Monday, January 27, 2014

David Rec)eives Encouragement from the Lord (1 Samuel 30:6b-15)

7/29/2010 8:08:30 PM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  Encouragement

Bible Reading & Meditation                                      Reference:  1Samuel 30:6b-15

            Message of the verses:  “6  Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
    “7 ¶  Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring me the ephod." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8  David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I pursue this band? Shall I overtake them?" And He said to him, "Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely rescue all." 9  So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those left behind remained. 10  But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor remained behind. 11  Now they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David, and gave him bread and he ate, and they provided him water to drink. 12  They gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins, and he ate; then his spirit revived. For he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights. 13  David said to him, "To whom do you belong? And where are you from?" And he said, "I am a young man of Egypt, a servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind when I fell sick three days ago. 14  "We made a raid on the Negev of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire." 15  Then David said to him, "Will you bring me down to this band?" And he said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band.’”

            The outlined portion of the verses for today :But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God,” are very precious words from God’s Holy Word.  David, it seems, had not been walking with the Lord for he was in Philistine territory and not in the land of Judah where many think that he should have been, but this time David consults the Lord by using the ephod for he wanted to find out if he should go after the men who had taken all of the women and the children who were in the camp.  God graciously answers David and tells him to go after them for he will rescue them.  It does not seem like the Lord tells them exactly where these people are located, but after traveling the sixteen miles to the brook Besor two hundred of his men stopped because of exhaustion and could not go on. This makes me wonder how hard a journey this would have been on the women and the children, but the Lord was faithful to David and his men and the women and the children made the difficult journey.
            Next David finds a man from Egypt, who had been without food and water for three days, and on top of that was sick, left there by his master because of his illness.  This was all in the plans of the Lord to help David find his family and the families of his men.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I like the statement that Dr. Wiersbe makes at the beginning of his commentary on this section when he writes, “Different people react in different was to the same circumstances, because what life does to us depends on what life finds in us.”  This is a true statement, and it was true in David’s life at this junction because he had just lost his family, the family of his men and also some of the men wanted to stone him, and yet David finds strength in the Lord His God.  As I look at the things that have been happening in my life that do not seem to be good I must do the same and find strength in the Lord my God just as David did.  This section is entitled encouragement and Dr. Jeremiah says the encouragement means that someone receives courage by having someone else pour courage into them.  David was encouraged as the Lord poured courage into him and this is what I need to have happen to me when trouble comes into my life.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.       Seek the Lord because He will be found.
2.      Confess any sin in my life that I may have a clean heart.
3.      Trust the Lord to guide and direct my life.


7/29/2010 8:36:46 PM

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