Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

Today’s devotion comes from 1 Samuel 30:1-10.

“Then it happened when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag, and had overthrown Ziklag and burned it with fire;  and they took captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great, without killing anyone, and carried them off and went their way.  When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.  Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep.  Now David’s two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the widow of Nabal the Carmelite.  Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered, each one because of his sons and his daughters.  But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.”  So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.  David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I pursue this band?  Shall I overtake them?”  And He said to him, “Pursue, for you will surely overtake them, and you will surely rescue all.”  So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those left behind remained.  But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor remained behind.”  1 Samuel 30:1-10.

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“…  But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.”  Verse 6.  

First of all, although David was strong and a awesome warrior, let us not focus on David “himself”, but rather on “the LORD his God.”  We noticed David’s weakness in today’s Scripture:  “… Then David and the people who were with him lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep.”  Verse 4.  

“And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake;  for when I am weak, then I am strong.”  2 Corinthians 12:9-10.

Most of the time our strength is needed for just plain perseverance and endurance:  living our life after the death of a loved one, going to work every day, even though we are treated unfairly, in order to put food on the table for our family, doing good when we get no recognition, or worse, accused of selfish motives when it costs us dearly to do good, etc. 

“I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity;  in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”  Philippians 4:12-13.

“For who regards you as superior?  What do you have that you did not receive?  And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”  1 Corinthians 4:7.

But, there is hope!

The hope is not in ourselves. The hope is in God. Notice from the following Scriptures what God does and His power. As the last Scripture concludes, “So then let no one boast in men.”

“For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.”  1 Corinthians 2:2-5.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.  These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,”  Ephesians 1:18-20.

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith;  and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.  Amen.”  Ephesians 3:14-21.

“So then let no one boast in men.  For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come;  all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ;  and Christ belongs to God.”  1 Corinthians 3:21-23.