War.

Nothing is more intense than war.  A soldier’s entire life may seem dull when he reflects on three or four days spent fighting for his life and the lives of his brothers-in-arms.  War is INTENSE.  Men die on your left and right.  Near misses make you wonder how you survived.  You may not eat some days.  You may sleep two hours a night.  Fear creeps in during the down times.  Love, family, and home seem a million miles away. 

King Saul’s life ended in a climax of battle.  The night before, Saul saw the huge Philistine camp and “was afraid and trembled violently” 1 Samuel 28:5.  Then Saul convinced a medium to call up Samuel from the dead.  Samuel came (which shocked the medium) and told Saul he and his sons would die the next day.  Saul became terrified “and fell flat on the ground” 1 Samuel 28:20. 

The next day Saul was severely wounded by a Philistine arrow and fell on his own sword to escape being tortured.  The Philistines cut off his head, hung his body on a wall in Beth-shan, but hung his skull in the temple of Dagon.  And while Saul was fighting Philistines, David had to deal with the Amalekites—who had kidnapped the wives and children of him and his men. 

Imagine David’s point of view: while the Philistines are slaughtering the armies of David’s beloved Israel, while Saul and David’s best friend Jonathan are being killed in a battle David desperately wanted to join, the families of David and his 600 men have been kidnapped by a completely different enemy (the Amalekites, whom Saul was supposed to have dealt with long ago).  “David and the troops with him wept loudly until they had no strength left to weep” 1 Samuel 30:4.  Not only that, David’s men now want to stone him for allowing this to happen.  David must lead the charge to track the Amalekites and rescue his wives and children and the wives and children of his men.  Where will David get the strength?

How is a man or woman supposed to handle the most difficult days of his life? 

“But David found strength in the Lord his God” 1 Samuel 30:6.

He is there—and HE IS ABLE.

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