Encourage Yourself in the Lord

1 Sam 30:6
6 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.
KJ V
Introduction:
1 Whether it be a hard day at work, family trouble, health issues, heartache, depression, or a
relationship that is causing stress in your life; you can magnify the problem, are magnify God.
(Which one are you magnifying?)
2 It is in God's Word that we can find encouraging words to uplift us and give us hope when
we are down. Cast your care upon the One up above whose shoulders are big enough to carry the
burden for you.
Foundation:
1 In (1 Sam 30:1) we find that it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag
on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and burned it with fire;
2 In (Vs2) we find that the Amalekites had taken the women captives, that were therein: they
slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.
3 In (Vs3) we find that when 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.
4 In (Vs4) we find; Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and
wept, until they had no more power to weep.
5 In (Vs6) 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.
All of us face difficulties in our lives.
1 But we can have victory over them if we keep our eyes on God.
2 I dare to say that Not many of us have experienced as bad a day as David did when he
returned to his home in Ziklag and discovered that his enemies, the Amalekites, had destroyed or
stolen everything that was important to him--and his own men turned against him (1 Sam. 30).
However, we can imitate his response when we do face difficulties.
3 As David sat among the ruins of Ziklag and the men spoke of stoning him, he had a choice.
David could allow grief and bitterness to conquer him; he could sink into the black hole of
depression and give up and quit. Or he could fight back. (Today I want to encourage you to fight
back).
Before David could fight back:
1 He would have to get his strength and courage back. (Sometimes we face things in our lives
that robs us of our strength and courage).
2 As David looked around him, he saw nothing but discouraged and downcast men.
(Sometimes in our lives we can look around for encouragement but find no one).
3 David had no one to encourage him, so he had only one recourse: (He "encouraged himself
in the Lord his God)."
1 Sam 30:6
6 But David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.
KJ V
How did David encourage himself in the Lord?
1 From what we know of David in reading the many stories about his life, we find that David
went about encouraging himself. He took his harp, retreated to a solitary place, and began to sing
songs of praise to God. (The reason so many can't encourage themselves is because they never
get alone with God, they never sing songs of praise). Any preacher worth the salt in his bread can
get you to come to an alter, but it hard to get you to worship. If you don't worship him you will
never change your situation.
2 No doubt David didn't feel like singing, but he did, anyway. (Worship is never about you,
never about your feeling).
3 While we are on this subject let me say that David did not sing a sad song.
4 Instead, he sang of the majesty and power of God. He sang of the Creator who had spoken
the worlds into existence. He sang of the deliverer who had already given himvictory over the
lion, victory over the bear, and victory over the Philistine giant Goliath.
5 Through praise and worship, David changed his focus. (If I can get you to praise and
worship Him, you will change your focus).
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
1 There was nothing about the circumstance that was encouraging. (Ziklag burned to the
ground, wife and children taken in to captivity).
2 David had limit his focus to the present circumstance.
3 If David did not limit his focus to the present situation, he would surely have gone into a
deep depression. But David encouraged himself in God.
4 Through praise and worship, David changed his focus so that by the eye of faith he beheld
El Shaddaithe almighty God.
How did David praise God?
1 Maybe he sang Psalm 34.
2 David had written it just two years earlier when God had delivered him from the Philistine
king Abimelech.
3 I can easily imagine David sitting in the ashes of what was once his home with harp in hand
singing these words: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my
mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh,
magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard
me, and delivered me from all my fears" (Ps. 34:1-4).
4 David sang, "I will bless the Lord at all times." All timesgood times, bad times, great
times and terrible times. Even on the worst day of your life, God is worthy of praise. David sang
praises to God from the ashes of Ziklag.
5 David sang: "Oh, magnify the Lord with me." "Magnify" means "to enlarge or make bigger
in perspective."
"When you make God bigger, you make your trouble smaller."
6 Paul and Silas did the same thing a thousand years later.
7 In prison for preaching the gospel, they were beaten with rods and imprisoned in the
innermost dungeon with their feet in stocks.
11 How did they respond?
12 At midnight, instead of despairing and crying themselves to sleep, they sang hymns of
praise to God. Paul and Silas made the exceptional choice to encourage themselves by praising
God.
13 The Bible tells us in (Acts 16:26), "the foundations of the prison were shaken; and
immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed".
Conclusion:
1 Some of you are spiritual at Ziklag, weeping over all that the Devil has stolen from you.
The Word the Lord gave me today is that you need to encourage yourself in the Lord.
2 Some of you are spiritual at your midnight hour. You need to encourage yourself in the Lord
by sing praises unto God.
3... In (1 Sam.30:8) we find that David ask the Lord, should I chase them? Will I catch them?
And the Lord said, yes go after them, you will surely recover everything that was taken from
you.
4... In (Vs9) we find that David took six hundred men and went into the enemies camp took back
what the enemy had stolen.
5... The Lord told me to enlist you to be a part of this army. Will you enlist?