Finding Strength in the Lord

1 Samuel 30:1-6  David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it,  (2)  and had taken captive the women and all who were in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way.  (3)  When David and his men came to Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.  (4)  So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.  (5)  David's two wives had been captured--Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.  (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.

David found himself in a very difficult situation.

He wasn't king yet at this time...it was Saul who was king of Israel.  But King Saul envied David because of the success David had with the Lord.

So because of this David had to run away and hide in Philistine country.  While he was here he had to pretend that he was on the side of the Philistines lest they themselves attack him and kill him.

So you can imagine the tension they had.

The story above made it even worse.  When they returned to the place where they lived it had been raided by the Amalekites, and their women and children taken captive.

David and his men wept aloud.  But what was really distressing was that the men who were with David talked of stoning him, each one being bitter in spirit!

The men who were with David probably trusted in their leader to take care of them, even while they were running away from king Saul.  They looked up to him as their strength.

But when their wives and children were taken captive this was probably the "straw that broke the camels back", they wept till they had no strength left to weep.  They became so bitter that they turned against David, blaming him for the predicament that they were in.

David was in the same predicament as the men.  He was the one leading them.  His wife and children were also taken.  He also wept aloud until he had no strength to weep.  When the men turned against him he was greatly distressed.

But look how he handled the situation - verse 6 - "But David found strength in the LORD his God."

There's the difference with a "man after God's own heart".

Initially the men with him found strength with David, which is why when it looked like he failed them, they turned against him.

David, on the other hand, did not trust in himself.  Though he found himself in exactly the same situation, HE FOUND STRENGTH IN THE LORD.

We can find ourselves in a similar predicament, even in one when we weep until we have no strength.  We can be greatly distressed in our circumstances, or when men go against us.  But, like David, may we  FIND  STRENGTH IN THE LORD OUR GOD.

When we trust in others, find our strength in them, we will eventually realize that they may fail us, and we end up bitter and distressed.

When we trust in circumstances, hoping that they will always be in our favor, we may end up bitter and distressed when things don't go our way.

But, if like David, we are "after God's own heart", we will always run to him, trust in Him, and find our strength in Him.

A man after God's own heart is someone who knows that despite the circumstances we are in, despite the weakness of the moment, when we find ourselves weeping until we have no more strength, and despite the possibility of others coming against us - we come to God and find strength in Him.

Not in other people, not in the circumstance...but in God and God alone.

May we find our strength in the Lord our God.