“A people after the heart of God”
Samuel 13:14

BE ENCOURAGED

“… and David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. In the backdrop of this passage David and his army returned to Ziklag only to discover that while he was away attempting to conquer he was being conquered by the Amelekites. His dwellings had been plundered and his family (including two wives) and the families of his soldiers had been taken captive. In great disgust David’s men talked of killing him. David, the bible revealed encouraged himself in the Lord.

Instead of looking for a scapegoat or someone to blame for this great tragedy he accepted total responsibility for their loses. He used his frustration in a positive way ...he sought the Lord. He had a right to feel helpless, hopeless, rejected, and afraid but he knew that his answer and the answer for all that followed him was in the Lord. To bring this lesson into the now we will be faced with adverse conditions, testing and trials, and however, we should seek God’s wisdom and guidance. We should not resort to complaining or looking for something or someone to blame we like David must lift up our eyes unto the hills because God is our ever-present help in the time of trouble. After consulting God he was directed to pursue the Amelekites. The bible lets us know he pursued and recovered all that was taken from him nothing was lost or destroyed because David trusted in the Lord his God.

The verb “BE”, suggest to us that deep below the surface of our existence dwells the uncanning ability to do or become better than our environment dictates. We have the intestinal fortitude to rise above and to conquer, John 4:4 says it best...greater is he that is in me than he who is in the world. Understand that our ability or the true nature and source of our ability is Christ. This is how we can do all things, it’s through him our conquering savior . BE ENCOURAGED.