Strength for the Weary and Worn
1 Samuel 30:6
David was in crisis. David was weary. He was worn down – thin! Can you relate? David’s response is an approach we should take when we’re in the same situation.
We live in a day where almost everyone is feeling weary and worn down! It seems like too much has come at us too fast.
- We’re facing a public health crisis .
- We’re facing an economic crisis.
- We’re facing a political crisis. Never has our government been so divided and overreaching.
- We’re facing a police brutality crisis.
- We’re facing a racial justice crisis.
- In addition to these, we still have to deal with whatever personal crisis may come our way. Some of us are in the midst of a personal crisis!
This morning I want to draw your attention to 1 Samuel 30:6 where in the midst of crisis it says:
1 Samuel 30:6
But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
Pray right now that the Lord will strengthen you this morning!
Let’s read our story:
1 Samuel 30:1
Now it happened, when David and his men came to Ziklag [75 miles away] on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire,
1 Samuel 30:2-3
and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from young to old; they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive.
1 Samuel 30:4
Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.
1 Samuel 30:5
And David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite, had been taken captive.
1 Samuel 30:6
Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
1 Samuel 30:8
So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.“
1 Samuel 30:9
So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the Brook Besor, [15 miles distant] where those stayed who were left behind.
1 Samuel 30:10
But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor.
This was the strength of the LIVING God strengthening a weary and hurting man.
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- Strength to fight for your marriage
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- Strength to fight for your children
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- Strength to take back what the enemy has stolen
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- Strength to go on where human strength fails
Nehemiah 4:14
“Don’t be afraid of the enemy. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
1 Samuel 30:16-17
There they were, spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. Then David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.
1 Samuel 30:18-19
So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all.
1 Samuel 30:6
But David strengthened himself in the Lord His God.
If you’re weak, weary, thin – STAND.
David had a problem with women – a problem that eventually led to the destruction of his family, and even the downfall of his son.
God’s plan from the beginning has always been one man and one woman.
The Amalekites were the perennial enemies of Israel. They were always attacking where the people were straggling behind, weary, weak, and vulnerable! (Deuteronomy 25:18) Our enemy uses similar tactics.