Encouragement: Encourage Yourself - Part 1 of 2

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer's praise, the chorus of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.

This is L'say Bradley Jr. welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. I have sworn and will perform it. I will keep thy judgments bright.

I'm afflicted, Lord, in torment. Strengthen me, nor with my might, because thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Because thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Lord, accept the offerings of my mouth.

Teach me, Lord, thy judgment's all. Oh, my soul's continually in thy hand, yet I'll not forget thy law, because thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Because thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. They have laid a snare to bind my feet, yet have faltered not, nor strayed. Let thy heritage, my heart rejoice. I'm inclined to perform all ways, because thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Because thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. I hope that you'll take time to write and let us know that you've listened, and if you can, help us with the support of the program. You can go to our website at BaptistBibleHour.org and make a donation there, or write us at Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. I'm sure that all of us from time to time have seen people go through great difficulties, terrible trials and sorrows, and have felt, I wish I could be of some help. I know that as much as this person has suffered for this extended period of sickness, they have to be discouraged. I would like to be able to encourage them. We know of somebody who loses their job, suffers financial setbacks. Say, I'd like to encourage them, I don't quite know how, I don't know exactly what to say.

What can I do to encourage them? The list could be quite long if we talked about all of the specific difficulties, sufferings, heartaches, disappointments that people experience. Things that will bring about deep discouragement, even bringing some to a point of depression and despair. Would not each one of us like to be an encourager? Surely we would never want, by our own spirit and attitude, by the things that we said, the things we did, or the things we failed to say, to be a discourager. So we began to think about this subject, and was thinking about Barnabas, who is noted in the New Testament for being an encourager, and was first thinking about speaking on the subject of how to be an encourager. But then came to realize that you can't encourage others if you're not encouraged yourself. If you're discouraged, you find it extremely difficult to help someone, edify them, encourage them. So tonight my subject is encouragement, encourage yourself.

Only when you learn how to encourage yourself can you then be effective in encouraging others. The text is 1 Samuel chapter 30, the latter part of the sixth verse. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Why was it necessary on this occasion for David to encourage himself? Well he faced some devastating circumstances. You look in the first verse of this chapter, and it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire, and had taken the women captives that were therein.

They slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and behold it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captive. Now that's a dark scene. He doesn't know all the details at this point. He doesn't know what has befallen them. He may have initially imagined that they were all dead. But to come and see the place burned with fire, their wives, their sons, their daughters are taken captives.

That would certainly shake anybody up. What on earth has happened? Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice, and wept until they had no more power to weep. Wept until they'd exhausted themselves.

Maybe you've had some deep sorrows in your life, where you wept until you felt like you didn't have another tear. They wept until they had no power to weep. It tells us that David's two wives were taken captives. Verse 6, And David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved for every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David encouraged himself in his God. Now it's bad enough to face this dark scene, to come here and see that the city has been burned and the people have been carried away, but now the men that were with David, as they had been away in battle, are blaming him.

If we had not left them here, if we had not been on this mission, this probably wouldn't have happened. So in their frustration, in the deep grief that they felt with their losses, they spoke of stoning David, their leader, to death. Now facing that situation, you can certainly understand why David needed some encouragement. There weren't any of his men that were ready to encourage him.

They turned against him. So David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. First of all, let's think specifically about how he did this. How did David encourage himself? First we would take note of the fact that it says he encouraged himself in the Lord his God. It's one thing to talk about the God of creation.

It's one thing to say we believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But it's another thing to say he is my God. He encouraged himself in his God.

How is it with you sometimes in the midst of your struggles? Oh, you're theologically well informed. You know that God is a great God. You believe in his omnipotence. You believe that he is working his will. You believe in his sovereignty. But all of that can seem rather distant when you're in great distress, when you have severe disappointments, when you're struggling. You know how you're going to pay your bills, or you're dealing with a rebellious child, or you're suffering the disappointment of a friend that has deserted you.

How am I going to find help? It must be that it's a recognition not just of God ruling over all, but God being my God. He's mine. He's my Heavenly Father. David used this kind of terminology frequently in his writings. We see it in Psalm 63 verse 1. O God, thou art my God. Early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee, in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. Because of thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. O God, thou art my God.

Not a distant God, not an impersonal God, not a God who doesn't take notice of me, not a God who doesn't even know my name and care about the details of my life, but my God is mine. We took note of that in our studies in the book of Habakkuk, when Habakkuk was so frustrated by the violence that he saw rampant in Milan, could not understand why at first it appeared that God was doing nothing, and then secondly could not understand why God was doing what he was doing, when the Lord revealed to him what he had determined to bring to pass. But as he tried to come to some resolve of this frustration, he said in Habakkuk chapter 1 of the 12th verse, Art thou not from everlasting? O Lord my God, mine holy one, we shall not die.

O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment, and O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. Twice he speaks of God in a personal, intimate way. Thou art from everlasting, thou art the one true and living God, but O Lord, thou art my God, mine holy one. What a difference that makes when you see God to be your God, your Father in heaven. We're told to pray, Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be by name. What a privilege to be able to call upon the great God of glory, but to think not only of his majesty, not only of his exalted position before whom the angel sang, but to think of him as our Father, my God. The apostle Paul in writing the Galatian letter says in chapter 2, Galatians chapter 2 and the 20th verse, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Here he's not just talking about Christ dying for sinners, Christ laying down his life for the sheep, but he says he loved me and gave himself for me. What a wonderful thought. Jesus Christ is my Savior. He died for me when he died on the cross.

That's the place to start. That's how David encouraged himself because he saw God as his God. Second thing we notice here is the contrast.

The people spoke of stoning him, but David encouraged himself. Here's a dark scene. Here are the circumstances that no doubt are upsetting him terribly, but he's not swallowed up in the circumstances. He's not overcome.

He's not despondent, but he encouraged himself. It appeared at this moment that he had lost everything, but what does he do? He turns to God.

He encouraged himself in his God. Psalm 27 verse 1. This is a psalm of David.

He says the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

Here's the contrast. Though the wicked, though my enemies come upon me, though they desire to eat my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though these who had been with David and had gone out to battle with him, now blame him for their own terrible trouble which has befallen them. Though they're considering stoning him, but David doesn't give up in despair. He encouraged himself in his God. Psalm 37 speaks in the 38th verse of the transgressors of the end of the wicked. Verse 39 says, but, here in vivid contrast, in contrast to the transgressors that shall be destroyed and the wicked that shall be cut off, but the salvation of the righteousness of the Lord.

He is their strength in the time of trouble. Here's hope. Here is help. Here's encouragement.

And then one other in that connection, Psalm 142. This is a wonderful place to go when you're despondent, discouraged, feel like nobody has been there to help you. You know, that's one of the things that can lead to deeper discouragement. You have some rough spots in the road, have some very bad days, have some deep troubles, and so right about now I could really use some encouragement. I wonder why nobody has called me up. Why hasn't somebody come to see me? Doesn't the Bible say something about bear one another's burdens? Why hasn't somebody come to help me bear my burden? You see, we can easily begin to feel sorry for ourselves when we feel like we're terribly neglected and nobody cares. Well, David experienced that. Here in Psalm 142, verse 4, I looked on my right hand and beheld and there was no man that would know me, refuge failed me, no man cared for my soul. And that probably wasn't 100 percent true, but that's the way he felt about it. That's the way it looked to him.

Have you ever been there? Have you ever had a day where he just said, I don't think anybody cares? Even my closest friends don't really understand me. Sometime a person may say, oh, you can share your deepest feelings with me. Just open up and tell me what's bothering you and maybe you did open up and then realize that person doesn't understand what I'm talking about. They don't understand how deep I am in the valley. All they did was try to minimize my trouble and tell me it's not as bad as I thought it was.

It didn't help much. He said, nobody cares. Nobody cares for my soul.

What did he do? I cried unto thee, oh Lord. I said, thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.

Now that seems to be a difficult lesson for all of us to learn. Lord, thou art my refuge. Thou art my hiding place. I feel to be exposed. I feel to be exposed to all of the troubles and trials that have beset me. I feel to be facing it all alone. Nobody's come to my side.

Nobody is attempting to comfort me. Nobody's helping me carry my burden, but thou art my refuge. Thou art my portion.

I'm satisfied with this portion, the portion that God has given me. The third thing we see about how David encouraged himself is simply just that. He encouraged himself. He wasn't depending on anybody else. There wasn't anybody else there to encourage him.

All the people present were thinking about killing him. So he couldn't get any encouragement from them. If he was going to get any encouragement, he had to encourage himself. That's what he did.

How did he do it? Well, the details really are not given here, but I can well imagine that it would have been encouraging to him to think back when he was just youth and accepted the challenge of Goliath. He had to think that was a pretty difficult thing. It looks like right now that I might be facing death. Well, to tell you the truth, I thought maybe going out there to face that giant didn't look like from the human standpoint that it was going to work out. My confidence though was in God and God gave me the victory. God delivered me in that hour. I knew that the battle is the Lord's and and the Lord blessed me and no doubt he could go down through those experiences and say the same God that blessed me in the past is still with me today.

He's just the same today. That's why the writer of the Hebrew letter tells us in chapter 12 verse 2, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Where are we going to find help? Where are we going to find encouragement? We need encouragement. You look at the world around you, you can very easily and quickly get discouraged.

You look at other people, you can easily be discouraged. You look at yourself, you can easily be discouraged, but looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame and is set down on the right hand of the throne of God. Looking unto Jesus.

We don't get discouraged looking to him. You look to Jesus as the friend of sinners. You look to Jesus as the one who says come unto me and I will give you rest. You look unto Jesus as the conquering king and the one who can and will help you in your trouble. So David encouraged himself. So David encouraged himself. So David encouraged himself. Certainly in these challenging times we all need encouragement. It's wonderful if somebody gives us a word of encouragement but sometimes that just doesn't happen. So our subject today has been encourage yourself even as David did long ago.

But we learned to find that encouragement we need in the Word of God and then be ready to encourage others. I hope you will write us at Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17, 037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. And until we greet you next time this is LeSara Bradley Jr. bidding you goodbye and may God bless you. Make visions of rapture now burst on my side. Angels descending, great from above, there comes a mercy, whispers of love. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all my day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, all is at rest, I am my Savior and happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above, filled with this goodness lost in His love. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, praising my Savior, praising my Savior all the day long.