No one has ever wanted to stone me…
David had it rough a few times in his life. I am always provoked by his response to difficulty, mistreatment… He knew how to strengthen himself in the Lord. It didn’t matter the circumstance, He always went back to the Lord. But how do I strengthen myself in the Lord? Let’s take a look at a prime example of when David strengthened himself.
“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.” 1 Samuel 30:6 (NKJV)
That verse reads so easily but lives so differently. The verse above is after David and his men came back from battle to find their camp decimated. Their wives and children were taken along with all of their possessions. Now, that’s a bad day. It says they cried until they couldn’t cry anymore. Then they look at David and laid the blame on him.
I love that David’s first response is to strengthen himself in the Lord. He communed with God. It’s not like David was removed from the situation. He lost his family and possessions too and then his normal support structure turns on him. Battle is bonding and his men would have felt like brothers to him. So, not only did he just lose everything but now his men are talking of stoning him, this isn’t just shunning him. No, they literally grabbed rocks and were going to murder him because of their grief and disappointment.
How do I strengthen myself in the Lord?
There are so many living examples in the bible of what to do in times of trouble, grief, depressions, and mistreatment. I have never had it as badly as David, but I know disappointment, grief, depression, and mistreatment. Sadly, I often turn to Netflix for distraction, but I’m provoked by David’s response.
Dwayne and I have been trying to put into practice for the last several years our version of strengthening ourselves in the Lord. We will take a Psalm or another portion of scripture and we will pray through it together. We will take turns reading the verse and then praying the verse in our own words. It absolutely shifts our perspective every time.
The darker the time the more accountability I need. So we will do this together and I may begin feeling a measure of hopelessness. But after we’ve gone through the passage I feel and think differently about the situation. It’s amazing how a simple practice changes my vantage point and I’m growing in the knowledge of God in the process.
In my lifetime, I will probably never experience what David experienced but my version of difficulty fills my capacity and the prescription is still the same. I need to strengthen myself in the Lord. I love the Lord and I love how He doesn’t roll his eyes at my “trouble” but he steps right in and delivers me as I seek to strengthen myself in him.
Dwayne and I did a podcast where we show you how to practically do this. You can watch it here or listen to it here.
One Response
Merry Christmas to you both and family! Just wanted to let you know Jennifer ( I’m also a Jennifer, a great name to have 🙂 that I’m sooooooo enjoy your book!! The song of Songs is what I have built and am building my life on. Thank you for writing it and for the wisdom!