David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
Whose your favourite Bible Character? I recently learned, through the Chosen Character Quiz, that I have a lot in common with Simon Peter. But that doesn’t change the fact that my ultimate hero remains King David.
There’s one instance in particular that stands out to me:
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. – I Samuel 30:6 NKJV
Just to give you a bit of context. At this point in his life, David had been rejected by Israel despite securing many military victories for them; he was persecuted by King Saul, whom he had served faithfully, and even the Philistine armies, with whom he had become allies, no longer wanted his services because of their distrust.
David had faced rejection upon rejection, but the worst was yet to come. After their final humiliation, David and his men returned home, to Ziklag, only to find it burned and looted by the Amalekites. Their wives, children and all their possessions gone!
To make matters worse, his own men blamed him and were about to stone David.😳 I think ‘greatly distressed’ was probably an understatement.
For the best of us, this could’ve easily been the last straw.
But David did something remarkable, he:
…strengthened himself in the Lord his God. – I Samuel 30:6 NKJV
We’ve all heard of encouraging others or being strengthened by God. But how do you strengthen yourself in the Lord?
This week, we will find out how by looking at David’s life. Are you excited?
Perhaps you can think of someone else who might be interested in learning how to strengthen themselves in the Lord as David did. Forward this message to them and invite them along for the journey.
See you tomorrow!
