Here is a truth taken from our own lives: YESTERDAY’S spiritual passion doesn’t supply TODAY’S spiritual energy. Fired up hearts through Scripture inspiring us or by seeing God’s hand answering our prayers ignite our passion for the moment or day. But all too quickly, that passion cools, as the rain from a new day’s storms falls—circumstances that go all wrong, obstacles that make simple tasks harder than they should be, our own disappointing failures. Spiritual passion seems to dissipate quickly, and before we know it, we are discouraged, disheartened, and unmotivated.
The classic example of the ebb and flow of spiritual passion is of course, Elijah. I don’t know what the etymology is of the phrase mountaintop experience, but certainly Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel fits that description. It was the culmination of 3.5 years of intense prayer for the nation of Israel to repent from its idolatrous worship of Baal so that God would remove the curse of the drought upon the land. After Baal is unmasked as a false God who could not send fire to consume the sacrifice, the fire of Yahweh fell. We read, And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “Yahweh, he is God; Yahweh, he is God.” And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there (1 Kings 18:38-40). Elijah prayed intently and the rain came, ending the curse of the drought. Elijah was so energized by this massive spiritual victory that he ran 18 miles down the mountain to Jezreel.
But at the bottom, Elijah slammed into a jolting reality check. One key person in Israel had not repented, Queen Jezebel. She vows to execute him within 24 hours, sending him running for his life and overwhelming him with such discouragement that he pleads with God to take his life. Such dramatic spiritual highs and lows are not confined in Scripture to Elijah; we see the same pattern in the life of David as well. This episode looks at one of the lowest points in David’s life, how he recovered his spiritual passion, and the lessons we can learn from him.
Two characteristics that I love about Scripture are that it is logical and that it is realistic. Because God is the most fantastic being in the world and loves us more than we can comprehend, logic demands that I love him back passionately every moment of everyday of my life with all my heart and mind and soul and strength. Yet, realistically, that ain’t happening. My passion for God ebbs and flows. That is why I am excited about this episode. Apart from his later sin with Bathsheba, this episode finds David at one of the lowest points of his life—and shows him fighting his way through his despair and depression to recover his confidence in God.
Let’s set the stage. This crisis takes place before David becomes king of Israel, when he is still being hunted by Saul who sees David as a threat to his throne. David reasoned that his best chance to stop Saul from hunting him down was to move into Phillistine territory, where he and his six hundred men became mercenaries for Achish, the King of the Phillistine city of Gath. Achish, in turn, gave him the nearby city called Ziklag where David, his two wives, his 600 men and their families settled down. Because they are Achish’s mercenaries and bodyguards, when Achish seeks to join forces with the other Philistine Kings in battle against Saul and Israel fifty miles away, David and his men travel with Achish to the battle lines. But the other Philistine Kings will have none of David and his men. They refuse to trust David’s troops and send them and David home. We pick up the story in 1 Sam 30:1.
Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. 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 (vs 1-6a).
DAVID’S DEPLETED CONDITION
- He and his men were physically drained from their return trip.
- He was overcome with the grief of losing his entire family—both wives and all his children.
- He must have been doubting himself. How could he have been so stupid to have left such a small force to protect the city when he knew the Amalekites weren’t that far south of Ziklag?
- He couldn’t rely on his own friends for support since he knew many of this group were complaining about David’s bad decision.
- He faced a possible insurrection with some speaking of stoning David. He had lost his men’s respect, which was just about all he had to offer them.
- His own confidence in Yahweh must have been shaken. How could God let this happen? David had refused to lift his hand against Saul, and strategically won the confidence of Achish, who had been Israel’s enemy, to find a safe place for his men and their families. After David outsmarted these two enemies, God allowed a third enemy to rise, up who wasn’t even on David’s radar, burn down his city, and take every wife and child of his men as Amalekite slaves. How many pounds of David’s flesh did God want?
And yet, we read in the rest of verse 6, But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God. What a powerful tribute to David’s character. Tough times don’t last. Tough people do. Let’s consider David’s history, and the rest of Scripture to discover how and why, with his spiritual and emotional tank on “E”, David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
DAVID STRENGTHENS HIMSELF IN THE LORD: 4 LESSONS FOR US
A. David had built the habit of being honest with God about his feelings. David weeps all day because of his grief. David models a vital truth for maintaining a healthy relationship with God in his Psalms—he starts out by telling God how he really feels. That includes the spiritual highs and the spiritual lows. Note this pattern in just a few of the numerous examples from Psalms.
- Psalm 3:1-2. O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.”
- Psalm 9:1-2. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
- Psalm 10:1. Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble
- Psalm 13:1. How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
- Psalm 17:1-2. Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry! Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit! From your presence let my vindication come!
- Psalm 18:1-2. I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge.
- Psalm 22:1-2: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
The Psalms are flooded with examples of David taking his emotions to God.
B. When David faced trials, he had built a pattern of looking back and remembering God’s past faithfulness. David could have recalled how God gave him victory over Goliath, or how he and his men were surrounded by Saul who was closing in on them when Saul suddenly got a message that the Philistines were getting ready to attack Israel. We also see this component of David’s walk with God in the Psalms. In psalms that reveal David’s faith being tested, David nearly always recalls God’s faithfulness in the past to renew his confidence for the future.
- Psalm 3:4. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill.
- Psalm 34:4-6. I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
- Psalm 56:13. For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
- Psalm 138:3. On the day I called, you answered me; MY STRENGTH OF SOUL YOU INCREASED.
C. David strengthens himself in the LORD by understanding what Peter and Paul would later teach about God’s determination to test his loved one’s faith. In Psalm 11 for example, we see David's refusal to think the solution to trials is to flee from them. Instead, he trusts God's sovereignty and recognizes God’s determination to test the character of the righteous. He writes, The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous (vs 4-5). Peter would later make the same point writing to first century Christians, You have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 1:6-7). James, the brother of Jesus, stresses the same truth to his readers. When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives my brothers, don’t resent them as intruders, but welcome them as friends! Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance. But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed, and you will find you have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence (James 1:2-4).
It is likely that David strengthened himself in the LORD his God by knowing that the horrific trial of losing his home and family was part of a three-stage process God employs to grow our faith. In fact, wise observers recognize that nearly every successful endeavor has these 3 stages, a) beginning to pursue the objective, b) encountering and overcoming opposition, c) accomplishing the objective.
Anne and Ray Ortland, in their book, You Don’t Have to Quit, pose this question: “Is there a secret that could help you stick it out through your darkest, most trying situations, until you emerge truly victorious?” They then suggest that the answer to overcoming despair and rekindling the passion needed to endure trials may be understanding the three stages of nearly all significant accomplishments. They continue, “When you think about it, everybody’s had those periods of dark trying situations. And the people who have made it have come through a time sequence—a time sequence that could be the clue to your making it, too: A) They began, in some new situation or effort; B) They hit problems and somehow worked their way through them; C) They came out on top.” The Ortlands point to many biblical examples of this three-stage reality including the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall by Nehemiah.
In prayer, God gives Nehemiah a vision for rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. That’s stage A. God provides all that he needs, and Nehemiah ingenuously captures the hearts of the people to rebuild the wall. But before they even start, they hit stage B—opposition—the demoralizing efforts of Sanballat and Tobiah the Ammonite. The people push through these efforts to discourage them and quickly build the wall to half its needed height. But then they find out that Sanballat and Tobiah had formed a band of warriors to attack them as they worked—even stronger resistance. So, Nehemiah splits his workforce in half—one group building the wall—the other holding weapons. But resistance from Sanballat and Tobiah continues. They try four times to trick Nehemiah into meeting with them to kill him and falsely accused Nehemiah of wanting to be king of Jerusalem as his motive. But the people persevere all the way through stage B until in Nehemiah 6:15 we read, “So the wall was finished in 52 days.” They got to stage C. I can’t help but think of the quote of Vince Lombardi, “Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.” It may feel like we are losing. But the most meaningless statistic in a ball game is the score at halftime.
As we often mention in this podcast/blog Christ-followers are called to BE LIKE Christ—to demonstrate Christ changing the attitudes of our hearts. So, stage A is setting out to exhibit Christ-like attitudes. Stage B is encountering tough circumstances that test our heart attitudes, especially our faith, but choosing to trust God with a biblical perspective that leads to Christ-likeness. Stage C is letting endurance grow so that in Jame’s words, we have become men of mature character with the right sort of independence. David, son of Jesse began the process of becoming Israel’s king, stage A, with his anointing by Samuel and defeat of Goliath while a teenager. For probably 15 years, David endured stage B, while Saul chased David around Palestine trying to kill him—the very unjust actions that had driven David and his men to King Achish and the establishment of their families and homes in Ziklag. But David reached stage C!
D. The fourth step to strengthen ourselves in the Lord is to seek God’s leading and then releasing God’s renewing power by choosing to act on that leading. David’s story continues.
And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue.” So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him….
God then providentially led them to an Egyptian slave who knew where the Amalekites had camped.
And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled. David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken. David brought back all (vs 16-19).
When God promises us strength, we’ve got to choose to believe it is there and act. Faith, we are told in Hebrews 11:1, is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. It is being sure of something even though we don’t see it. If God is calling us to persevere through an experience that we know we don’t have the strength to endure, God has promised us what we need. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9).
HOW TO FAIL F0RWARD
We would be negligent in examining this passage if we did not identify it as a great example of David coping with his failure—the failure to leave enough troops behind to protect the city he was responsible to protect. Though we don’t know what specific lessons David learned through failure, here is a wise, biblically-rooted, perspective about failing, from John Maxwell.
1. Appreciate the Value of Failure. Each time you fail, know that you’ve traveled another mile farther on the road to your potential. Soichino Honda, the founder of Honda Motors, offers this insight: “Many people dream of success. To me success can be achieved only through repeated failure and introspection. In fact, success only represents one percent of your work that results from 90 percent of that which is called, failure.”
2. Don’t Take Failure Personally. If you are in the habit of assassinating your own character or questioning your talent every time something goes wrong, stop it. Making mistakes is like breathing; it is something you will keep doing as long as you’re alive. So, learn to live with it and move on.
3. Make Failure a Learning Experience. Failure isn’t failure unless you don’t learn from it. Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” He also said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
4. See the Big Picture. Failure is not final. There will be other days. Almost every successful person has overcome failure. For example, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, and Bill Walsh accounted for nine of the fifteen Super Bowl victories between 1974 and 1989. Guess what else they have in common? For years, they also had the worst first-season records of any head coaches in NFL history. If they had based their potential for coaching success on the snapshot of their first season they probably would have quit. But life is not a snapshot—it’s a moving picture.
5. Don’t Give Up. Over two centuries ago a young fellow at age 22 lost his job as a store clerk. The next year he became a partner in a small store, which failed. The next year he fell in love and courted a girl for four years who then said, “no.” At 37 in his third try he was elected to the state legislature, but two years later he lost the reelection. At age 40, he had a nervous breakdown. At age 41, his four-year-old son died. At age 45 he was defeated for the Senate. At age 47, he was defeated for vice president. AT age 49 he was again defeated for the Senate. At age 51 he was elected president of the United States. Of course, his name was Abraham Lincoln, considered by many to be the greatest president we have ever had.
6. Trust God's Grace. I want nt to add to Maxwell’s list this further point. God let David fail by leaving Ziklag not properly guarded. But God also sovereignly caused the other Philistine Kings to refuse to include David and his men in the battle against Saul, sending them home just in time to be able to still track the Amalekites down to get their families back.
For Further Prayerful Thought:
- What aspects of David’s depleted condition in 1 Samuel 30:1-6 stand out to you? With which of them do you most identify?
- What stood out most to you about the four ways that David strengthened himself in the LORD his God?
- Why might it bring encouragement to those facing trials to realize that nearly every worthwhile endeavor has three stages
