Strengthen Yourself in God
David the Fugitive Pt.14
1 Samuel 30:6-31      6-14-2009

Summary: David strengthened himself in the Lord and received a long list of other benefits as well. Strengthen yourself by effort, seeking strength from God alone, and drawing near to God (through repentance, prayer, Scripture, and trust in His promises).

Introduction
David Strengthened Himself
What kind of strength?
More Rewards
Justice and wisdom
1) It came from the LORD
2) They fulfilled an important role
Helping = doing
Enduring Impact
Generosity
Reward for receiving reward
How to do it
Work (Strengthened Himself)
Seek (In the LORD)
Draw near (HIS God – personal)
My God
How to draw near to God
Repentance
Pour out your heart to Him
Listen to Him
Trust
Devotionals
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

1 Samuel 30:6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God. 7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Bring me the ephod." Abiathar brought it to him, 8 and David inquired of the LORD, "Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?" "Pursue them," he answered. "You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue." 9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Ravine, where some stayed behind, 10 for two hundred men were too exhausted to cross the ravine. But David and four hundred men continued the pursuit. 11 They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat-- 12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. 13 David asked him, "To whom do you belong, and where do you come from?" He said, "I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. 14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites and the territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag." 15 David asked him, "Can you lead me down to this raiding party?" He answered, "Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them." 16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled. 18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back. 20 He took all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, "This is David's plunder."
21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Ravine. They came out to meet David and the people with him. As David and his men approached, he greeted them. 22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David's followers said, "Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go." 23 David replied, "No, my brothers, you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us. 24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike." 25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this. 26 When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, "Here is a present for you from the plunder of the LORD's enemies." 27 He sent it to those who were in Bethel, Ramoth Negev and Jattir; 28 to those in Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa 29 and Racal; to those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and the Kenites; 30 to those in Hormah, Bor Ashan, Athach 31 and Hebron; and to those in all the other places where David and his men had roamed.

Introduction
The world handles distress in a million different ways. Tranquilizers. Alcohol. Physical exercise. Psychotherapy. Television. Comfort food. Venting. Indulging in temporal pleasures. Or - for the more religious types - using God to get what they want. But do any of those actually make you strong? What about physical exercise? Not many people today (if any) are physically stronger than David and his mighty men were, and yet here they are so weak they do not even have the strength to weep anymore. Drugs can dull some of the pain, TV can distract you for a while, but do any of those remedies actually make you strong? What about venting? Some say, “Just let it all out and express all your feelings and you will feel better.” David and his men cried until they had no more strength to cry and they did not feel any better. Weeping is appropriate, but it does not strengthen you in the Lord. What should you do when you are in great distress?
We left off last time in chapter 30. If you read everything before verse six in that chapter you see the blackness of night. And if you read everything after verse six you see nothing but sunshine and roses. Verse six is a pivot point where David does something that reverses his situation 180 degrees. Before verse six we read about disappointment, loss and agony upon agony. It gets so black that David ends up being described with the exact same phrase that described Saul at the pit of his horror. They were both in great distress.
Being a man after God’s own heart does not exempt you from great distress. Being a man or woman who is pleasing to God and an example of godliness for all people of all time does not exempt you from walking through the valley of the shadow of death. The contrast between David and Saul in these chapters is not that one had it easy and the other had it hard. The contrast is how they each responded when they had it hard. Saul cared more about getting the guidance he wanted than he cared about the glory of God and the result was abject weakness. God cut him off from strength and courage.
But David responded by doing what he did in verse six, which is why verse six is such a pivot point in the chapter. What David did in verse six resulted in so many amazing blessings from God I did not even have time in one sermon to list them all last week. What was it that David did in verse six that brought about all this blessing?

6 David was greatly distressed … but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

David Strengthened Himself 
What kind of strength?
What sort of strength is this? Is it an emotional, inner strength? Or does it refer more to physical strength? Or is it a social idea – being strong in your dealings with other people, or in a strong political position or strong position in relationship to circumstances? What sort of strength is this?
The Hebrew word is a very general term for strength and it is routinely used in all those ways. And it seems to me that in this particular context all those ideas are present. This strength is the remedy for David being in great distress – so there is the encouragement part. It enabled David to deal with the mutiny and chase down and attack the huge Amalekite army – that is the courage part.
It put him in a strong standing among his men (they go from mutiny to following him into battle) – that is the social part. And it enabled him to have great success physically in battle. It is just an all around strengthening.
More Rewards
David strengthened himself in the LORD his God; Saul did not. Saul turned to another source for strength and God punished him by removing what little strength he had. But David strengthened Himself in the Lord and God rewarded him. God not only gave him strength but also guidance to know what to do, and hope (knowing ahead of time that he would succeed) and favor with men, and obedience to God’s Word, and a heart of kindness (even in the midst of the worst kind of suffering David is able to avoid becoming self-focused and shows kindness to a stranger) and success (things just fall into place for him), and on top of all that – full restoration of everything he had lost plus a whole lot more. Not a bad reward for just simply seeking strength from God. But that is not all. You can add justice to the list.

Justice and wisdom
In verse 21 David and the 400 return to the other 200. These 200 petered out at the Ravine and could not go any further so David had to move ahead with only 2/3 of his men. So the 400 who pushed ahead with burning muscles now return to the 200 who had said, “We’re too tired to help you rescue all our wives and children.”

21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Ravine. They came out to meet David and the people with him. As David and his men approached…

What is David going to do? Are they going to get a tongue lashing? Will they be punished? Or is David going to make them work out on a treadmill every day until they can get into a little better shape, or what?

As David and his men approached, he greeted them. 

Literally it says he inquired about their wellness. David wants to know how they are doing.  “Are you guys OK? David was kind to them – no rebuke at all. And that does not sit well with some of the others.

22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David's followers said, "Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go."

David’s army is still made up of a certain percentage of rabble. They are selfish, and selfish people are always the biggest headaches for any leader of any group. They are always worried about whether other people are being paid too much or are getting too many benefits. But David’s response to these men gives us some insight into his leadership skills. Notice these men are not offering this as a suggestion. They are making a pronouncement – as if they were in charge.
“We are not going to share the plunder. These guys can take their families and then go.” So these men threaten to spoil the victory by dividing over the division of the spoils of the victory. Some situations call for a real strong, hard rebuke – like in the cave. And other situations call for calmness and gentleness and reasoning.

23 David replied, "No, my brothers…

David is firm (he says “no”) but he is also gentle – calling them “my brothers.” Then he goes on to provide persuasive, sound reasoning.
1) It came from the LORD
23 … you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us.

If there is anything we have learned in the book of 1 Samuel it is the fact that the battle is the LORD’s. These guys might think it was all their amazing strength and stamina and cardiovascular health and bravery etc. that won this battle, but ultimately they won because God gave them the victory. Did God use all those other things? Sure. But still, unless God grants victory, you can be the greatest athlete and most skilled soldier ever born and you will still lose. The battle is the LORD’s, and that has implications not only for courage in the battle, but also the right way to think about the plunder. “It’s not something we earned, guys – it was a gift from God.” When you think of something as rightfully yours because you earned it, it is hard to be generous with it. But when you get something as an undeserved gift, sharing is a little easier. You see, the fundamental error of these men is their assumption that the plunder belonged to them. Assuming it belongs to you would make sense if you never lifted your eyes to the mountains and asked, “Where does my help come from?” But David lived his life asking that question and answering it with, “My help comes from You, Maker of heaven and earth.” The battle is the Lord’s therefore the plunder is the Lord’s. David’s statement at the beginning of verse 23 is crucial for all of us to remember all the time...

- you must not do that with what the Lord has given you.

1 Corinthians 4:7 What do you have that you did not receive? 

Any time you are tempted to be stingy with your money, or with your possessions, or stingy with your time, or with your compassion or with your brain power or with your giftedness, any time you are tempted to withhold what you have from the rest of the church remember this statement: 

23 you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. 
2) They fulfilled an important role
Then in verse 24 David moves to a second argument. Not only are the spoils a gift from God, but those 200 men fulfilled an important role – they guarded the supplies. 

24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike." 

Guarding the supplies is important. Remember when David went to attack Nabal? He took 400 with him and left 200 to guard the supplies. That was a necessity. In this case they only got that job because they were too weak to carry on the pursuit but so what? They did an important job because they were more suited for that job than some other job – so what? No matter what your job, if you do it and you do it well you make a contribution to the success of the entire organization. In a corporation a highly skilled executive might make a contribution that results in millions more dollars in profit for the company, whereas a part-time janitor makes only a tiny contribution. And so it is fitting that one would be paid a lot more than the other. 
But in the Kingdom of God the contribution each person makes comes from the gifts of the Holy Spirit energized by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so you cannot point to any particular kind of gift or role in the Church that contributes more than any other gift or role. The lowliest, smallest, most insignificant ministry in the Church is carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit. What contribution are you going to point to that is greater than that? What contribution is greater than the work of the Holy Spirit? The Corinthians thought the miraculous gifts (like tongues) were more important than the non-miraculous ones. But if the measure of the importance of something is whether or not it came from God, then how could one gift or role in the church be more important than another since they are all from God?
Helping = doing
Another principle this points to is the fact that helping someone do something is, in God’s eyes, the same as doing that thing. Our legal system recognizes that in a negative sense. If you help someone commit a crime, you go to jail. But in the Kingdom of God it works in a positive way. If you enable a pastor to preach the Word or a missionary to go reach the lost, as far as God’s concerned it is as though you did the work.

Philippians 1:4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now

In what sense were they partners with Paul? They supported him financially and sent a man to come assist him so in God’s eyes they were doing the same work Paul was doing.
The work of the Church centers on the preaching and teaching of God’s Word and facilitating that is not a lesser thing than doing it directly. No one is really making a greater or lesser contribution based on the nature of their role. They might make a greater or lesser contribution based on their faith or their faithfulness – but not based on their role or calling.
So David is blessed by God with the ability to discern and enforce justice. And he is also blessed with wisdom. He responds to these men with a wonderful blend of warmth, reasoning, and authority. All three are key ingredients for effective leadership. You see the warmth when he calls them “my brothers,” then some clear, cogent, compelling reasoning, then a strong statement of authority (he does not wait around for them to be convinced by his reasoning, as if the decision depended on their agreeing). So in addition to the long list of rewards we saw last week, another reward David gets for seeking strength from God was justice and wisdom. And another one was enduring, lasting impact. 

Enduring Impact  

25 David made this a statute and ordinance for Israel from that day to this. 

Sometimes your efforts fall flat, and sometimes they have lasting impact, and the difference is the blessing of God on them. So we can add enduring success to the list.

Generosity 
And after that we can tack on a generous heart.

26 When David arrived in Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, who were his friends, saying, "Here is a present for you from the plunder of the LORD's enemies." 

Not only was David not raiding and plundering Judah, he was generously giving them plunder. But he did not give anything to any Philistines. There is no question in my mind where David’s loyalties and love were. In fact, three of the places mentioned are connected to the Levites, which is the priestly tribe. David has special love for them.
David is beginning to move into the position of king not by pressing others down in a political power grab, but by simply behaving as the Lord’s anointed. He brings protection and deliverance and blessing and gifts to the people.

Reward for receiving reward
Do you see what I mean when I say that before verse six is horrific night and after verse six is sunshine and daylight for David? And the whole thing pivoted on David seeking strength from God in verse six. That is the way God is. He will heap blessings on you just to reward you for seeking a blessing from Him! In the human realm it is usually, “You do something for me, and in return I’ll reward you.” But we cannot really do anything for God. He does not need anything. So instead of having a system that says, “You do something for me and I’ll reward you” God says, “You receive blessings from me and I will reward you for that. All you have to do for great reward in My Kingdom is look to Me as your only source of reward. I’ll reward you if you just simply offer Me an empty cup to fill.”

How to do it
David did that and God filled his cup not only with strength, but also with a long list of other benefits. And the benefits He will fill your cup with might not be the same list, but it will be just as long.
So how is it done? I told you last week the main focus of this chapter is not on the “how” but rather on the benefits. But there are a few little clues he gave us, so let’s close out this whole series on David the Fugitive by thinking those through. Go back to verse six and we will see three points.
Work (Strengthened Himself)
The first clue is in that word himself. The New International Version does not translate it, but the Hebrew is very clear – it says David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. The strength came from God, but the effort to obtain that grace was put forth by David. David preached to himself. Maybe this was when he wrote Ps.42.

Psalm 42:5 Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God…

He addressed the needs of his own soul. Drawing strength from God requires effort. Very often we put forth all kinds of effort trying to strengthen others, but hardly any in strengthening ourselves. One of your children is distressed, or a close friend, and you think hard about what you could do to help focus their attention on God, or on some biblical principle, but you do not put the same effort into drawing strength from God for yourself when you need it. Spurgeon: “He who speaks to everybody except himself is a great fool!”
When you are in great distress and you are discouraged and disheartened, there is something in the flesh that resists comfort. When you are down in the dumps sometimes you just do not want anyone trying to strengthen you. You just want to wallow for a while. But it is crucially important that we be strong in the Lord, and so in our distress we cannot afford to wallow. We need to put for the effort it takes to strengthen ourselves in the Lord. 
So the first clue we get about how to receive this strength is the fact that it came from David’s effort. And if you are like David in 1 Samuel 30, I am guessing this point #1 is not music to your ears at all. You are weak and broken and without strength and without motivation and without energy and can barely get yourself out of bed in the morning, and point #1 on how to get strength from God is to work hard? What kind of advice is that? How can I work hard to get strength from God if I need strength before I can work hard? It is like when I lost my pocketknife and bought a new one, and it came in packaging that I couldn’t open without a pocketknife. Is God’s grace like that?
No. You might be at your weakest point ever – but no matter how weak you are you always have enough strength to seek a little more grace from God. And once you get that grace – it will have a strengthening effect.

1 Corinthians 15:10 His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of [the other Apostles]

The effect of grace is strength. That is why when Paul was hindered by his weaknesses, and he cried out to God to remove them, God’s answer was, My grace is sufficient for you (2 Cor.12:9). The solution to weakness is grace. And guess who God gives grace to – weak people! Once Paul figured that out he took delight in his weaknesses, because he knew that they were his ticket to grace, which brought strength.

2 Corinthians 12:9 … Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Boasting in weakness means putting all your hope and confidence in the fact that God supplies grace to weak people. And that is the key to having the power of Christ rest upon you.
Seek (In the LORD)
And that brings us to point #2.

6 David strengthened Himself in Yahweh

In order to receive strength from God (and that whole long list of other benefits that come along with the strength), you have to seek it from God. But what does that mean exactly? Is it just a matter of saying, “God, I’ll have some strength please”? No – Saul did that much and God said what he did was the equivalent of not praying at all. Saul’s prayer was not a real prayer because he had an alternative that he was willing to revert to if God did not give him what he wanted. You are not seeking strength from God unless you are seeking it from Him alone.

2 Chronicles 16:12 Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.

If you think your fate with regard to some trial lies mainly in the hands of the doctors or the medicines or your spouse or your boss or anyone or anything other than God, then you are not really strengthening yourself in the Lord. But if you believe that God is the only source of strength then you will seek it from Him alone, and you will wait as long as it takes until He responds.

Isaiah 40:31 Those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength.
Draw near (HIS God – personal)
So clue #1 – it requires effort (David strengthened himself in God). Clue #2 – strength is obtained from God and no other source, and so we must wait for the Lord. And then the third clue – the narrator throws in the word his. 

6 David found strength in the LORD his God.

Why do you suppose he does that? Does that make a difference? Or is it essentially the same thing as saying, “David strengthened himself in the LORD God”? If there is a group of women and you say, “She’s a mother, she’s a mother, she’s a mother, but then you come to one of them and say, “She is my mother” – is that last one any different? It is as different as it can be!
Throwing the word his into this text gives it a very personal aspect. This is not just a foxhole prayer – “God, if you’re out there give me a hand.” This is the man after God’s own heart seeking hard after HIS dear God. The writer is clueing us in to the fact that David’s ability to find strength in God was tied to his relational closeness to God. That is clue #3.
If you have Bible software and you want a wonderful time of edification just type in the phrase “my God” and read all the times you see that phrase in the Psalms. And make sure you have a really big cup of coffee and a really comfortable chair, because you are going to be there a while. And have good pen and a lot of paper handy because there are going to be a lot of wonderful insights.
Saul did not know God and so when he cried out to God in his distress he got no answer. For Saul, God was just a force out there to be utilized – like gravity or electricity. Most people have no idea what knowing God personally even means. And if you listen to them pray you do not hear the phrase “my God” very often.

My God
But David said that all the time.

Psalm 5:2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.

Psalm 104:1 O LORD my God, you are exceedingly great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

The two parts of that sentence do not seem like they should go together – God is great and He is my God. Normally the greater someone is the less accessible he is to the common man. God if so infinitely great, how could He be my anything? He stretches out the vast universe of galaxies like a woman pulling a curtain, and He is going to have some individual dealings with me? He is infinitely great and yet I have more access to Him than I have to my own family. He is my God, and He is more mine than anyone or anything else in existence is mine. My union with Him is closer than my union even with my own wife. He is more mine than my kids are mine. I have more of a claim on Him than I have on my own parents. Not even the highest heavens can contain Him, and yet no one is closer to me than Him. I have no closer friend, no dearer family member. No one matters more to me. And I matter more to no one than I do to Him. 
But for people who do not know Him it is not like that. For people in the world who are religious and who believe in God, there is no significant difference between Yahweh and Allah. They cannot discern any substantial difference between the God of the Bible and the God of the Book of Mormon. They cannot make out any real distinction between Jesus Christ and any other great prophet. But if you know God – if He is your God, then no two things in the universe are more different than Yahweh God and any other god. When I go to my parents’ house I just walk right in and make myself at home because they are my parents. I do not do that with your parents. I pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and I pour out my heart to Him and I have zero interest in doing that with any other god or any other spirit. I seek forgiveness from Him when I sin and I look to Him for all my needs and desires. I care about His will and His plan and His pleasure and no one else’s. All my hope is in Him and I am waiting for Him to send Jesus back to bring me to be with Him forever. All that He has promised is what gives me hope, and I have zero interest in any promise of any other god or religious system. People who do not know God may pray every day, but they just pray to whoever or whatever is out there. I pray to my God and to no one else.
I am His servant, His child, His creation and He is my God. 
He is my Maker, my Counselor.
He is my Savior, my Father, my King, my Master, 
my Owner, my Lord, my Guide, my Provider, 
my Teacher, my Caretaker, my great High Priest, 
my Rock, my Fortress, my Deliverer, my Redeemer, 
my Friend, my Sovereign, my God.
If you want to strengthen yourself in God, they only way to do it is to strengthen yourself in the Lord your God. So seeking strength or any other blessing from God is a matter of increasing your relational closeness to Him. The biblical term for that is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near to God 

James 4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. 

In Isaiah 5:3 God says, “Come to Me.”

Psalms 105:4 Seek his face always.

Psalm 63:8 My soul clings to (or follows hard after) You. 
        
        Draw near to Him, come to him, seek His face, cling to Him, follow hard after Him – over and over we are called to make some kind of movement toward God. Strength comes from God, but He does not generally send it from a distance. You get it through nearness to His presence.
Just think of how you are strengthened by people. When your spouse builds you up and strengthens or encourages you, does that usually happen when you are estranged and distant, or when you are especially close? If you want to strengthen yourself in God you need to draw near – through repentance, and prayer, and seeking hard after Him in His Word.

Knowing God
If the Lord is your God It is because you know Him. You not only have information about what He is like, but you have experienced what He is like. And it is through those experiences that you strengthen yourself in the Lord.
You remind yourself, for example, of His faithfulness. You begin thinking about how many times God has provided what you have needed. And you recall that never once has He failed to meet your needs. You pile evidence upon evidence for your soul to consider to persuade yourself of His faithfulness. And through that process faith begins to take hold, and strength forms in your heart.
You can do the same thing with His love, or His mercy, or His wisdom, or His power – or any of His attributes. You can think about His eternality, and realize that the troubles that are getting you down are temporary, but the Lord endures forever. God has revealed hundreds of his attributes, and focusing the attention of your soul on any one of them will result in strength – if you are a person who knows and loves Him. You strengthen yourself in the Lord by knowing Him and having personal experiences with Him.
And the deepest and most profound of those experiences are listening to Him through His Word, and trusting Him.
Listening to God
And the communication should be in both directions, so listen to His voice too.

Psalms 119:28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.

You will be strengthened like David when God speaks to you. Do not just read the Bible. Scour it and dig and study and think and meditate and question and search. Like newborn babies, crave pure, spiritual milk. Approach your Bible like a newborn infant sucking with all his strength to draw out the nourishing, life-giving milk from his mother so you do not miss anything the Holy Spirit is showing you. Any time something becomes clear that is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Any time you understand something or can see the significance of something for your life that is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Listen! 
Trusting God
Once you have heard what God has said, believe it. You are never closer to God than when you are trusting Him. Remember back in chapter 23 when David was cornered by Saul but Jonathan got to him first and strengthened his hand in God (23:16)? That is the same word for strength that is used here in chapter 30. How did Jonathan help David find strength in God? He reminded David of God’s promises. 
If you thought through all the things God promised, and you fully believed them, do you think you would have strength? Imagine you were in great distress because of financial pressure. Can you picture that in your mind’s eye? Picture this: You repent of any known sin in your life and pour out your heart to God in true prayer rooted in deep desire, and then you open up your Bible and the Lord opens your eyes to see the wonder of the words of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 6:25 Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

Now imagine that while you were reading that passage, about halfway through, all of a sudden the Holy Spirit strengthened your heart to believe those words. Suddenly it is just as plain and obvious as the nose on your face that God really does take daily care of birds and grass, and you really are much, much more valuable to Him than they are. And just that fast the fear is gone. The bills are still sitting right there on the table, and the bank account is just as empty as ever – but the fear is gone because there is no doubt in your heart that God will fulfill His promise to take care of you. That is the presence of God. You have just experienced what it is like to strengthen yourself in the Lord.
Imagine this – suppose you have a heartbreaking relationship. Your marriage, a child, a friend – someone close to you is not loving you like they should love you. And you are weak – you do not know how much longer you can take this.
And so you repent of all known sin in your life and you seek hard after God in genuine, desire-driven prayer, and you wait for the Lord. And you tear in to Scripture like a starving man at a banquet. And your eyes are opened to see the glory of this passage:

2 Corinthians 12:7 There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." 

And out of nowhere faith rises in your heart and those words, “My grace is sufficient for you” just hit you like a ton of bricks. Tears come to your eyes and it is almost as if God were physically standing there saying that to you, and the promise seems so real and so sure. And the fear that you are going to be miserable for the rest of your life, or that this is going to be too much pain for you to handle – that fear that had you almost paralyzed 10 minutes ago, now there is no a trace of it. The promise of sufficient grace fills every cell in your body with hope and strength.
Imagine being terrified that your future is going to be horrible and you are doomed to an unhappy life. Then you read in Psalm 63:3 that His love is better than life at its best and faith rises inside you and latches on to that promise and just that fast your terror is replaced with joy. Imagine you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death and you feel like it would be impossible for anything to comfort your soul, and then those words, “Your rod and your staff they comfort me” just sweep in and calm the turmoil in your soul (Ps.23:4). Imagine yourself writhing in the frustration of unfulfilled desire, and then being soothed by the promise in …

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 

Imagine being afraid that you are going to be unfulfilled and unsatisfied in life, and then being overwhelmed with the promise in …

Isaiah 55:2 Listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Imagine falling into terrible sin – again, for the 1000th time – and being so discouraged and so disgusted with yourself that you just feel utterly defeated and hopeless and unforgivable, and suddenly the promise of Psalm 103:12,13 swirls around you like a river:

12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

“But what if I can’t find those promises when I need them?”
That is where Scripture memory comes in. And if you need help with that, I have got just the thing. We have put together a bookmark that has a promise for each letter in the alphabet to make it easier to memorize. Those promises I just mentioned are A-F.
A is for All these things.
B is for Better than life.
C is for Comfort me.
D is for Desire and Delight.
E is for Eat what is good.
F is for Father has compassion.
Keep that bookmark with you – or better yet memorize the phrases for each letter and the verses, and you will have always, around the clock, 26 of God’s great and precious promises at your disposal.
I would like to urge you to give this a try this week. Try to strengthen yourself in God. Think through the area where you need strength the most, and then do what David did. Strengthen yourself – put forth some effort. Strengthen yourself in the Lord – make sure you understand there is no other source. And strengthen yourself in the Lord your God. Draw near to Him through repentance, true, desire-driven prayer, delving into His Word like a baby sucking with all its might to draw out strengthening nourishment, and then trusting in, leaning on, clinging to, and resting in God’s great and precious promises.
Strengthen yourself in the Lord like that one time and you are qualified to counsel just about anyone. If you can help someone find strength in God you are an outstanding counselor. And if we all excel in that then Agape can be a church that fulfills …

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…

And we will all be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power so that when the day of evil comes we will stand.

Benediction: Hebrews 10:19-22  Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus…21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.

Devotionals
Day 1
1 Samuel 30:6 David was greatly distressed … but David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

What sort of strength is this? Is it an emotional, inner strength? Or does it refer more to physical strength? Or is it a social idea – being strong in your dealings with other people, or in a strong political position or strong position in relationship to circumstances? What sort of strength is this?
The Hebrew word is a very general term for strength and it is routinely used in all those ways. And it seems to me that in this particular context all those ideas are present. This strength is the remedy for David being in great distress – so there is the encouragement part. It enabled David to deal with the mutiny and chase down and attack the huge Amalekite army – that is the courage part. It put him in a strong standing among his men (they go from mutiny to following him into battle) – that is the social part. And it enabled him to have great success physically in battle. It is just an all around strengthening.
David strengthened himself in the LORD his God; Saul did not. Saul turned to another source for strength and God punished him by removing what little strength he had. But David strengthened Himself in the Lord and God rewarded him. God not only gave him strength but also guidance to know what to do, and hope (knowing ahead of time that he would succeed) and favor with men, and obedience to God’s Word, and a heart of kindness (even in the midst of the worst kind of suffering David is able to avoid becoming self-focused and shows kindness to a stranger) and success (things just fall into place for him), and on top of all that – full restoration of everything he had lost plus a whole lot more. Not a bad reward for just simply seeking strength from God. But that’s not all. You can add justice to the list.
In verse 21 David and the 400 return to the other 200. These 200 petered out at the Ravine and could not go any further so David had to move ahead with only 2/3 of his men. So the 400 who pushed ahead with burning muscles now return to the 200 who had said, “We’re too tired to help you rescue all our wives and children.”

21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Besor Ravine. They came out to meet David and the people with him. As David and his men approached…

What’s David going to do? Are they going to get a tongue lashing? Will they be punished? Or is David going to make them work out on a treadmill every day until they can get into a little better shape, or what?

As David and his men approached, he greeted them. 

Literally it says he inquired about their wellness. David wants to know how they’re doing. “Are you guys OK? David was kind to them – no rebuke at all. And that does not sit well with some of the others.

22 But all the evil men and troublemakers among David's followers said, "Because they did not go out with us, we will not share with them the plunder we recovered. However, each man may take his wife and children and go."

David’s army is still made up of a certain percentage of rabble. They are selfish, and selfish people are always the biggest headaches for any leader of any group. They are always worried about whether other people are being paid too much or are getting too many benefits.
But David’s response to these guys gives us some insight into his leadership skills. Notice these men are not offering this as a suggestion. They are making a pronouncement – as if they were in charge. “We are not going to share the plunder. These guys can take their families and then go.” So these men threaten to spoil the victory by dividing over the division of the spoils of the victory.
Some situations call for a real strong, hard rebuke – like in the cave. And other situations call for calmness and gentleness and reasoning. 

23 David replied, "No, my brothers…

David is firm (he says “no”) but he is also gentle – calling them “my brothers.”

Day 2

David provided persuasive, sound reasoning for his decision to share the spoils evenly.

1 Samuel 30:23 … you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us.

If there is anything we have learned in the book of 1 Samuel it is the fact that the battle is the LORD’s. These guys might think it was all their amazing strength and stamina and cardiovascular health and bravery etc. that won this battle, but ultimately they won because God gave them the victory. Did God use all those other things? Sure. But still, unless God grants victory you can be the greatest athlete and most skilled soldier ever born and you will still lose.
The battle is the LORD’s, and that has implications not only for courage in the battle, but also the right way to think about the plunder. 
“It’s not something we earned guys – it was a gift from God.”
When you think of something as rightfully yours because you earned it, it is hard to be generous with it. But when you get something as an undeserved gift, sharing is a little easier.
You see, the fundamental error of these men is their assumption that the plunder belonged to them. Assuming it belongs to you would make sense if you never lifted your eyes to the mountains and asked, “Where does my help come from?” But David lived his life asking that question and answering it with, “My help comes from You, Maker of heaven and earth.” The battle is the Lord’s therefore the plunder is the Lord’s.
David’s statement at the beginning of verse 23 is crucial for all of us to remember all the time...

- you must not do that with what the Lord has given you.

1 Corinthians 4:7 What do you have that you did not receive? 

Any time you are tempted to be stingy with your money, or with your possessions, or stingy with your time, or with your compassion or with your brainpower or with your giftedness, any time you are tempted to withhold what you have from the rest of the church remember this statement: 

23 you must not do that with what the LORD has given us. 

Not only are the spoils a gift from God, but those 200 men fulfilled an important role – they guarded the supplies.

1 Samuel 30:24 Who will listen to what you say? The share of the man who stayed with the supplies is to be the same as that of him who went down to the battle. All will share alike." 

Guarding the supplies is important. Remember when David went to attack Nabal? He took 400 with him and left 200 to guard the supplies. That was a necessity.
In this case they only got that job because they were too weak to carry on the pursuit but so what? They did an important job because they were more suited for that job than some other job – so what? No matter what your job, if you do it and you do it well you make a contribution to the success of the entire organization. In a corporation a highly skilled executive might make a contribution that results in millions more dollars in profit for the company whereas a part-time janitor makes only a tiny contribution, so it is fitting that one would be paid a lot more than the other.
But in the Kingdom of God the contribution each person makes comes from the gifts of the Holy Spirit energized by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so you cannot point to any particular kind of gift or role in the Church that contributes more than any other gift or role. The lowliest, smallest, most insignificant ministry in the Church is carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit. What contribution are you going to point to that is greater than that? What contribution is greater than the work of the Holy Spirit? The Corinthians thought the miraculous gifts (like tongues) were more important than the non-miraculous ones. But if the measure of the importance of something is whether or not it came from God, then how could one gift or role in the church be more important than another since they are all from God?
Another principle this points to is the fact that helping someone do something is, in God’s eyes, the same as doing that thing. Our legal system recognizes that in a negative sense. If you help someone commit a crime, you go to jail. But in the Kingdom of God it works in a positive way. If you enable a pastor to preach the Word or a missionary to go reach the lost, as far as God’s concerned it is as though you did the work.

Philippians 1:4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now

In what sense were they partners with Paul? They supported him financially and sent a man to come assist him, so in God’s eyes they were doing the same work Paul was doing.
The work of the Church centers on the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. And facilitating that is not a lesser thing than doing it directly. No one is really making a greater or lesser contribution based on the nature of their role. They might make a greater or lesser contribution based on their faith or their faithfulness – but not based on their role or calling.

Day 3

How does one strengthen himself in God? The first clue is in that word himself. The NIV does not translate it, but the Hebrew is very clear – it says 

David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. 

You might be at your weakest point ever – but no matter how weak you are you always have enough strength to seek a little more grace from God. And once you get that grace – it will have a strengthening effect.

1 Corinthians 15:10 His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of [the other Apostles]

The effect of grace is strength. That is why when Paul was hindered by his weaknesses, and he cried out to God to remove them, God’s answer was, My grace is sufficient for you (2 Cor.12:9). The solution to weakness is grace. And guess who God gives grace to – weak people! Once Paul figured that out he took delight in his weaknesses, because he knew that they were his ticket to grace, which brought strength.

2 Corinthians 12:9 … Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Boasting in weakness means putting all your hope and confidence in the fact that God supplies grace to weak people. And that is the key to having the power of Christ rest upon you.
And that brings us to point #2.

6 David strengthened Himself in Yahweh

In order to receive strength from God (and that whole long list of other benefits that come along with the strength), you have to seek it from God. But what does that mean exactly? Is it just a matter of saying, “God, I’ll have some strength please”? No – Saul did that much and God said what he did was the equivalent of not praying at all. Saul’s prayer was not a real prayer because he had an alternative that he was willing to revert to if God did not give him what he wanted. You are not seeking strength from God unless you are seeking it from Him alone.

2 Chronicles 16:12 Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.

If you think your fate with regard to some trial lies mainly in the hands of the doctors or the medicines or your spouse or your boss or anyone or anything other than God, then you are not really strengthening yourself in the Lord. But if you believe that God is the only source of strength then you will seek it from Him alone, and you will wait as long as it takes until He responds.

Isaiah 40:31 Those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength.

Day 4

1 Samuel 30:6 David found strength in the LORD his God.

Why do you suppose the writer throws in the word “his”? Does that make a difference? Or is it essentially the same thing as saying, “David strengthened himself in the LORD God”? If there is a group of women and you say, “She’s a mother, she’s a mother, she’s a mother, but then you come to one of them and say, “She’s my mother” – is that last one any different? It is as different as it can be!
Throwing the word his into this text gives it a very personal aspect.
This is not just a foxhole prayer – “God, if you are out there give me a hand.” This is the man after God’s own heart seeking hard after HIS dear God. The writer is cluing us in to the fact that David’s ability to find strength in God was tied to his relational closeness to God. That is clue #3.
If you have Bible software and you want a wonderful time of edification just type in the phrase “my God” and read all the times you see that phrase in the Psalms. And make sure you have a really big cup of coffee and a really comfortable chair, because you are going to be there a while. And have good pen and a lot of paper handy because there are going to be a lot of wonderful insights.
Saul did not know God so when he cried out to God in his distress he got no answer. For Saul God was just a force out there to be utilized – like gravity or electricity. Most people have no idea what knowing God personally even means. And if you listen to them pray you do not hear the phrase “my God” very often.
But David said that all the time.

Psalm 5:2 Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.

Psalm 104:1 O LORD my God, you are exceedingly great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

The two parts of that sentence do not seem like they should go together – God is great and He is my God. Normally the greater someone is the less accessible he is to the common man. God if so infinitely great, how could He be my anything? He stretches out the vast universe of galaxies like a woman pulling a curtain, and He is going to have some individual dealings with me? He is infinitely great and yet I have more access to Him than I have to my own family. He is my God, and He is more mine than anyone or anything else in existence is mine. My union with Him is closer than my union even with my own wife. He is more mine than my kids are mine. I have more of a claim on Him than I have on my own parents. Not even the highest heavens can contain Him, and yet no one is closer to me than Him. I have no closer friend, no dearer family member. No one matters more to me. And I matter more to no one than I do to Him. 
But for people who do not know Him it is not like that. For people in the world who are religious and who believe in God, there is no significant difference between Yahweh and Allah. They cannot discern any substantial difference between the God of the Bible and the God of the Book of Mormon. They cannot make out any real distinction between Jesus Christ and any other great prophet. But if you know God – if He is your God, then no two things in the universe are more different than Yahweh God and any other god. When I go to my parents’ house I just walk right in and make myself at home because they are my parents. I do not do that with your parents. I pray to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and I pour out my heart to Him and I have zero interest in doing that with any other god or any other spirit. I seek forgiveness from Him when I sin and I look to Him for all my needs and desires. I care about His will and His plan and His pleasure and no one else’s. All my hope is in Him and I am waiting for Him to send Jesus back to bring me to be with Him forever. All that He has promised is what gives me hope, and I have zero interest in any promise of any other god or religious system. People who do not know God may pray every day, but they just pray to whoever or whatever is out there. I pray to my God and to no one else.
I am His servant, His child, His creation and He is my God. 
He is my Maker, my Counselor.
He is my Savior, my Father, 
my King, my Master, 
my Owner, my Lord, 
my Guide, my Provider, 
my Teacher, my Caretaker, 
my great High Priest, 
my Rock, my Fortress, 
my Deliverer, my Redeemer, 
my Friend, my Sovereign, 
my God.
If you want to strengthen yourself in God, they only way to do it is to strengthen yourself in the Lord your God. So seeking strength or any other blessing from God is a matter of increasing your relational closeness to Him. The biblical term for that is drawing near.

Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near to God 

James 4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. 

In Isaiah 5:3 God says, “Come to Me.”

Psalms 105:4 Seek his face always.

Psalm 63:8 My soul clings to (or follows hard after) You. Draw near to Him, come to him, seek His face, cling to Him, follow hard after Him – over and over we are called to make some kind of movement toward God. Strength comes from God, but He does not generally send it from a distance. You get it through nearness to His presence.
Just think of how you are strengthened by people. When your spouse builds you up and strengthens or encourages you, does that usually happen when you are estranged and distant, or when you are especially close? If you want to strengthen yourself in God you need to draw near.

Day 5

So how do you draw near to God? The first step is repentance. It is sin that alienates and distances us from God.

Psalms 15:1 LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? … 2 He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous

Psalms 24:3 Who may stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart

In order to draw near to God you have to let go of the things that pulled you away from Him.

James 4:8 Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts

So start with repentance. Secondly, pour out your heart to God in prayer.

Jeremiah 9:12-13 You will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

The most obvious part of seeking God and drawing near to God is prayer. Prayer is when you pour out the deep desires of your heart to God, which means if you are going to truly pray for an experience of the nearness of God’s presence you first have to deeply desire it. Learn to turn all the suffering and anxiety of your life into hunger and thirst for God. When you truly long for His presence, then you will cry out for it in true prayer and you will be satisfied with nothing else. 
And the communication should be in both directions, so listen to His voice too.

Psalms 119:28 My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to your word.

You will be strengthened like David when God speaks to you.
Don’t just read the Bible. Scour it and dig and study and think and meditate and question and search. Like newborn babies, crave pure, spiritual milk. Approach your Bible like a newborn infant sucking with all his strength to draw out the nourishing, life-giving milk from his mother so you don’t miss anything the Holy Spirit is showing you. Any time something becomes clear that is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Any time you understand something or can see the significance of something for your life that is the Holy Spirit speaking to you. Listen! 
Fourth, once you have heard what God has said, believe it. You are never closer to God than when you are trusting Him. Remember back in chapter 23 when David was cornered by Saul but Jonathan got to him first and strengthened his hand in God (23:16)? That is the same word for strength that is used here in chapter 30. How did Jonathan help David find strength in God? He reminded David of God’s promises. 
If you thought through all the things God promised, and you fully believed them, do you think you would have strength? Imagine you were in great distress because of financial pressure. Can you picture that in your mind’s eye? Picture this: You repent of any known sin in your life and pour out your heart to God in true prayer rooted in deep desire, and then you open up your Bible and the Lord opens your eyes to see the wonder of the words of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 6:25 Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 28 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 

Now imagine that while you were reading that passage, about halfway through, all of a sudden the Holy Spirit strengthened your heart to believe those words. Suddenly it is just as plain and obvious as the nose on your face that God really does take daily care of birds and grass, and you really are much, much more valuable to Him than they are. And just that fast the fear is gone. The bills are still sitting right there on the table, and the bank account is just as empty as ever – but the fear is gone because there is no doubt in your heart that God will fulfill His promise to take care of you. That is the presence of God. You have just experienced what it is like to strengthen yourself in the Lord.
Imagine this – suppose you have a heartbreaking relationship. Your marriage, a child, a friend – someone close to you is not loving you like they should love you. And you are weak – you do not know how much longer you can take this.
And so you repent of all known sin in your life and you seek hard after God in genuine, desire-driven prayer, and you wait for the Lord. And you tear in to Scripture like a starving man at a banquet. And your eyes are opened to see the glory of this passage:

2 Corinthians 12:7 There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." 

And out of nowhere faith rises in your heart and those words, “My grace is sufficient for you” just hit you like a ton of bricks. Tears come to your eyes and it is almost as if God were physically standing there saying that to you, and the promise seems so real and so sure. And the fear that you are going to be miserable for the rest of your life, or that this is going to be too much pain for you to handle – that fear that had you almost paralyzed ten minutes ago, now there is no a trace of it. The promise of sufficient grace fills every cell in your body with hope and strength.
Imagine being terrified that your future is going to be horrible and you are doomed to an unhappy life. Then you read in Psalm 63:3 that His love is better than life at its best and faith rises inside you and latches on to that promise and just that fast your terror is replaced with joy. Imagine you are walking through the valley of the shadow of death and you feel like it would be impossible for anything to comfort your soul, and then those words, “Your rod and your staff they comfort me” just sweep in and calm the turmoil in your soul (Ps.23:4). Imagine yourself writhing in the frustration of unfulfilled desire, and then being soothed by the promise in …

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. 

Imagine being afraid that you are going to be unfulfilled and unsatisfied in life, and then being overwhelmed with the promise in …

Isaiah 55:2 Listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.

Imagine falling into terrible sin – again, for the 1000th time – and being so discouraged and so disgusted with yourself that you just feel utterly defeated and hopeless and unforgivable, and suddenly the promise of Psalm 103:12,13 swirls around you like a river:

As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.