Devotions

In 1 Samuel 30, we read about how David was in deep distress and how he dealt with it. This man had a lot of reasons to be miserable. He was deeply distressed because the call on his life, the prophecy Samuel had spoken over him that he would be king, looked like it wasn’t coming to pass. He was probably also distressed because his great relationship with Jonathan had been broken by time and distance. He certainly was distressed because King Saul was coming after him, saying evil things against him and trying to kill him.

The chapter begins where David had just found out that his own family had been taken by the Amalekites, and he didn’t know where they were at or if they were even alive. Then this happened: “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).

Many of you can probably think of some things that are bringing you distress in your life. What is giving you anxiety right now? What kinds of things keep you awake at night?

There are sources of distress that come upon you that are just part of life, but then there are people who deliberately speak against you and undermine you. The challenges seem to come back-to-back, and your stress builds. At first, you may be able to talk yourself through it and keep steady. As time goes on — weeks, months, maybe even years for some of you — the situations become overwhelming. This is where David was at this point, so how did he strengthen himself in the Lord?

That might sound like a paradox. When you’re under a lot of stress, that seems like the time that you would not be able to strengthen yourself. David is an illustration for us in this; if he could do it, you can do it! He didn’t manage this out of his own ability. Scripture is clear; David strengthened himself in God.

You have a choice today. You can allow all of those negative natural elements to crash over you like a wave, or you can rise up and find strength in your Lord because God is right there with you.

Happiness does not mean living without pain or hurt. True happiness is learning how to live faithfully and graciously one day at a time in spite of sorrow and pain. It is learning how to rejoice in the Lord, no matter what has happened in the past. You may feel rejected and abandoned. Your faith may be weak, and you think you are down for the count. Sorrow, tears, pain and emptiness may swallow you up at times, but God is still on the throne. He is still the Lord Almighty!

You cannot help yourself or stop the pain, but our blessed Lord will come to you. He will place his loving hand under you and lift you up to sit again in heavenly places. He will deliver you from the fear of dying, and he will reveal his endless love for you.

Look up! Encourage yourself in the Lord. Scripture says, “For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:5, NKJV).

When the fog surrounds you and you can’t see any way out of your dilemma, lie back in the arms of Jesus and simply trust him. He wants your faith and your confidence. He wants you to cry aloud, “Jesus loves me! He is with me. He will not fail me. He is working it all out right now. I will not be cast down. I will not be a victim of Satan. I will not lose my mind or my direction. God is on my side. I love him, and he loves me!”

The bottom line is faith, and your faith can rest on this Word: “’No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 54:17).

Convince yourself that you will survive. Live or die, you belong to the Lord. You will come through suffering. Life does go on, and it will surprise you how much you can bear with God’s help.

Remind yourself that God knows exactly how much you can take, and he will not permit you to reach a breaking point. Our loving Father said, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NKJV).

The worst kind of blasphemy is to think God is behind all your hurt and pain, that it is the heavenly Father harshly punishing you, that God thinks you need one or two more heartbreaks before you are ready to receive his blessings. Not so!

It is true that the Lord chastens those he loves, but that chastening is only for a season, and it is not meant to break us. God is not the author of confusion in your life. The enemy often tries to hurt us through other humans, just as he tried to hurt Job through an unbelieving wife.

Your heavenly Father watches over you with an unwavering eye. Every move is monitored; every tear is bottled. He feels your every hurt, and he knows when you have been exposed to enough harassment from the enemy. He steps in and says, “Enough!” When your pain no longer draws you close to the Lord and, instead, begins to downgrade your spiritual life, God moves in. He will not permit a trusting child of his to go under because of too much pain and agony in their soul.

God will lift you out of the battle for a while. He will never allow your hurt to destroy your mind. He promises to come, right on time, to wipe away your tears and give you joy for mourning.

God’s Word says, “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, to the end that my glory may sing praise to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever” (Psalm 30:11-12). God will strengthen our hearts as we go through pain, and he will give us reason to rejoice in his glorious power in due season.

It is impossible to live a holy life without spending much time on your knees, seeking God for the power and authority to lead such a life. We see this in Daniel’s life, as well as God’s response to such a seeker.

“I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes…. Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering” (Daniel 9:3, 20-21, NKJV).

Don’t be mistaken; faithful praying will not keep you out of a crisis. On the contrary, it will most likely bring you to a furnace of trials, but prayer will prepare you to face it all with trust, to become a living sacrifice for Jesus’ sake.

Daniel’s praying led him straight to the lions’ den, and this test came when Daniel was in his old age, after years of faithful service to his king and dedication to his God. This may frighten you, especially if you wonder how long it will be before you stop having crises. Perhaps you thought you’d learned all your “important” lessons after a certain number of years in the Lord, but here God is allowing one of his greatest prayer warriors — a man of a quiet, tender spirit — to face the crisis of his life after decades of faithful intercession!

This is why Paul, in his command for believers to put on their spiritual armor, ended with “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18).

Beloved, the testing only ends when Jesus comes or when you die in Christ! This is why prayer is so important. You can make a commitment to live an undefiled life, but that commitment is impossible to fulfill without also having a commitment to seek God.

When Daniel and his three friends were taken captive along with thousands of their countrymen, what they saw when they first arrived in Babylon must have shocked them beyond belief. It was a society so loose, immoral and full of idolatry that these four men’s spiritual sensibilities were assailed.

Daniel and his friends made a commitment. They told each other, “We dare not compromise. We dare not adopt these moral standards. We will be separate, and we will be disciplined in our walk of faith.” These four men did not go about preaching their way of life to others. It was strictly a matter between them and God, and I believe they had something more in mind than avoiding anything ceremonially unclean.

“Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself” (Daniel 1:8, NKJV).

The word ‘defile’ in this verse suggests “freeing through repudiation.” Daniel was saying, in other words, “Any compromise of my standards will rob me of my freedom.” When he told the chief of the eunuchs this, the man answered, “I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king” (Daniel 1:10).

Rather than backing down, Daniel invited the chief of eunuchs to test him and his friends, and God honored them. “As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams” (Daniel 1:17).

When you’re in a crisis, do you cry out, “Lord, where are you when I need you? Aren’t you committed to my deliverance?”

What if in that moment, the Lord should say to you, “Where are you when I need a voice? I need voices in these sinful times, pure vessels through whom I can speak. You say you want me to come to your crisis, yet you remain a part of the wicked, worldly system. Tell me, are you committed to my purposes? Will you allow yourself to be tested and trust that I will preserve and bless you?” How will you answer him?