Daily Scripture 2016.09.28
1 Samuel 30:6 King James Version
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.
Bad days will happen in our lives - This is to be expected. In the scripture, David and his army had returned home, to find that the Amalekites had burned their city to the ground, and that their wives & children were missing. V4 speaks of how they cried out & wept until they had no more power to weep. And overwhelmed with their grief, there was talk amongst the people to stone David.
But the last section in v6 states that "David encouraged himself in the Lord".
David wasn't suffering because of some sin - His walk with God was on-point and yet calamities befall us all. God may have wanted to teach David that he is to go to Him alone - Like Job, he must lose everything, including his reputation & self-will. He must cry out & weep the last piece of self-pity... face the full force of loneliness & overcome it. There will be no other source of comfort, guidance or strength but God - Not family, spouse, children or friends.
We need to know in our hearts that our struggles are opportunities for us to draw closer to God. And when we can do this, we can stand strong, strengthened by the fact that God wants us to endure, but only when we truly go to Him. Our prayers aren't to remove the struggle, but to help us learn what God is teaching us about ourselves. We shouldn't avoid difficulties because they teach us nothing. This type of avoidance may seem like it protects us, but only for a short while. And in time, the struggles will cause that bubble to cave in, and God will teach us what we need to learn about ourselves irregardless. Avoidance also avoids God (even though we may pray to Him to spare us from this lesson\struggle). It teaches us to be like waves, tossed about during any storm.
Being "truly strong" means that we will do things that (normal) "strong" people will not do. Instead of toughening it out, we will go to God and get encouragement from Him alone.
