When you saw this title, I know many of you were saying where saying to yourself, "what do you mean we have to encourage ourselves in the Lord?". I know we all believe that we are the victims and that no one else has it as bad as we do. There may even be times in life when you feel that life is not worth living because we are faced with one hopeless situation after another; but remember, the Bible was given to us to be an example to us to show us how to handle all the things of life.
There is a portion of scripture in 1 Samuel 30: 1-31 which describes how King David felt when he lost all his possessions to the enemy. It gives us a real-life example of something that occurred in Davids's life!
David was to be the next king of Israel; but the present King Saul was not happy because he wanted his son Jonathan to become king. So, David spent much time on the run from King Saul and his men. But David and his 600 men moved from place to place and he would help the countries that were having difficulties. As these passages open up, we find that David and his men had defeated the Amalekites. They return home to Ziklag on the third day only to find out that the Amalekites had raided Ziklag. To make matters worse, they not only raided Ziklag but they burned the city and had taken captive the women and all who were in it - they even they took all the children both young and old. The good news is that they killed none of them, however they did carry them off as they went on their way.
When David and his men came back to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. To make matters worse the 600 men who were with David were ready to kill him. His men were ready to stone David. So you think you are having a bad day? When David and his men realized what had happened, they began to weep and kept on weeping until they had no more strength to weep. They were completely heart broken and discouraged. They had lost all hope for their lives and families. They were shaken to the core by this tragedy.
Well, have you ever been there? Can you relate to what David was feeling?
Remember, even though David was called by GOD and anointed by the Prophet to be the future king of Israel, he had to go through this heart-breaking experience before he could become King. This serves as a good reminder that sometimes we may have to go through heart breaking experiences on the road to the destiny in our lives. Scripture goes on to tell us that David did not wallow or stumble in his misery. What did he do? He went to the Priest and they prayed to the Lord, asking for guidance, "what should he do?". His prayer was: ”Lord, do we go after this motley crew and overtake them or not? “ The Lord answered: "Pursue for you will certainly win".
So David and his 400 men (200 said they were too tired to even go with David) decided to pursue the enemy. As they were pursuing they just happened to come upon a young Egyptian in the field and who had been a servant to the Amalekites army, but he gave David some good news that the wives and all the children were not dead. He asked David to spare his life and that he would show them where the enemy was taking all the women and children. Clearly God provided this Egyptian for David and David was able to get all the wives, and the children and possessions back to their families.
Can I get an AMEN?
Maybe you are saying, that is a nice passage of scripture, but what does it mean for me? We have to get back to the point where we can understand that God is the God of the impossible. God who is Creator of Heaven and Earth can override the laws of science that is what we call a miracle and only God can do it. God has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us and that is exactly what He has promised to everyone who has humbled themselves and said: “I will serve you Lord”.
Why did David go through this trouble? We don’t really know; perhaps it was to teach David a lesson. And perhaps the bigger question is why are we going through things; perhaps it is to teach us a lesson that we need to stop and ask the Lord do we pursue? Do we go after certain things or do we stay put. However, I may not know the answer but I know it will be good for us. God has the best in mind for us.
Are our ideas God ideas or are they man’s ideas? You see that is why we have to take our requests to the Lord in prayer.
Let me give you an illustration: Voltaire was a brilliant philosopher who lived several hundred years ago. He was a French atheist who made it his life’s work to go after and criticize the Word of God. He did not want to hear about God and the Bible. So, Voltaire decided that in his lifetime, the world would hear no more of the Bible and God. This was quite a boast. Well, Voltaire’s been dead for more than 300 years. But in the very house where Voltaire made that statement, the Geneva Bible Society did a wonderful business distributing Bibles—they were stacked from floor to ceiling in what once was Voltaire’s house.
There are many people who over the many years have pronounced the death of the Bible, but the corpse has outlived the pallbearers. The Bible is not the book of the month, it is the Book of the Ages. Open one up and start reading it. You will be amazed at what you will find out. Read the word today, you never know, you may just read something and be able to encourage yourself in the LORD!
There is a portion of scripture in 1 Samuel 30: 1-31 which describes how King David felt when he lost all his possessions to the enemy. It gives us a real-life example of something that occurred in Davids's life!
David was to be the next king of Israel; but the present King Saul was not happy because he wanted his son Jonathan to become king. So, David spent much time on the run from King Saul and his men. But David and his 600 men moved from place to place and he would help the countries that were having difficulties. As these passages open up, we find that David and his men had defeated the Amalekites. They return home to Ziklag on the third day only to find out that the Amalekites had raided Ziklag. To make matters worse, they not only raided Ziklag but they burned the city and had taken captive the women and all who were in it - they even they took all the children both young and old. The good news is that they killed none of them, however they did carry them off as they went on their way.
When David and his men came back to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. To make matters worse the 600 men who were with David were ready to kill him. His men were ready to stone David. So you think you are having a bad day? When David and his men realized what had happened, they began to weep and kept on weeping until they had no more strength to weep. They were completely heart broken and discouraged. They had lost all hope for their lives and families. They were shaken to the core by this tragedy.
Well, have you ever been there? Can you relate to what David was feeling?
Remember, even though David was called by GOD and anointed by the Prophet to be the future king of Israel, he had to go through this heart-breaking experience before he could become King. This serves as a good reminder that sometimes we may have to go through heart breaking experiences on the road to the destiny in our lives. Scripture goes on to tell us that David did not wallow or stumble in his misery. What did he do? He went to the Priest and they prayed to the Lord, asking for guidance, "what should he do?". His prayer was: ”Lord, do we go after this motley crew and overtake them or not? “ The Lord answered: "Pursue for you will certainly win".
So David and his 400 men (200 said they were too tired to even go with David) decided to pursue the enemy. As they were pursuing they just happened to come upon a young Egyptian in the field and who had been a servant to the Amalekites army, but he gave David some good news that the wives and all the children were not dead. He asked David to spare his life and that he would show them where the enemy was taking all the women and children. Clearly God provided this Egyptian for David and David was able to get all the wives, and the children and possessions back to their families.
Can I get an AMEN?
Maybe you are saying, that is a nice passage of scripture, but what does it mean for me? We have to get back to the point where we can understand that God is the God of the impossible. God who is Creator of Heaven and Earth can override the laws of science that is what we call a miracle and only God can do it. God has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us and that is exactly what He has promised to everyone who has humbled themselves and said: “I will serve you Lord”.
Why did David go through this trouble? We don’t really know; perhaps it was to teach David a lesson. And perhaps the bigger question is why are we going through things; perhaps it is to teach us a lesson that we need to stop and ask the Lord do we pursue? Do we go after certain things or do we stay put. However, I may not know the answer but I know it will be good for us. God has the best in mind for us.
Are our ideas God ideas or are they man’s ideas? You see that is why we have to take our requests to the Lord in prayer.
Let me give you an illustration: Voltaire was a brilliant philosopher who lived several hundred years ago. He was a French atheist who made it his life’s work to go after and criticize the Word of God. He did not want to hear about God and the Bible. So, Voltaire decided that in his lifetime, the world would hear no more of the Bible and God. This was quite a boast. Well, Voltaire’s been dead for more than 300 years. But in the very house where Voltaire made that statement, the Geneva Bible Society did a wonderful business distributing Bibles—they were stacked from floor to ceiling in what once was Voltaire’s house.
There are many people who over the many years have pronounced the death of the Bible, but the corpse has outlived the pallbearers. The Bible is not the book of the month, it is the Book of the Ages. Open one up and start reading it. You will be amazed at what you will find out. Read the word today, you never know, you may just read something and be able to encourage yourself in the LORD!
RSS Feed