Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14, KJV
Read: 2 Samuel 7: 8-17
When he was just a boy, David was anointed to be King of Israel. However, it would be a long time before he ever got to wear the crown. During this time, David had to learn to encourage himself in the Lord as he waited.
Question for you: How good are you at waiting? I don’t know about you, but I do not do very well with waiting on someone or something. More to the point, I struggle to wait patiently on God. There have been too many times when I have become impatient waiting for Him to move in response to something that I have been praying about sometimes for weeks, months and even years.
The story of David’s promotion from shepherd boy to King shows a long series of difficult waiting experiences. David was the eighth son of Jesse and the grandson of Obed–the son of Ruth and Boaz. He was about 15 years old when he was anointed to be the next king of Israel after King Saul. Later, David killed Goliath, an enemy of the children of God, and King Saul became jealous of him. The king tried on several different occasions to kill David. As a result, David became a fugitive. For a period of about eight years, David and Saul were engaged in a battle of wills. Saul was pursuing David to kill him, and David had to be on the move to avoid being killed.
Can you imagine how tiring that must have been? These years were filled with challenge after challenge for David and his men. It would take another fifteen years before David ever got to wear the crown.
What I love about the story of David is that during moments of questioning whether God would indeed keep His promise, David was very honest with God about his frustrations. Don’t believe me? Read some of the lament Psalms in which David did not hold anything back. At the same time, when he was at one of the lowest points in his journey, David realized that He needed to work it out with God by himself.
In verse 6 of 1 Samuel 30 we read, “But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”(KJV) In other translations, David strengthened himself in the Lord his God”. Did you notice what is not recorded here? We do not read that David waited on the priest to hold a revival meeting, or David waited for a week of prayer or a retreat to strengthen himself. We do not read that David went to the elders to ask them to pray for him. What is recorded is that he (David) encouraged himself (David), in the Lord his (David) God. Hallelujah!
As we wait on God, there will be moments of discouragement. However, like David, each of us must learn to dig deep and encourage ourselves in the Lord our God even though it seems that everything is conspiring to have us abandon the wait.
REFLECT; What does it mean to encourage oneself in the Lord?
Live deep; laugh much.
I help individuals create space and develop habits and strategies to live a flourishing life — one goal at a time.