Strengthen yourself in the Lord.
I want to share a few things that I was meditating on this week from 1st Samuel 30:6-8,
“Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
Then David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”
And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”
David was inquiring of the Lord, asking if he should pursue them. The Lord told him to move forward and recover all. It looked bleak for David as his men were so upset that they were about to stone him, but God pulled out the Uno Reverse card. (Remember, what the enemy meant for evil, God uses it for His good when we are submitted to Him).
So what proceeded this portion of scripture is essential. King Saul had messed up – he was in the flesh, and the Lord took His hand off Saul. We find out that Saul was losing His mind. You see this happen when people walk away from God. In turn, Saul consulted a medium. Mediums were to be eradicated in the land, but his servants knew there was a woman, and they gave that information to Saul. Saul disguised himself and went there and asked for a seance.
The medium knew he had cut off mediums in the land, but Saul swore on his LORD that he wouldn’t harm her. He asked for the medium to bring up Samuel the Prophet. Samuel did appear and told Saul that God removed His favor from him and gave it to David. He told Saul that he (and his sons) would also be dead the next day at the hands of the Philistines because he did not obey the voice of the Lord. Saul was removed because of his rebellion.
Now all the people were angry at David and wanted to stone him because when they went out to battle, the Amalekites did a sneak attack burning their houses and kidnapped their wives and children. In the middle of the desperate situation, David strengthened himself in the Lord. He then went to a priest and then he inquired of the Lord. David didn’t do it in his own way; he inquired of the LORD and was told to pursue the enemy and that he would overtake them and recover everything that was taken. The key is that he inquired of the LORD and moved once he had direction from the LORD.
David acted, but Saul reacted.
We receive faith and favor when we wait on the Lord before acting. When we willingly lay ourselves down with eternity in mind, we will operate from a proper perspective and join what God has in mind.
Let’s start 2023 out by asking and waiting on the Lord.