Let us take our second example in David. Anointed king at about the age of 10 (1 Samuel 16:13), he as an adolescent served King Saul after the slaughter of Goliath. At this age, he fled the persistent death threats. He begged food from an ungrateful kinsman in Nabal and hit the trail of weariness and discouragement. He had believed God’s promise to make him king but now uncertainty began to set in. As we saw with Abraham, David resorted to human reasoning, seeking refuge among the Philistines, the enemies of Israel –

But David kept thinking to himself, “Someday Saul is going to get me. The best thing I can do is escape to the Philistines. Then Saul will stop hunting for me in Israelite territory, and I will finally be safe.” 1 Samuel 27:1 (NLT)

Blinded by a seemingly hopeless situation, David stepped out of the will of God, and despite God’s intervention in stopping him from shedding the blood of those who God had affirmed he would lead –

He chose his servant David calling him from the sheep pens. He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob’s descendants –  God’s own people, Israel. He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands. Psalm 78:70-72 (NLT)

– he nonetheless became comfortable, settling in what the enemy provided, Ziklag! Little wonder Ziklag had to be destroyed. When all you have is gone, family and friends turn against you, what else does one who knew God is left to do? Return to the only one who has the answer. It was God’s stroke to bring David, His king back. From the pit of despair, a humbled man looked to God and found his strength renewed.

In the state we find ourselves in the country, we can also be tempted to stop trusting in the Lord and taking things into our hands. The good news is if we look to the Lord in whatever mess our actions put us, we will see our way out of the pit, back to His will. Beloved there are several attributes of God we will never know without the benefit of pain and suffering viz:

1. To know Him as Comforter requires us being in need of consolation due to suffering or discouragement;
2. To discover that He is our strength, we must experience weakness and come to the end of our ability to persevere;
3. To know God’s faithfulness becomes evident when others prove unfaithful;
4. His wisdom is recognised when the world’s wisdom lets us down and all our manoeuvring fails; and
5. Divine trustworthiness shines brighter when those around us are unreliable.

Need we more evidence? Hebrews 13:5-6 (TPT) speaks to our circumstance too – Don’t be obsessed with money but live content with what you have, for you always have God’s presence. For hasn’t he promised you, “I will never leave you, never! And I will not loosen my grip on your life!” So we can say with great confidence: “I know the Lord is for me and I will never be afraid of what people may do to me!”

Think on these things and be encouraged. Shalom.