Christian Survival Kit: Chapter 1 - part 8

David Humbles Himself

In 1 Samuel 30, David had been anointed to be king thirteen years before the text was written. For thirteen years, David had prospered. God had used him to kill Goliath. The entire land of Israel was seeking after him — they were crying that David had killed tens of thousands, while Saul had killed only thousands.
David had the support of the entire nation. He had been anointed by God and called to be king. 

Saul had lost the anointing of God. He was tormented by an evil spirit. Saul was doing everything wrong, costing the children of Israel much bondage and hardship because of his disobedience. 

During this period, David had been anointed to be king, but instead of doing anything to further his cause, David humbled himself. God supernaturally delivered Saul into his hands. Saul went into a cave where David and his men were hiding, to take a nap during the heat of the day. David's men told him, "God has delivered him into your hands — kill him!" 

But David wouldn't do it. Rather, he submitted himself to Saul, caused himself a lot of hardship, was driven out of his country, and had to live among his enemies. Once, in a foreign land, his enemy said, "This is the one they say is king over the land." 

So to protect himself, David had to act like a crazy man, letting spit run off his beard and scratching on the walls like an animal. 

The king said, "This man is crazy. How can he do me any damage?" Can you imagine how David felt? He was probably tempted to say to himself, "So you're the great man of faith, the one who has the anointing of God. You're the one God has called to be king, and you're having to act crazy just to save your life!" 

David Was "Pitiless"

David had been through discouragement after discouragement while running from Saul. He had 600 men who had come with him — all criminals, convicts and murderers who had to flee Israel to save their lives. He had the scum of the earth as his army. 

Satan could have discouraged David in a big way. 

Once, in the midst of it all, David and his men came back to his town of Ziklag to find that the Amalekites had invaded his city, taken away the women and the children, burned the houses, and carted off everything valuable as spoil.
Think of it. For thirteen years, David had been faithful to God. He hadn't done anything wrong, and yet adversity struck at him over and over again.
When we've done something wrong, most of us think we deserve our problems. We brought it on ourselves. But when we've done well and the devil hits us broadside, most of us feel justified in griping, complaining, and having a
 "pity party." 

But that's just the opposite of what David did. 

He could have felt justified in being depressed. In 1 Samuel 30:3-6, it says
 "So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captives... 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." 

On top of losing his wives, children, and home, David was getting ready to be stoned — by the very people he had been responsible for, the people he had fed for five years, those he had faithfully taken care of. They were going to stone him for something that wasn't his fault! 

Most of us would have said, "That's the last straw. I quit. I'm going to have a pity party." We would have felt justified in doing that.
But look at the rest of verse 6, "But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." 
If David chose to encourage himself in a situation like that, we can choose to encourage ourselves no matter what comes against us.

David chose to do it. And notice, it says he encouraged himself.
He didn't just say, "Lord, I'm asking you to send somebody to encourage me."
You need to recognize that God has given you authority over your own heart. You can choose life or death. 

You can choose to be ether encouraged or discouraged. You're the one who makes the choice. David chose to encourage himself.

The first step — and nothing else can happen until this — is to choose life. Nothing else will work until you do this. Nothing else will work until you say with the psalmist, "Why am I discouraged? Why am I cast down? God is on my side. I choose God. I choose life. I'm going to come through this thing somehow or other."

Until you make that choice, no other choices can be made.

Three Men Make a Burning Choice

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego made the choice. 
In Daniel 3, Nebuchadnezzar said in effect, 
"Okay, I'll give you one last chance — bow or burn."
They said, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter" (verse 16). In other words, "You haven't intimidated us one bit. We don't care. Our God is able to deliver us, and He will deliver us, but if even He doesn't deliver us, we aren't going to serve your God." Their hearts weren't troubled.

In Daniel 6, Daniel was thrown into the lion's den. There is no account of him screaming or yelling as he was thrown in, clawing to get out. His heart wasn't troubled. It was already fixed. 

People who say "Well, I know I'm supposed to walk in love, but look at what they did" will always be in a mess because Satan is constantly going to send people across their paths to do something wrong.

 If you say certain circumstances justify walking out of love, being discouraged, being depressed, then you're going to be unloving, depressed, and discouraged the rest of your life, because Satan will always have someone or something to send your way. 

Hanging on the cross, Jesus turned to the very people crucifying Him and said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).
 Stephen, in Acts 7:60, did the same thing. He said "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge" when they were stoning him to death. If they can do that, we can do that. 
The Lord has given us that ability. 

You can choose to love the very people who hate you.
 It really doesn't matter what has been done to you. It doesn't matter how you were brought up. It doesn't matter how you've been abused. There is no justification for being discouraged and depressed. There are reasons for it, but no justification. 

That's good news. That puts the responsibility on you. It may not feel good, but if you'll think about it a little bit, it will feel better. It will grow on you. After all, you can do something about yourself.