Strengthening Yourself
“David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.”
David is certainly a man that endured a lot. There is no question that God’s hand was on his life. David was between the ages of 10-15 when Samuel anointed him to be king, but, it took 20 years for that to become a reality. In that 20 years David was mistreated by his own family, betrayed by his father in law, he literally ran for his life many times, he spent a lot of time in battle, and he was betrayed by other people.
I’m amazed that David ALWAYS found solace in God. But, one has to wonder where that came from. I believe that David, as the Bible calls him, “a man after God’s own heart,” was always after God. From the time he was rejected by his own nuclear family, David found peace and solace in the wild as a shepherd boy. As he watched over sheep and fought off lions and bears, he encouraged himself in God and had a deep relationship with God from the time he was a child. There is often safety in being overlooked by man and being overlooked by his family caused David to turn to God and understand Him as more than just a Father, but as a Papa.
The above Scripture is a time in David’s life when he was in conflict with the Amalekites. The Amalekites had taken David’s two wives and all his men’s wives + children. So naturally, David’s men were upset-real upset. To the point of wanting to stone him. It must have been so overwhelming. I don’t know how many men were mad at David and wanted to stone him, but any number would be overwhelming, especially since these men’s wives and children had been taken captive. That’s a lot on your shoulders. But David drew upon his STRENGTH, the only strength he knew since he was a boy, and he turned to God.
This Scripture has been key for me this week. Because, when life gets overwhelming we must remember to turn to our STRENGTH. In the midst of being overwhelmed, emotions will creep up, which can cause anxiety and fear. But as 2 Timothy 1:7 states: “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but power and of love and a of a sound mind.” In those moments we must subdue the flesh (the anxiety and the fear) and worship God. Did David find strength in God through worship, prayer, taking a walk, fasting, etc? We don’t know, but either one of these things will drown out anxiety and fear so that we can tune into the voice of God, for surely, He will guide us in what to do in the midst of overwhelming situations just like he did for David a few chapters later.
God led David and his men to defeat the Amalekites, and all men that lost a wife or child got back who was rightfully theirs. God is faithful but we must strengthen ourselves in Him first!