How Can I Encourage Myself in the Lord?

Before David was king, he found himself in such a place. Believing that his days were numbered as it pertained to king Saul chasing him, he made a terrible decision. We read about it here:

“And David said in his heart, ‘Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.’ Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath” (1 Samuel 27:1-2).

David brings himself, his family, and his men that were with him, into enemy territory in an effort to escape king Saul. And while Saul did cease chasing David, David’s decision to dwell in the enemy’s camp would prove to be costly. Anytime we seek to escape the pressures of life by stepping back into the world, we will find nothing but discontent, discouragement, and devastation.

When David returns from battle and is requested to leave to avoid anymore trouble with the Philistines, he returns to Ziklag, where they had been staying, and finds it burned down. Along with that, their families had all been taken captive, though none had been slain. David, now coming to grips with the results of his bad decisions, was at a crossroad. We read:

“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 30:6).

It was David’s distress that shook him loose from the place where he had fallen. When all who were with him became bitter, and contemplated putting him to death, David then sought to encourage himself in the Lord his God. 

When you find yourself in a discouraging place – a “Ziklag season” if I may – how do you respond? How do you encourage yourself in the Lord? I’d like to offer three things; when they’re done properly, they will lift us back up to the place where the Lord would have us to be.

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David’s faith was surely under siege by the enemy, as all of God’s children’s faith will be. This is the enemy’s plan; to frustrate our faith in an effort to get us to somehow walk away from it, set it aside, or get us to place our faith elsewhere, other than on the Lord — this is what happened to David. By coming up with his plan to step into enemy territory to avoid his enemy, he was now trusting in himself; his own plan, his own ingenuity, his own cleverness. One may argue that it took faith in God for David to make such a move, but I believe that God would not ask us to align ourselves with our enemy, for the sole purpose of escaping our enemy. This was surely David’s own plan.

In order to be encouraged in the Lord, our faith needs to be in Christ. His finished work on the Cross makes this all possible. We read this familiar passage:

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

This life we now live must be lived by faith in Christ and His finished work. Of course David’s faith at that time had to look ahead to the promise of Christ’s sacrificial death, but we have the promise. His finished work declares all that He accomplished on my behalf: my justification, my sanctification, my future glorification, my present deliverance — He did it all! When my faith is properly placed in Him and I realize all that he has done for me, there need be no room for discouragement, for I am greatly encouraged in the Lord!

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It is in those times when we can see nothing but darkness, that we must see what we cannot see. Through the finished work of the Cross, the Lord through His Spirit has given us discernment. This is what enables us to see what we cannot see — even though it is there.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

This type of sight calls on us not to focus on the things we see; those things that come against us and are able to bring us down. We do not ignore these things, or somehow behave as if the situation really does not exist, but rather, once again, it calls on us to focus on the finished work of Christ.

The things that are not seen are those things that are not tangible; I don’t place myself on a regimen of works to pull myself out of a dark place, so that He will see all that I do, in the hope that He will raise me up. Those non-tangible things I spoke of are His sustaining peace, His fortifying power, His abundant grace, and His unfailing mercy and lovingkindness. When I am able to see my plight from the proper perspective, I am greatly encouraged, because the knowledge of and reality of these things lifts me and I wait to see what the Lord will do next!

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Here we find the most difficult thing to do in times of discouragement, yet it is exactly what is called for. Praise will do two things. First it will invite the presence of God to where you are. We read from the Psalms:

“Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance” (Psalm 42:5).

As we praise the Lord, He comes to our side — but He comes bearing gifts! We read:

“To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified" (Isaiah 61:3).

What a great trade off this is! He takes my ashes, my mourning, and my heaviness, and replaces them with His beauty, His oil of joy, and His garment of praise. Wow!

Secondly, praise will confound the enemy. He wonders how we continue to stand, how we continue to trust, and how we continue to praise, when we are in a dark and difficult place. 

“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: ‘Praise the Lord, For His mercy endures forever.’ Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated” (2 Chronicles 20:21-22).

Encouraging ourselves in the Lord indicates that this a choice that we have to make. And we must also choose to encourage ourselves in Him alone. With this being done, and our focus on the finished work of Christ, the Spirit of God, the Comforter, will then be able to work with us, in conjunction with our proper faith, proper sight, and proper praise. Rise up!

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