Encourage yourself

ENCOURAGE YOURSELF

…but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God 1 Samuel 30:6

Have you ever been in a situation where you needed encouragement, but it never came? Has there been a time in your life when it seemed everything was going wrong, and you had no control? You cried out to God, and the heavens were brass? Maybe your best friend turned on you. You suffered a divorce, loss of job, or health problems. You became a victim of gossip and ridicule. When it seemed things couldn't get worse, they did. We have a saying here in the south, that you you “are so low, they’d have to jack you up to bury you.” Another one, is “lower than a snake’s belly.” I know that even to suggest such things is blasphemous to some in the circles of faith and confession, but I speak from experience. I can tell you that I have been there, and can relate. Welcome to the Company of the Tested .

There are times when you feel as if you are not going to make it. In that moment of time, your encourager may not be around. That is when you’ve got to do what David did. You’ve got to say to yourself, “It’s going to be alright. I’m going to make it through this.” You’ve got to learn to encourage yourself.

David’s situation was bleak. He had just returned home from the battle, and he was tired. Victorious, but tired. And while he was away winning the war, there was a battle going on at home. His family had been taken captive, and his property had been destroyed in fire. Likewise, the mighty men who had been with David in battle faced the same attack of the enemy. The bible said David and his men wept until they could weep no more. There are times when the grief is so deep that even the tears will not flow. And the bible says David was greatly distressed. (Read 1 Samuel chapter 30)

The grief was so great that the men with David spoke of stoning him. These were men that he had poured his life into. Those who came to David when they had nothing, and he trained them… they became his mighty men. What do you do when those closest to you, that have stood by your side and been with you in the trenches, suddenly turn on you?

David did not go under here, when it looked like he would. I believe this attack was to take the mighty man of God down for one last time. There’s an interesting word in this account found in the text in 1st Samuel chapter 30. That word is distressed. When studying this one day, I found some similar words in the bible, translated differently in our English vocabulary, but linked together in the original language. The Hebrew word is yatsar: It means to be distressed. It is the same root word that is used in the book of Jeremiah, where the potter is molding a vessel into shape. It is also the same word in the original Hebrew language as that of formed. The verse in Isaiah 54:17 says “no weapon formed against you will prosper”….

One day in my bible studies I began to piece these together, and got a revelation that made me shout! The very thing that was distressing David- yatsar… The very weapons the enemy forms against the people of God- yatsar… is the same thing the potter will take to mold into His perfect vessel. Then I saw it. What Satan designed for your destruction, God will use for your promotion! Hallelujah!

David refused to give up. He encouraged himself. Did you get it? When no one else was around to do lift him up, he did it! David encouraged himself, and gained new strength. He marched back into the enemy’s camp,, and recovered everything that had been stolen from him! I believe if it happened for David, it can happen for us! It’s time to arise, stir yourself, and storm the enemy’s camp. Victory awaits!