I Samuel 30: 1-6 And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives.
Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
During our early days of regeneration God makes sure that we are well supported and encouraged. He's a faithful father who pities His children, but as we grow to spiritual manhood we are placed is situations where we discover that what worked for us as children, is not working for us now as adults. The Word of God says, ' my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge '.
In our portion of scripture David is fleeing from Saul and had come to Ziklag given to him by the Philistines. He and his men wanted to go with the Philistines to war against Israel but the lords of the Philistines did not want that, thinking that maybe in the battle David might switch sides. When David and his men came back to Ziklag where they had left their families, they saw that they were missing, taken captives by the Amalekites. The men with David spoke of stoning him, while he himself was greatly distressed. This stoning we must remember is based on the Law, and is the penalty for certain sins, David's men were judging him as a false leader, a false prophet, because what was happening was far from victorious or successful.
David came to a place in his life where all courage was fading fast, but the Word says, ' but David encouraged himself in the Lord '. We learn from this account that there are times in our lives when we, as David did when faced with so much discouragement, must encourage ourselves. The Lord expects that of us because He has brought us to such a place of spiritual maturity, and childish supports won't work anymore. We must learn to depend on the Holy Spirit alone.
The enemy want us to lose courage and give up, but Jesus has anointed us to win. How did David encourage himself in the Lord ? Note that it's in the Lord he encouraged himself, not in fantasy, dreaming, falsehood, or vain imaginations, or evil plans. To encourage ourselves in the Lord we have to remember that it was the Lord who called and saved us, all our victories and miracles are from the Lord, we are what we are by the grace of God, God chose us we did not choose Him. Soon courgae will be ignited. No matter how much there is to discourage us, there is much more to encourage us to go on in the Lord.
How to build courage ?
Joshua 1: 8-9 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
The word of God must be in our mouths, not only in our minds or on the bookshelf or bed. we must speak the Word at all times, our conversation is from heaven, we are citizens of heaven. So we build courage by the way we speak.
Romans 15: 4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
We build courage by taking to heart that what was written was for us.
1 Corinthians 10 : 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
We build courage by coming to grips the truth, that what we are going through is not more than we have ability to endure. We must look for the way of escape that the Lord has provided in the midst of temptation
Hebrews 6 :4 -6 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
We build courage by looking ahead at the dangers that await failure to depend on the Holy Spirit. Our strength comes to exhaustion that we may learn to put on the strength of the Lord, and not trust in ourselves. This is what happened to David.
Numbers 32 : 6-9 ' And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: ' Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? Now why will you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them? Thus your fathers did when I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the LORD had given them '.
Those who are complacent, afraid, and have no desire for increase in God can be a discouragement to us, we must be able to discern this and build up our courage to advance in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. The Kingdom is an ever increasing realm of infinite wisdom and knowledge. God stretches us to increase our capacity to receive more of Him, remember He is the substance of all He imparts to us, they are His qualities, not something that He can give outside of Himself. Anything the Lord gives outside of Himself is natural and material and subject to destruction. Such as money, buildings, clothes, cars etc. Pursuit of these things are vain and brings only vexation, but seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added to us.
Hebrews 2 : 1 1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.
Paying attention to what we have heard from the Lord and keeping it in our hearts is a sure way to build up our courage. Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I may not sin against you.
Finally we can build our courage by focusing on Jesus Christ, exalting Him above all else.
Hebrews 12 : 1-3 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.
God bless.
Everflowinglife
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