Redeemed Encouragement

1 Samuel 30:4-6 “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 spoke 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.” 

The late Dr. J. Vernon McGee has had a Christian radio outreach program that began 50 years ago, titled “Thru the Bible” and has grown worldwide. This month I received a newsletter message that resonates positively with everyone, but rarely thought about when life has it’s negative moments and seasons. McGee writes that most folks think of King David as a shepherd boy who slew Goliath. They also remember the dark side of his life, the great sin that he committed with Bathsheba. What they don’t realize is that David was very much a human being like the rest of us. He made many blunders just like we do.

In the Bible passage above, David was “between a rock and a hard place” (meaning that he was in a bad place). He lost his loved ones. His own followers, under this great emotional stress of having lost their loved ones, want to stone him. But the passage ends: “But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” 

McGee explains that there are times in our lives when the circumstances will not produce any joy or happiness. These are times when we find ourselves in dark places, like David. We look about, and the situation looks hopeless. What should we do? Be discouraged? Give up? Say we are through?

Friend, if we are children of God, we will encourage ourselves in the Lord. We will turn to Him at times like this. Sometimes, the Lord puts us in such a spot so that we will turn to Him. He wants to make Himself real to us. It was during times like these that David wrote some of his most helpful psalms (a sacred song or hymn composed on a divine subject and in praise of God). When troubles come your way, you can thumb your way through the Psalms and find where David is encouraging himself in the Lord and thereby encourage yourself in the Lord.

Several times he says, “The Lord is good … let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”

Blessings in the Lord.