“Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no more power to weep.” (1 Samuel 30:4)
Have you ever done that … until you had no more power to?
Among the many events that occurred during the life of David, the shepherd boy who would become a king is a record of some really bad choices … followed by more bad choices … followed by severe trials … and even looking away from God for a season!
Weary and despondent at being constantly pursued, David concluded that King Saul would indeed kill him. To escape, he made the choice to flee and join up with the enemies of God’s people, the Philistines.
Achish, King of Gath gave the city of Ziklag to David where he made the choice to live for some 16 months with his family and his 600 mighty warriors and their families.
He chose to lie to Achish when he claimed to have invaded and spoiled his own people rather than admit he had invaded Geshurite, Gezrite, and Amalekite cities, leaving neither man nor woman alive, taking all their possessions.
When Achish summoned David and his men to go to battle with him against the Israelites, David chose to do so. But the Philistine princes refused them, so Achish sent them home.
Three days later they arrive to find Ziklag burned with fire and all their wives, children, possessions, everything gone.
It was an unimaginable loss that broke every man’s heart, and they didn’t know what to do. The Bible says the first thing they did was to “lift up their voices and weep until they could weep no more.”
One of the most important truths that we can hear, believe, and then hold on to … sometimes for dear life … is the following: It is always too soon to give up on the Lord!
In his great distress, David “strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” He refused to give up, and instead, rose up to be his best, defeating the enemy and rescuing families. Each of us can do the same thing as David by tapping into the One true Source of strength … our God!
Make no mistake, there will come those times the Bible speaks of when “trials and temptations” will arrive. (James 1:12) The world we live in is a heartbreaking place at times. Some heartbreaks and grief come without warning, and others come as the end result of rejection, betrayal, or poor choices made over time by oneself.
When we find our own hearts broken we wonder if they can be healed … put back together … mended and whole once again.
When we take the wrong fork in the road … when for no apparent reason bad things occur to us, or to those we love … what’s the next step?
Will we be satisfied with being just another victim in an evil and cruel world … or … will we choose to “rise up” with hearts full of faith and trust in the Lord to deliver us … to save us. The choice … my friends … is ours to make!
When things went wrong and David realized that he had brought so much of this on himself, he knew he had to turn to his God!
Someone might even ask, “Well, how does one do that?” The text tells us exactly how in 1 Samuel 30:7-8 … by consulting God’s Word and trusting what it says.
And then the beautiful description of what David did next … “So David went …” I encourage you to read I Samuel chapters 27-31.
Whatever our situation in life may be … however deep the pain and sorrow in our hearts … however great the distance we have put between God and ourselves … we can be healed and made whole again. (Psalm 147:3)
How? The answer is found in a Savior who absolutely feels everything that we feel when others may not. (Hebrews 4:14-16; Matthew 11:28-30)
Always take the words that described David in his darkest hours, “But David strengthened himself in the Lord, his God.” (1 Samuel 30:6)
Bill Fairchild, Jr
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