O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary. The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed be God! Psalm 68:35 NASB
When you’re struggling through life and feel weary from the journey, where do you turn? How do you regain strength? David was a man who understood quite a bit about the difficulties of life. He had lived through some very stressful times and he realized that God was his only real source of strength. He wrote Psalm 68 as he recounted and celebrated God’s faithfulness. He knew from first hand experience that God gives strength to His people because God had given him strength time and time again! On one occasion, things weren’t turning out so well for David and the men following him, in fact they were so bad that the men were talking about stoning David. He was under an incredible amount of pressure and he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. So what did David do?
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. 1 Samuel 30:6 NASB
David set aside everything else and focused completely on the Lord his God! And during his time with the Lord, God strengthened David. No one else was able to help David, he was completely dependent upon God. Sometimes that’s the way it is for us too. We have no one else on which we can lean, we simply need to lean on God and allow him to give us the strength we need.
God is always the source of our strength, but there are also times we need a little help getting our minds focused on Him. When circumstances are not all that we hoped they’d be, sometimes fear sets in and we need a friend to come along side us and help us find our strength in God. Jonathan was that kind of friend to David.
While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he learned that Saul had come out to take his life. And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God. 1 Samuel 23:15-16 NIV
What a blessing to both have friends who will encourage us to seek the Lord and to be that kind of friend to others. If you serve Christ any length of time you will end up experiencing both. I find comfort in knowing God loves us and understands our weaknesses. He is always willing to give us strength and places the right people in our lives, just when we need them the most. I wholeheartedly agree with David, “O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary.” “Blessed be God!“