Encouraging Ourselves in the Lord

Devotion 2 - Encouraging Ourselves in the Lord

In Joshua 1:9, the Lord commanded Joshua to “Be strong and of good courage” to bring the Israelites into the promised land.

Josh.1:9 – “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

To live in courage, however, we often need encouragement. But sometimes the only person who can encourage us is ourselves. In our walk with the Lord, there are times of loneliness and disappointment with friends or spiritual leaders.  There are times when we, out of obedience, walk in the sacred path ordained for us by the Lord, and yet nobody understands us.  We may feel rejected and misunderstood. In fact, most of the prophets in the old Testament were rejected by their own people. But let us glean an important lesson from the life of David.

1Sam.27:6-12 – David in Ziklag

^“So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.  Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months. And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt.  Whenever David attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish.  Then Achish would say, “Where have you made a raid today?” And David would say, “Against the southern area of Judah, or against the southern area of the Jerahmeelites, or against the southern area of the Kenites.”  David would save neither man nor woman alive, to bring news to Gath, saying, “Lest they should inform on us, saying, ‘Thus David did.’” And thus, was his behavior all the time he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. So Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore, he will be my servant forever.”

David allied with the Philistines as Saul was persecuting him. The Philistines gave him a city, Ziklag. From there, David led mighty raids against the enemies of Israel but lied and convinced the Philistines that he was raiding the Israelites instead. However, in chapter 29, when the Prince of the Philistines wanted to go to war with Israel, he rejected David fearing that he might fight for Israel and turn against them.

1 Samuel 29:1-4 - The Philistines Reject David

“Then the Philistines gathered together all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by a fountain which is in Jezreel. And the lords of the Philistines passed in review by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed in review at the rear with Achish. Then the princes of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”

And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or these years? And to this day I have found no fault in him since he defected to me.”  But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; so, the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make this fellow return, that he may go back to the place which you have appointed for him, and do not let him go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become our adversary. For with what could he reconcile himself to his master, if not with the heads of these men?

Thus, David and his men then returned to Ziklag, but by then it was burned and looted by the Amalekites. Every wife, child and possession were taken. Here, he faced the deepest and most betraying rejection of all. His own people, confronted with the burned city and missing family, were filled with the anger wanted to stone him. Even his mighty men, whom he raised and trained, rejected him. Now even the rejected of the society rejected him.

1 Samuel 30:1-6 - David’s Conflict with the Amalekites

 

“Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire,  and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way.  So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive. 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.”

In the midst of great distress, instead of falling into depression, blaming God and getting angry with his men, David chose to strengthen himself in the Lord. His ability to strengthen himself in the Lord subsequently led him to successfully retrieve back every person and possession from the Amalekites. This breakthrough ultimately led him to be crowned as king. David's life shows us that the ability to strengthen and minister to ourselves is a vital skill that we must learn if we are going to fulfil our destiny in Christ.

When no one seems to believe in you anymore when no one seems to agree with your decision to obey God, when your family misunderstands you and your friends betray you, what can you do?

We need to learn how to have a divine exchange - our weakness needs to be filled with an inner strength from the divine. Like David, we need to learn how to strengthen ourselves in the Lord so that we can go on and fulfill our calling despite setbacks.