Strengthening Ourselves in the Lord

And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David's two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. (1 Samuel 30:3-6)

Give ear to my prayer, O God,

    and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy!

Attend to me, and answer me;

    I am restless in my complaint and I moan,

because of the noise of the enemy,

    because of the oppression of the wicked.

For they drop trouble upon me,

    and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

(Psalm 55:1-3)

Two Roads

All too often weeping and grieving turn into bitterness.  Bitterness turns into blame and blame into abuse.  Abuse often begins with the leadership.  This is the road that David's people took.

Quite simply the story shows something entirely different in David from his people.  The words "but David" is the story of a good leader, but even more importantly, a good person.  "But David" indicates that something else was at work in David that moved him from weeping and distress to strength and encouragement.  "But David" most remarkably shows that he was prepared in the midst of trial and trouble and persecution to do what his people were not prepared to do: seek God.  David was ready; his people were not.

David found his strength in God.  He did not have a series of religious activites that he would drop when he got stressed or when difficulties came.  He found encouragement in what he did.  Whatever practices David had were not stressful or "just one more thing to do";  they were life-giving.  They relieved his stress.  Spiritual practices when rightly practiced provide strength, encouragement, and relief.  They open up a pressure relief valve in a life well-trained in them.

Because of the many different influences around us, the idea of David strengthening himself probably brings up the wrong sort of picture.  If it's like most movies, David got mad and powerful enough to get even.  If it's like most self-help, David found his own truth and was "himself" in spite of everyone else.  If it's like most workplaces, David found someone to complain about or blame.  Such actions seem to bring a certain sort of strength from anger, but lead down a more dangerous road: pride and self-justification.

The Easier Way

David did strengthen himself, though.  Plainly, he could not deal with his situation on his own or in his own way, but he did have to take action.  He could not get pulled down into bitterness with his people.  Here is where soul-strengthening practices come in.  David strengthened himself because he knew he was weak and vulnerable and through practice knew what to do about it.  David strengthened himself because he knew no one would do it for him.  The easy yoke of life with God is not easy because it takes no effort, but because God always lifts the heavier load.

David's strengthening was "in the Lord."  He needed to reorient his focus to the Lord.  The beginning of David's practice is not with making the situation better, but refraining from making it worse.  Before he did something, he did nothing.  He retreated to God.  He knew that in the Lord he was safe and strong because he knew the Lord, so he pulled away from the situation and drew near to God.  David was warrior enough to know when he was threatened with defeat, so he found refuge in the Lord.  Such knowledge and ability does not usually come during trouble without some level of training.  Battle is not the time to learn to use your sword.  Prayers for help and guidance are important, but without the context of an interactive relationship with God, they are often abandoned.

Finally, David did not just find strength in the Lord, but "in the Lord his God."  It was not in the Lord Abraham's God, or in the Lord the priest's God or in the Lord Israel's God.  On this all spiritual practice stands.  Fundamentally, we cannot approach or depend on the Lord as someone else's God.  Perhaps the people wanted to stone David because they had come to rely too much on him and he failed them.  Perhaps they idolized him too much, so they sought their strength in David rather than God.  Perhaps one way of knowing who we have as our God is watching ourselves when we go for strength and encouragement in the midst of trouble and persecution.

David's Practice

We find a lot of information about the right practice of soul-building exercises in this little phrase about David: "But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God."  We find that such exercises prepare us to face grief and distress without falling into bitterness and blame.  We find them to be relief and strength rather than more stress in out lives.  We find them to be necessary effort we put out in response to God's ever-present grace

and strength.  We find them to be based in the knowledge of the Lord as a refuge and the source of our strength.  We find them to be effective only in the context of a personal relationship with the Lord our God.

We wonder what David actually did to strengthen himself.  Quite likely, he did what he had practiced so often.  He sang and worshiped and prayed.  What calmed Saul in his madness may have also calmed David in his own distress.  No wonder we are encouraged to do the same.  "Let the word of Christ dwell richly in you. . . as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God." (Colossians 3:16)  Perhaps the word of Christ is not only what we might read in our Bibles, but also the praise of God we find coming from our own mouths, truly dwelling richly in us and breaking out in gratitude from us as we daily practice our trust in the Lord.