Finding Strength in God (1 Samuel 30:6)

And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.
—1 Samuel 30:6

There is a lot going on in this chapter that leads up to and flows out of this verse. It is certainly a low point in David’s life—and in the lives of others who have lost sons and daughters in a tragedy—and they are ready to stone him.

Verse 6 says it is because they were bitter in soul; they were coming after David. But verse 6 also says that David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. What a powerful phrase. In the middle of a dark time, when David was at the end of himself, the Bible tells us that he strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Just think about that phrase: to strengthen yourself in the Lord your God.

This is exactly what Paul later says in Philippians 4: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Or Psalm 46: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” I also think about 2 Corinthians 12, when God says to Paul in a vision, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power, my strength, is made perfect in weakness.”

I obviously do not know what you are walking through in your life right now, but I am guessing some of you—maybe many of you—feel weak and at the end of yourselves. Maybe you feel attacked by others who are coming after you or simply by the “flaming darts of the evil one” that Ephesians 6 describes. Whatever your circumstances may be, I want to encourage you to hear God speaking to you right now through his Word and by his Spirit: Find strength in me.

I want to pray that over you right now:

God, I pray for your strength over every single person listening who feels weak in light of the circumstances they are walking through—suffering, trials, or attacks from others. Whatever it might be, God, I pray that you would pour out your strength on them in a fresh way right now in this moment. May they know that you are their refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble, and that they are not alone.

In light of 1 Samuel 30:6, I pray that they would find strength in the Lord their God. In light of Philippians 4, I pray that they would be able to walk through all the circumstances they are facing through you, who give them strength—not in their own strength, but in yours. Even as I mentioned Ephesians 6 earlier, I pray that they would be strong in the Lord and in the strength of your might amidst all the adversary’s attempts to pull them away from you, discourage them, and bring them to despair. God, in their weakness, be their strength (2 Corinthians 12).

Lord, I pray that you would use us to encourage others who are weak today—to speak your strength into their lives and to pray for strength over them.

A Prayer for the Torom People

As we pray for the nations today—specifically for the Torom people in Chad, who are more than 99 percent Muslim—God, we pray that the strength, love, hope, joy, and eternal life found in Jesus alone would spread to them. May they know your grace and your strength in their weakness: your strength to save them from all their sin and bring them into a restored relationship with you forever, leading to an eternal life that supersedes the sufferings of this world.

God, we pray that over the Torom people in Chad, even as we pray that you would help us to live today in the strength you have made possible for us through your presence and your Spirit inside us.

In Jesus’s name we pray all this, according to your Word, which we love. Amen.