Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Apr 9th, 2010 Have You Ever Been There?

Todays Reading – 1 Samuel 29 – 31

1 Samuel 30:6

And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

Have you ever had one of those days where it seems that everything is going against you.  Imagine how David must have felt:  he was recently banished from his home, Israel; now his new country, the land of the Philistines, does not want him; and when he arrives at Ziglag where his family and the families of his 600 men were, he finds it burned to the ground and all the people gone.  Have you ever been there?  Have you ever been in a situation where nothing is working right; and everything and everybody seems to be turning against you?  Even David’s loyal men were talking about stoning him!

What did David do? And what should we do when we find ourselves in a seemingly hopeless situation? 

1  Be encouraged!  “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”  There is always hope, even if you can’t see it yet.  Pick yourself up from the valley of discouragement and believe that things can and will get better.

2  Go to God.  “And David enquired at the Lord” (v 8)  Things won’t necessarily get better on their own; but God can make your situation better, no matter how bad it is.  David picked himself up and realized that there was hope; and that hope was in God.  God showed him what to do to gain the victory.

Notice now what takes place in the next few days.  David recovers his family.  He sends gifts from the spoil of the battle to many of the cities in Judah.  He discovers that his old enemy in Judah, Saul, has been slain in battle with the Philistines, which will open up the door for David’s reign as king.  I bet David was glad that he didn’t let his discouragement keep him down.  He got up and moved forward in the Lord; and the Lord turned the situation around.