FIND STRENGTH IN GOD
04th Jun 2025
1 Samuel 23:16 says, “And Saul’s son Jonathan went to David at Horesh and helped him find strength in God.” I found this verse to be very significant. Friends are a great blessing, and friendship is life affirming and encouraging. David and Jonathan’s friendship is a great example of loyalty and mutual support, however in this last meeting, Jonathan is not telling David to find his strength in their friendship, but to “find strength in God.”
Life can be challenging, and when things are difficult and we feel oppressed, weak and discouraged, it is easy to look to people for support and not to find our strength in God. We need to develop strategies that help us to do this. It will be different for each of us. For some, time spent in God’s Word will be just what is needed, for others listening to worship songs can help to get our eyes off ourselves and to focus on God’s love and power.
Praying in tongues is very helpful, it says in 1 Corinthians 14:4, “He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself.” When we are edified we are being built up in our inner man. Praying in tongues is not a mental exercise, it says in verse 14, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.”
The demands of life are aimed at robbing us of peace and joy, and when we lose these we also lose our strength. Nehemiah 8:10 is an encouragement to go and rejoice and feast, “For the joy of the Lord is your strength,”
It is significant that when David returned to Ziklag, as recorded in 1 Samuel 30, he found it ransacked, burned to the ground and all the people kidnapped, including his wives. It first says, “So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.” But then it says, “But David found strength in the Lord his God.”
In that strength he led his men to go and recover everything that had been lost, it says in verse 18, “David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives”
So what do you do when life is tough, when disappointments and discouragements come? The secret is, “Find strength in God.”
by Charles Sibthorpe
