A Well for the Weary

David and his men had traveled for days. Worn and wearied from the trip, I imagine they looked forward to getting home, unloading their bags and having a fresh-cooked meal. But rather than experience a warm welcome, they found the whole city burned to ashes. Everything gone. Even their wives and children, kidnapped. Overcome with grief they “lifted their voices and wept until there was no strength in them to weep” (1 Sam 30:4).

Perhaps, like me, you know what that feels like. I think of break-ups and the resulting loss of a relationship in which my broken heart bled tear after tear. Or when in college, I grieved the loss of my grandfather and tears flowed until I thought I had none left. Or when my mom was diagnosed with cancer, and I cried many nights, stricken with fear and sorrow. Maybe you presently feel spent from weeping over a break in relationship, a shattered dream, a crippling diagnosis, an addiction you long to be free from, the death of a loved one.

Both the people and David felt exhausted and needed encouragement. But after they wept together, “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 Sam 30:6). 

While both the men and David felt heartbroken, they responded to their pain very differently. Whereas the men let their pain overtake them, David took his pain to God. Though the men grew bitter, David grew closer to God. And when the people drew strength from their anger, David “drew strength from the LORD his God” (1 Sam 30:6b NET). 

I’m curious what it looked like for David to draw strength from God. I wonder if he played a hymn on his harp. Or, if he wrote down his fears coupled with his confidence in God’s help, penning words like, “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him” (Ps 28:7). Or, if he sought solitude, sitting still before the Lord. However he strengthened himself, I envision God as a never-ending well of strength into which David dropped his broken, exhausted heart, and filled it with God’s love, peace and strength.

When we feel worn from the hardships of this world we too have a choice how we will respond and where we will find strength to carry on. We can choose to try to control the people and events around us, like David’s men did, or we can follow in David’s footsteps to the well of God’s strength. At His well we can fill our hearts with the promises, person, and presence of God. Here we can hear Him say, “Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Is 41:10).

So whether worn from work, challenging people, unbreakable habits, troubling circumstances, or tragedy, God is our source of strength. He doesn’t demand that we muster up the strength on our own, but rather beckons us to “be strong in the LORD and in the strength of His might” (Eph 6:10). So when you feel like you have nothing left to give, don’t give up. You have a God who delights to use His strength for, give His strength to, and be the strength of those who look to Him for help.

Lifting Our Gaze This Week: Ideas for Application

1. What area(s) of your life do you feel spent and in need of strength? In what ways, if any, are you attempting to control the people or circumstances in your life?
2. Consider the following promises of God: Luke 12:24-31, Rom 8:28, Rom 12:19, Phil 1:6, Heb 13:5. By choosing to count on these promises, how might it affect how you deal with your present difficulties?
3. In what ways has God previously strengthened or helped you through past times of weariness? 
4. Describe a time, if any, you experienced the presence of God and afterward felt revived and able to persevere with hope.
5. Look up the following verses: 2 Chron 16:9, Neh 8:10, Ps 23,  Ps 29:11, Ps 119:25, 28, Is 40:31, Hab 3:19, 2 Cor 12:9, 10, 1 Pet 4:11. Consider memorizing or writing one of them on an index card to remind you throughout the day that God is your strength.
6. Listen to, meditate on, and sing out in trust the lyrics to “This We Know”.
7. Spend time outside in creation this week. A great way to calm our hearts and gain strength is by beholding God’s power through the world He has made (Job 38-39, Ps 19:1:1, Rom 1:20).