The Secret Of Encouragement

1 SAM. 30:1-6 "THE SECRET OF ENCOURAGEMENT"

A) All of us have our crisis days when everything seems to fall apart.

* Days when it looks as if we have come to the end of the road & that God has turned against us!

* In this chapter, we see David experiencing such a crisis! * Here’s what happened!

B) He had just returned from battle to discover that the enemy had attacked his camp.

* They had taken all their goods & worse yet, kidnapped all the wives and children.

C) So serious was the situation that his own men talked about stoning him.

* How did David face this crisis? * He encouraged himself in the Lord his God!

D) A crisis does not make a man, it reveals what the man is made of!

* What we really are is revealed for everyone to see when a crisis comes our way.

E) It’s interesting to see how David’s men reacted when they discovered their terrible loss.

* Some sat and wept until they had no more tears to shed - v.4,

* Others complained & blamed David & some even suggested that they stone their leader - v.6!

F) You wonder how that would’ve solved the problem, yet people do the same thing today!

* How easy it is in a crisis to blame somebody else or to look for a scapegoat!

* But what did David do? * Well, he shed tears like the rest of the soldiers because he loved

them too! * But after that, he stopped feeling sorry for himself & turned to the Lord for help!

* "But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God."

G) How can you and I today get the encouragement we need in the crisis hours of our life?

* Certainly the Lord is able to carry us through; nothing is impossible with God!

* There is no problem of life too difficult for Him to solve!

H) What should we do in order to receive God’s gracious encouragement?

* Let me suggest some simple steps, in fact, the very same steps David took!

(1) SURRENDER TO THE WILL OF GOD! * v.7 David asked the priest to bring him the ephod

which was a priestly device for determining the will of God.

A) David asked the Lord if he should pursue the enemy and God told him yes - v.8

* Then David asked if he and his men would recover their loved ones & their possessions and

again, God told him yes!

* So before David made any move, he first determined the will of God in the matter.

* Story of man who bought a new car! * James 4:13-16 "Go to now, ye that say, Today or ......."

B) God knows the end from the beginning & He knew long ago that you would need His help

today! * So when a crisis comes, the 1st thing we should do is surrender to the will of the Lord!

* God has a purpose to fulfill & if we surrender to Him, it’ll work out for our good & His glory!

* To fight God’s will, complain or blame others is but to miss the blessing God has for us in

these experiences! * Gal.6:5 "For every man shall bear his own burden."

C) David encouraged himself in the Lord his God by surrendering to God’s will.

* But David didn’t stop there - he did something else!

(2) HE ASKED GOD FOR STRENGTH! * He needed strength to do what needed to be done!

* David & his men were tired from the battle, & the emotional strain of the crisis had weakened

them - v.10, but in obedience to the Lord, they mounted & rode off in pursuit of the enemy!

A) Where did they get the strength? * God gave it to them!

* When God tells us to do something, He always gives us the strength we need to obey!

B) Now, they could have argued with God! * "God, I’m too tired ......."

* God gave them strength they needed & God will give you the strength that you need in your

hours of crisis! * He who walks with God, prays and reads God’s word,

* Will discover unusual strength from the Lord in the hours of darkness in his life!

C) Isa.40:31 "But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount ......."

* The wonderful thing about being a Christian is that we have a strength not our own!

* Phil. 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

D) This is the second step in facing the crisis hour!

* 1st, surrender to God’s will, then depend on God’s strength!