Often times these articles are birthed from an experience that creates an emotional hook. For example, during last week’s little wind storm that blew through the area, one of the trees in the boulevard at the south end of church’s property broke off right at the ground—no, not just a limb, the whole tree broke off. So I thought about writing an article about the tree and making the connection about the importance of being spiritually healthy in your inner being. But no!
And then I thought about writing an article in response to a conversation I had with someone who was extremely angry at God because his plan includes good people being killed in car crashes. But no! (God was not to blame).
And then after spending a little time at the Rock County Fair and looking at the pigs, and the horses, and the kangaroos, and emus, I thought about writing about the creative nature of God. Or after walking by the little food stands, I thought about writing an article in response to how easily I am lured to feed on junk food. But no!
No, this article is written in response to a story I read recently from 1 Samuel 30. It goes like this…
1 Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negev and Ziklag; they had crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. 2 They had carried off the women and children and everyone else but without killing anyone.
3 When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, 4 they wept until they could weep no more. 5 David’s two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal from Carmel, were among those captured. 6 David was now in great danger because all his men were very bitter about losing their sons and daughters, and they began to talk of stoning him. But David found strength in the Lord his God. 7 Then he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring me the ephod!” So Abiathar brought it. 8 Then David asked the Lord, “Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?”
And the Lord told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you!”
After reading the story, I tried to imagine the level of discouragement David must have felt when he arrived back from deployment to war, only to find his community destroyed and his family had been kidnapped. And then not only his family, but I tried to imagine the weight of the responsibility he felt towards all the soldiers who were fighting with David whose families were also kidnapped. And then I tried to imagine the fear and the loneliness David must have felt when he discovered his friends wanted to stone him.
I began to think about all the things that have recently caused me to be discouraged. Of course, none of my reasons for discouragement come close to the level of discouragement David felt, simply because most of my reasons for discouragement are the result of “rich people problems.”
But then did you notice how David responded to what seemed a most hopeless situation? It says, “But David found strength in the Lord.” The English Standard Version says, “But David strengthened himself in the Lord.” Don’t you just love that verse!! No matter what it is that causes you and me to lose heart, we can always strengthen ourselves in the Lord.
So then I began to wonder, well how does a person go about finding strength in the Lord? But no! I’m out of room. So give me a call; we can go for a cup of coffee and discuss some ideas.
The joy of the Lord is my strength,
Mike Altena