David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
King David experienced some amazing high points in his life, but he also experienced some very devastating lows. Today’s verse gives us a glimpse of one of those very low moments in his life. David and his men had returned home to find their homes destroyed and their families carried off as slaves. His loyal soldiers were so overcome with grief that they looked to place the blame on someone. David became the focus of their anger. David was grieving for his own family, but didn’t allow his grief and fear to win. Instead, David allowed his faith and trust in God to encourage him and to strengthen him.
I imagine he recalled all the times God had shown himself as faithful to David – from victory over Goliath and countless other enemies, to protecting him from Saul. David knew that God was for him, so he put his focus there. David sought God in his tragedy and God gave him the victory once more and restored their families to them.
Can you think back to times in your life when you have experienced the faithfulness of God? When life throws us for a loop, we have two choices. We can either allow circumstances, hurt and fear to dictate what we do and how we feel, or we can choose to remember God’s faithfulness in difficult times and allow his faithfulness to encourage us and be our strength. Feels like a pretty easy choice…when we aren’t in the middle of a crisis. Spend some time today preparing for those difficult days. Thank God for His faithfulness. Write it down, shout it out, sing a song if you want to and then ask God to help you stay focused on Him when life gets hard and to allow His faithfulness to encourage you and give you the strength you need.
