsible for them.
This is where the child of God excels. When we feel that there is no one on our side; when everything is gone; when we are on the verge of being stoned - we have to encourage ourselves in the Lord. We have to know how to turn to God when we feel that there is no one else to turn to.
If the child of God do not know, have not learned how to get strength and encouragement from God, he or she is in a dangerous place. This is when thoughts of suicide, giving up, ending it all settles in the mind. The believer is tempted to feel that nothing is left here for them and no one understands the depth of their despair. They have to know how to encourage themselves in the Lord.
The job of the mature Christian is to show the younger believers how to encourage themselves in the Lord; how to open God's Word and learn from the experience of those who have gone before. This will allow them to have confidence in their time of trials that there is always hope; that there is always someone who knows, who cares and who understands. May we learn how to encourage ourselves in the Lord today!
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