By: Jim Curtis
Not many of us have experienced as bad a day as David did when he returned to his home in Ziklag after a journey and discovered that his enemies, the Amalekites, had destroyed or stolen everything that was important to him–and his own men turned against him (see 1 Sam. 30).
As David sat among the ruins of Ziklag and mutinous men spoke of stoning him, he had a choice. David could allow grief and bitterness to conquer him; he could sink into the black hole of depression and give up and quit. Or he could get back up. But before David could fight, he would have to get his strength and courage back. As David looked around him, he saw nothing but discouraged and downcast men. David had no one to encourage him, so he had only one recourse: He “encouraged himself in the Lord his God”
From what we know of David, it is very easy to surmise how David went about encouraging himself. He took his harp, retreated to a solitary place, and began to sing songs of praise to God. No doubt David didn’t feel like singing, but he did, anyway. And he didn’t sing a sad lament bemoaning his situation. Instead, he sang of the majesty and power of God. He sang of the Creator who had spoken the worlds into existence. He sang of the deliverer who had already given him improbable victories—victory over the lion, victory over the bear, and victory over the Philistine giant Goliath. How important it is to have a time with God that cultivates worship, praise and seeing the majesty of God in your life especially in times of great difficulty and loneliness.
Have you ever felt totally alone in this world? At times it is best that we are faced with a situation where only we and God can face it. Together or alone depending on your perspective. He encouraged himself in the Lord: David is all alone with no one to depend on or strengthen him.
On more than one occasion in my life I reached a dead end, a plateau, a sad and downcast situation, a give up time, a “what is the use of life moment”, and a discouraging sense for my life. Often I have asked God this question in moments like these: “This is how I see things Lord, how do you see it?” Knowing God in this personal way and opening your heart and spiritual eyes to see things His way has the power and potential to not only preserve but also to gain what God intends for us to have out of the situations we are involved in. The Lord was David’s personal God!
Ultimately we cannot depend on others to encourage our faith. We can’t lean on our pastor’s faith, our spouse’s faith or our friend’s faith at all times.
David got himself in this mess by leaving his camp of belongings, families, children and wives unguarded. Many would not have bothered to ask the Lord, they would have just gone after the enemy and gotten their family and stuff back! David would not assume to know what to do without asking God and strengthening himself with confidence that whatever God speaks or shows him, then he will do! David seeks out a solitary place to talk to God, away from the crowd who is angry with him and his bad decision.
Shall I pursue them? He asks in prayer. How do You see it God? God says, “You shall and you will recover everything.”
- David asked God
- God spoke a word
- David moved out and forward on the strength and encouragement of that word.
“You have not because you don’t ask Me.” (James 4:3)
Robinson Crusoe is a famous novel written in 1719. Crusoe is the only survivor of a shipwreck and washes up on the shores of a deserted island. He describes how, as a headstrong young man, he ignored his family’s advice and left his comfortable middle-class home in England to go to sea. His first experience on a ship nearly kills him, but he perseveres, and a voyage to Guinea “made me both a Sailor and a Merchant,” Crusoe explains. Now several hundred pounds richer, he sails again for Africa but is captured by pirates and sold into slavery. He escapes and ends up in Brazil, where he acquires a plantation and prospers. Ambitious for more wealth, Crusoe makes a deal with merchants and other plantation owners to sail to Guinea, buy slaves, and return with them to Brazil. But he encounters a storm in the Caribbean, and his ship is nearly destroyed. Crusoe is the only survivor, washed up onto a desolate shore. He salvages what he can from the wreck and establishes a life on the island that consists of spiritual reflection and practical measures to survive. He carefully documents in a journal everything he does and experiences.
The young Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked and castaway on a remote tropical island for 28 years. He lives there for almost all of his time alone. He struggles to learn how to survive. How to find food, water and shelter from the harsh elements while living on deserted South Pacific Island. He battles with regrets for his past life, his rebellion from his father back in England and a sense of aloneness. The final outcome of the story culminates not only in Crusoe’s deliverance from the island, but his spiritual deliverance, his acceptance of Christ, and in his redemptive work for his own salvation. Upon his rescue from the island he had lived and endured upon he says:
“From this moment I began to conclude in my mind that it was possible for me to be more happy in this solitary condition that it was possible I should ever have been in any other particular state in the world; and with this thought I was going to give thanks to God for bringing me to this place.”
― Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
The message of this English fictional novel first published in 1719: a spiritual journey of spiritual resistance, trials of life, a turning towards God, conversion and redemption. In a sense we are all on a deserted island alone on this planet we call Earth. Yet we are with our God and Heavenly Father! Encouraging yourself in your faith in Christ Jesus can and will result in our growth and strength of character. You are your own responsibility to speak to yourself and minister to yourself. Ephesians 5:19 speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. We are commanded to “Love God with all of our heart, to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:37)
Reflections and Responses
Pray and ask the Father to move again in your life. Confide in Him your struggle and your sense of being alone in the fight of faith. Pray this way: Heavenly Father open my spiritual eyes to see my situation in the way that you see it and not in the way that I see things. Give me a picture in my mind, a vision of how You see. Give me an impression or a feeling that shows me Your Way. I need a scripture to speak to me of what is the correct viewpoint. And I will believe Your report! I choose to see things in my life in Your eyes. I confess and believe that I am not alone in this world because You are with me. I encourage myself in the Lord and in the faith, love and relationship that I have been by Christ Jesus. Amen.
Declaration
Today as you read this I speak over you and your circumstances that the breakthrough of help, understanding, direction and wisdom be given you now, in the name of Christ Jesus! The miracles of God in your life have just begun!