Dealing with Discouragement

“David and his men burst out in loud wails—wept and wept until they were exhausted with weeping. David’s two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel, had been taken prisoner along with the rest. And suddenly David was in even worse trouble. There was talk among the men, bitter over the loss of their families, of stoning him” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭30:4-6‬ ‭

Hello and glad to come your way again. By now, nobody needs convincing that life is hard. There is nothing as painful as an unpredictable blow. Life can be a drag… at times.

This Bible verse is a picture of discouragement. Have you seen people (especially men in this context) weep till they are exhausted by their own weeping? Picture this in your mind’s eye.

There was a king called David. He and his men of war had come home to a ransacked place; their city in Ziklag was burned and their families were taken captive. The sorrow got so bad that the men who were with David wanted to kill him. They saw him as the blame for their misfortune. It can be very painful when you are in pain and people are plotting to kill you on top.

I take a lot of solace in this story, because you see one man’s decision that turned a discouraging and helpless situation to one of victory and hope. Please make time and read the whole chapter of I Samuel 30. I believe there lies a lesson for each reader today as we look at David’s resolve and what he did.

“…But David felt strengthened and encouraged in the LORD his God.” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭30:6‬ ‭

1. His faith- David knew where to go when he was at the lowest of the low- his faith in God. I have two questions for you today: what is your faith in & where is your faith? We have all faced times which mirrored that of David’s or even worse, and what will keep us going is our faith life. For a long time, religion has been relegated to the doldrums of obscurity until last year when a pandemic hit, which hasn’t really gone away at the time of writing. A recent study shows that 67.8% of adult Americans are “Bible curious” meaning they want to learn more about scripture. The good thing about God is, He is merciful and ever loving to accommodate us if we will come to Him.

“David said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring me the holy vest.” Then David asked the LORD, “Should I chase the people who took our families? Will I catch them?” The LORD answered, “Chase them. You will catch them, and you will succeed in saving your families.”” 1 Samuel‬ ‭30:7-8‬ ‭

2. His prayer life– there is a popular book of the Bible known as Psalms which was authored by David. He wrote them mostly from his prayer times. Apart from been an intelligent leader, he also knew how to pray. That was what made him one of the most successful kings in the history of this world. Many see prayer as complicated, or you need to be some sort of guru to do that. The verse above was David’s prayer. It is that easy to pray. If you want to deal with discouragement, prayer must be in your armory. Let me leave you with this scripture to encourage you in Jeremiah 33:2-3, “This is GOD ’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as GOD: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’”
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“So David and his 600 men set out, and they came to the brook Besor.” ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭30:9‬ ‭

3. Goodwill- I am talking about his friendly disposition here. Honestly, I get confused when I read this story, because I asked, “weren’t these the “attempted murderers?”” The same people that wanted to kill him are now lockstep with him on a mission. This teaches me a lot on emotional intelligence. A mistake we should avoid when going “through it” is to antagonize relationships. The angels we are praying for are already our relationships we have today. If you read further, David and his men showed kindness to an Egyptian boy lying in a field by feeding him, who led them to the place of the captors. May God bless us with good relationships and may we have the wisdom to sustain the relationships for keeps!

I hope as you read today, whatever phase you are in, can be dealt with depending on the decisions you make. May one man’s decision making inspire us to come out of any discouraging situation.

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Till I come your way again…

Peace & Love