Be Strengthened

Posted on June 7, 2023 by Elizabeth Welte in Victory Call

Ever feel like giving up?  Your arms are heavy and your bones are weary?  Life isn’t quite what you expected and it’s difficult to FEEL the joy of the Lord you KNOW is yours yet it seems so elusive.

OR

You feel like you are running ragged. Every day brings new challenges and yesterday’s challenges didn’t turn out as you had hoped.

Family issues

Financial issues

Job issues

Health issues

House issues

Car issues

Marriage issues

Legal issues

You name it and they each take their toll.

 

This is where David found himself. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.  Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David’s two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. 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. 1 Samuel 30:3-6

David was greatly distressed.

Been there… haven’t you?

How did David respond? “…David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”  1 Samuel 30:6

Have you ever experienced this?  I have.  My heart unsettled. My mind spinning.  My schedule overflowing.  And then…. I recalled to mind: “…they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

In the midst of my turmoil, I stopped and looked up. I redirected my attention from my circumstances to the LORD. The fresh perspective He gave me strengthened me.  I can’t explain it, but I have experienced the truth of this verse just as David did thousands of years ago before it was even penned.

 

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped…” Psalm 28:7

 

No matter your circumstance. Stop. Look Up. Turn your attention to God. Be strengthened in the LORD.

 

Written by Diane Hunt: Diane Hunt serves on the board of America’s Keswick and is the Executive Director & CEO of Changed Choices, a Christian non-profit in North Carolina. She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

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This Week’s Verse to Memorize: “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” – Hebrews 2:10-11