Dear Encourager

He restores my soul… Psalm 23:3

It seems as though we were just bringing in the New Year and here it is the end of January. Although, traditionally, we celebrate the beginning of a New Year with new and renewed hopes and dreams, there are some – myself included – that have hurt, pain, losses, and unresolved conflict that carried over into the New Year. My New Year’s declaration was and still is, “expecting God to finish some things He started in 2015 and expecting Him to do some new things in 2016.” If you can relate and you also find yourself trusting and believing God to complete what carried over from last year, and you find yourself not quite in the “newness” of this year; I want to encourage you – just as I have encouraged myself.

David knew something about needing to be restored; made whole again. When the enemy (Amalekites) took all the valuables and the women and children, and burned down Ziklag, the city where David and his men were camped; David remembered who had restored him in times past. The scripture states, “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” 1 Samuel 30:6. It is important to pay attention to what had taken place prior to David encouraging himself. Scripture states David and all the men had cried and wept until there was no more strength left in them (30:4). David was in even greater distress because the other men were blaming him for the capture of their families, and they were talking about stoning him. (30:6). So, David felt the pain; he felt the loss; he cried; he felt the betrayal of his men turning against him; but he still remembered his God. Like David, we have to remember our God; we have to remember His promises to us; “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28.

In addition to encouraging himself, David also inquired of the Lord; he sought God; he asked God for instructions (1 Samuel 30:8). We too must continue to seek God for directions and instructions. This is why David could say, “In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him, even into His ears.” Psalm 18:6. Not only did God hear David, He answered him – “And He answered him, Pursue: for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.” 1 Samuel 30:8. In Psalm 34:6, David said, “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” God restored to David all that the enemy had stolen – “David recovered all.” 1 Samuel 30:19.

When God delivers us, He always does it bigger and better than we ever expected. “Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think…” Ephesians 3:20. God did the same for David. He did not just recover what was taken from him and his men; he also recovered what was taken out of the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah (1 Samuel 30:19). David came out with more than enough. Proverbs 6:31, But if he (the thief) be found, he (the thief) shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.

Continue trusting, believing, leaning on, relying on, and seeking God. He will restore to you everything the thief has stolen; and He will give you more.

He makes me whole again… Psalm 23:3 (Voice Translation)