O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
David said to Saul in 1 Samuel 24:15, “May the Lord be judge and judge between me and you, and see and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hands.”
“I will fear no evil For my God is with me, And if my God is with me, Whom then shall I fear” sings
David trusted himself in the hands of God. Saul told David that he could not fight against Goliath because he was just an adolescent while the opponent had been a warrior from his youth (1 Samuel 17:33). In 1 Samuel 17:37, David responded, “The Lord Who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”
When David came against Goliath, David approached him with a slingshot and a few stones and told him, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of host, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defiled.” (1 Samuel 17:45)
“Lord, give us strength to live for You and glorify Your Name... cause nothing has the power to save but Your Name” sings.
David went to to proclaim, “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will smite you and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands.” (1 Samuel 17:46-47)
David's heart desire was to honor God and not himself. He stepped out in faith to war against Goliath and God met him there. However, it was not the first time that David had placed himself into the hands of God. Over and over, David had learned in the small battles of life that he could count on God when he stepped out in faith to do what was on his right according to his heart. As he continuously stepped out and exercised his faith, he grew in his ability to trust God.
In 1 Samuel 17:34-36 David had told Saul, “Your servant kept his father's sheep. And when there came a lion or again a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and smote it and delivered the lamb out of its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and smote it and killed it. Your servant killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God!”
As I have mentioned in previous journals, it is through the covenant of God that we have protection from our enemies. Deuteronomy 28:7 says, “The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”
“My hope is in You, show me Your ways” sings.
However, we must look to God and entrust ourselves to Him, realizing that we cannot defeat our enemies in our own strength or skill. John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “this overcoming is not done by human power, nor is it done by human effort. Only God can accomplish such a work; that's the reason he calls us to abandon our lives to him... Self cannot deliver you from self, and God is calling us to understand that only he can do that work.”[1]
Surrender means to relinquish control to another. It also means to declare yourself defeated and give yourself up to another.[2] Surrender to God implies the realization of our defeat in our own strength, surrendering control over our lives and entrusting ourselves to God. It is a choice we make in the moment.
Over and over, David entrusted himself to God when he was in trouble. Because of this, he was willing to step out in faith where most would not. And when he did, he saw over and over again that God met him there.
When he was in a cave hiding from Saul, David wrote Psalm 142:
Near the end of David's life, when he saw that God was faithful over and over to deliver him from the hands of his enemies, David wrote Psalm 18:3-19/ 2 Samuel 22:4-20
However, David did not always trust Himself to the care of God. There were some times that David's heart became weak. In 1 Samuel 27:3, David dwelt with Achish at Gath living in the land of the Philistines while lying and pretending to serve them.
Commentary notes, “The truth is that David had gone through such a long period of persecution and threatening circumstances that he had fallen into a bit of mistrust of God Himself. God had sworn to make him king, to rid him of his enemies, to give him a sure house; yet here he was in a panic, concluding that God had forsaken him and that if he was to remain alive he must manage himself. It was very dishonoring to God. But God was standing by His stricken child, waiting for the moment when he would realize his own utter helplessness and turn in blessed surrender to the almighty arms of Him who had been watching over him all along.” [3]
Even Abraham, a man of incredible faith, faltered in his belief in the care of God from time to time. In Genesis 12:13, he asked his wife to say that she was his sister when they went down to Egypt during a famine. He was afraid that when the people saw how beautiful she was, they would kill him and take her. So instead of standing in faith and trusting God, he lied and let the prices of Pharaoh take her into Pharaoh's harem (Genesis 12:15).
It is an act of our will and a step in faith to surrender. John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “If we let go of our life and surrender our will completely to God but we do not trust him, then we will be afraid all the time. We will shake and tremble.” He notes that while we may surrender at the time, we will take it back when we are afraid. This was the case with Abraham and David when they stumbled – they were afraid and took back control. [4]
They go on to write, “Instead of figuring out my future, I entrust my life completely to the One who knows the plans he has for me (Jeremiah 29:11). This is a deep place of releasing your life into God's hands. He is the potter and he shapes our lives (Isaiah 64:8). We can trust him to use even the trials of life to shape us into the vessels he wants us to be so that we can fulfill the work he has ordained for us. I trust him to carry me through the fires and the floods because he said he would. There can then be a releasing of my life unto him.”[5]
A few days ago I was half asleep laying in bed thinking of all the things I had to get done at work. As my mind wondered to getting them done, I had this picture of me saying (singing) in my heart, “neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate me from His love.” As I sang this in my half dream/half awake I saw myself stepping out in faith in areas that were very uncomfortable for me and just trusting His love for me.
“I can sing of Your love forever” sings.
Just like it was for David and Abraham, it is fear that sometimes keeps me from trusting God and stepping out in faith. John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “I can tell you from experience that the real root to our struggle to surrender stems from fear, but we must be willing to trust God and let him lead us past our fears. He is taking us deeper into himself, and he will take us through our fears into the place where we really trust him and are able to fully surrender our lives to him.”[6]
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel go on to note that it is love that makes surrender possible. [7] In order to be able to surrender our lives to God, not taking matters into our own hands, we need to understand how deeply loved we are by God and that nothing we could do would ever keep his love from us. It is in an atmosphere of His grace that we grow more into His likeness as we give up control to Him.
They write, “The very foundation of our relationship with God is based on covenant, so to understand the love of God, we must have a deeper understanding of covenant. God formed covenant in human society so that we would understand and be certain of his love, which is solid and not ambiguous, like the emotions or feelings we can have. It is something that is secure and certain; a firm foundation that we can stand on.” [8]
When our hearts are fully abiding in the love of God, we freely surrender over our circumstances to Him and place them in His hands. We trust Him that He knows best and can fully care for us. We fully surrender to Him.
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “A key to abiding, where our focus, love, and hearts are given over totally to the Lord and where we are walking and living in faith, is believing that God is who he says he is and that we are who he says we are. We must fight the fight of faith to hold onto that belief and not yield it to our enemy.” [9]
Sometimes (okay speaking for myself) what happens is that circumstances happen that cause us (me) distress, frustration or fear and then we (I) find ourselves suddenly feeling very 'unsurrendered.' Often rather than surrender our circumstances and the distress or fear to him, we (I) either start going in the wrong direction or try to fix everything so that we (I) can get back to a place of rest.
We need to hand our circumstances over to Him, trusting His care for us. When we are feeling afraid and it is hard to surrender, like David, we can strengthen ourselves in the love of God.
Is. 30:15 says, "For thus said the Lord God, the holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength. But you would not."
1 Samuel 30:6 says, “David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
Other words for encourage, the Hebrew word chazaq, Strongs #2388, are to make bold, firm, resolute, and prevail in the sense of conquer. The Vine's Complete Expository dictionary notes that this word was used in a personal sense when Moses “was commanded to 'charge Joshua, and encourage him' (Deut. 3:28)” to possess the land. [10]
This commentary goes on to note, “The covenant promise accompanies the injunction to 'be strong and of a good courage': '… For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee' (Deut. 31:6).” [11]
As we remind ourselves of who God is and His love for us, it strengthens us His in love. It is not that we first loved Him but that He first loved us (1 John 4:19). And as we receive this love and become surrendered to Him, we are free to give our lives away to others.
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write “it is not our life being lived through him, but God's life living through us. When we really learn to abide, a life flows through us that is not our own.”[12]
They go on to note, “The enemy wants to compel us to devour each other so that we are wounded and divided, disunified and torn apart (John 10:10), but Jesus told us that we must love each other the way he loved us (John 15:12)....
As we love one another the way that Christ loved us -with generosity, sacrifice, and abundance of love -we will make an impact on those around us. Jesus said that we are to love each other in that way, and that by doing that – by loving each other the way that he loved us -the world would know that we are his (John 13:34-35). They will see something in us they have never seen anywhere else.” [13]
Rather than judging, criticizing and devouring each other, we strengthen our our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in God's love as we abide in the love of Christ. An example of this is Jonathan, who saw that David needed encouragement and came to him to strengthen him in God.
1 Samuel 23:16-17 says, “And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went into the wood to David [at Horesh] and strengthened his hand in God. He said to him, Fear not; the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father knows that too.”
Jonathan had the rightful position of king as the next in line after Saul. However, by the spirit, Jonathan saw that God was calling David to that position. Rather than be jealous and envious, competing with David for the role, Jonathan came along side of David and called it out of him. He willingly laid down his rights and what would be considered 'fair' by the world's standards to see God's purposes come forth.
It mattered more to Jonathan to see God's purposes come forth for David than have a position or a title for himself. In Genesis 4:9, Cain asks the Lord, “Am I my brothers keeper?” And all through the Bible, God goes to great lengths to make evident the answer to that question for His children.
John Piper notes that God has ordained us as believers to be related to other Christians “in such a way that we can help each other fight the fight of faith successfully day in and day out until the end.” He notes that the biblical basis for this is in Hebrews 3:12–14,
It is such an honor and privilege when someone opens their heart and life to you, allowing you to speak into their life. It is a place of great trust. I always feel like I am standing on such holy ground when someone shares their heart with me.
People need other people to call out the life of God in them. I have noticed that when people are struggling with severe emotional difficulties or feelings of depression and hopelessness, they most often have a significant lack of a caring support network. There are either a lack of people to speak into their lives and/or the people that are their support network (such as family) are speaking things that are detrimental to them, causing harm.
Second thing that John Piper notes we can learn is that “strengthening a person's hand in God involves conscious effort.” He writes, “It is intentional. You don't just do it on the fly; you rise and go down to Horesh. Verse 16: 'And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose, and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.'” [16]
We need to be available to God to be used by Him in strengthening another person. We need to be present to God and present to the other person, allowing God to flow through us and touch their life. Just as indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit gives light, guidance, and counsel to meet our every need, He is available through us to give this light, guidance and counsel to others.
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “He provides the flow of life; it is not our life being lived through him, but God's life living through us. When we really learn to abide, a life flows through us that is not our own.” [17]
Third, John Piper notes, “The strength we are to give each other is strength in God, not in ourselves.” [18]. There is a temptation to draw others to ourselves as their source. However, as friends of Jesus, we are to continually point others to Christ who is their source of strength and life.
We are to call out and name the life of God in others. Encourage others about the plan and purpose that God has for them. In this, they truly become strengthened in the truth and established in what God has for them.
When we draw them to ourselves rather than point them to God, we create a dependence upon us as their source and to provide what they need. We draw them away from God, who is their true source.
I recently ran into a young friend I had not seen for awhile. She noted that she had finally ended a friendship with a counselor who had been directing her for some time. At the time she was seeing him, she was struggling terribly with her faith in God.
What had happened in this relationship, however unintentional it may have been, is that this young lady had become dependent upon the counselor to make her decisions for her. She saw herself as incapable of making good choices and didn't learn to look to God. She began to feel the need to check with her counselor on all decisions. After ending her relationship with this counselor, she began to grow again in the Lord and is doing much better.
What I feel I can learn from this is that while it is life giving to encourage someone in what God has for them, validating their right choices and empowering them, one must be careful not to direct another or to see oneself as having the answers for another. It is easy to be flattered by someone who is looking to us for answers. However, we need to continually point others back to seek God. Our life giving words should strengthen the truth rather than be the source of direction for another.
This leads into John Pipers fourth and final point, that we strengthen each other by reminding each other of the promises of God. [19] As we speak God's promises over another, it strengthens them in them and it pulls them closer to God – who is the source of these promises.
God has an individual purpose and a plan for each of us that He is working into our lives. As we see the hand of God moving in another's life and speak it forth – identifying it and calling it out, we confirm and affirm them in the promises of God. It is only in fulfilling His purposes that people obtain genuine fulfillment in life.
Lord, forgive me where I have at times chose fear over trust and surrender. I pray that we would be a people who fully trust in you and are surrendered to you in every circumstance. May we daily abide in your love. Fill us with Your Spirit and give us the freedom to step out in faith to give your love away freely to all we encounter.
1, 4-9, 12-13, 17. Mulinde, John with Daniel, Mark. The Wake-Up Call: To Radically Abandon Our Lives To God. World Trumpet Mission. Orlando, Fl. 2011
2. Surrender Definition. Encarta® World English Dictionary[North American Edition] © & (P) 2009 Microsoft. Located at: http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+surrender&qpvt=surrender+definition&FORM=DTPDIA. Last Accessed: 11/1/11
3. Commentary. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
10-11. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:250
14-16, 18-19. Piper, John. DesiringGod. “Strengthen Each Other's Hands in God.” Located at: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/strengthen-each-others-hands-in-god. Last Accessed: 11/1/11.
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
“I will fear no evil For my God is with me, And if my God is with me, Whom then shall I fear” sings
David trusted himself in the hands of God. Saul told David that he could not fight against Goliath because he was just an adolescent while the opponent had been a warrior from his youth (1 Samuel 17:33). In 1 Samuel 17:37, David responded, “The Lord Who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”
When David came against Goliath, David approached him with a slingshot and a few stones and told him, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of host, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defiled.” (1 Samuel 17:45)
“Lord, give us strength to live for You and glorify Your Name... cause nothing has the power to save but Your Name” sings.
David went to to proclaim, “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will smite you and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands.” (1 Samuel 17:46-47)
David's heart desire was to honor God and not himself. He stepped out in faith to war against Goliath and God met him there. However, it was not the first time that David had placed himself into the hands of God. Over and over, David had learned in the small battles of life that he could count on God when he stepped out in faith to do what was on his right according to his heart. As he continuously stepped out and exercised his faith, he grew in his ability to trust God.
In 1 Samuel 17:34-36 David had told Saul, “Your servant kept his father's sheep. And when there came a lion or again a bear and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and smote it and delivered the lamb out of its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and smote it and killed it. Your servant killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God!”
As I have mentioned in previous journals, it is through the covenant of God that we have protection from our enemies. Deuteronomy 28:7 says, “The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”
“My hope is in You, show me Your ways” sings.
However, we must look to God and entrust ourselves to Him, realizing that we cannot defeat our enemies in our own strength or skill. John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “this overcoming is not done by human power, nor is it done by human effort. Only God can accomplish such a work; that's the reason he calls us to abandon our lives to him... Self cannot deliver you from self, and God is calling us to understand that only he can do that work.”[1]
Surrender means to relinquish control to another. It also means to declare yourself defeated and give yourself up to another.[2] Surrender to God implies the realization of our defeat in our own strength, surrendering control over our lives and entrusting ourselves to God. It is a choice we make in the moment.
Over and over, David entrusted himself to God when he was in trouble. Because of this, he was willing to step out in faith where most would not. And when he did, he saw over and over again that God met him there.
When he was in a cave hiding from Saul, David wrote Psalm 142:
“I cry to the Lord with my voice; with my voice to the Lord do I make supplication. I pour out my complaint before Him; I tell before Him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed and fainted [throwing all its weight] upon me, then You knew my path.“I know in my heart there must be a way to sing a great song, a greater song to You on the earth” sings.
In the way where I walk they have hidden a snare for me. Look on the right hand [the point of attack] and see; for there is no man who knows me [to appear for me]. Refuge has failed me and I have no way to flee; no man cares for my life or my welfare.
I cried to You, O Lord; I said, You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. Attend to my loud cry, for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. Bring my life out of prison, that I may confess, praise, and give thanks to Your name; the righteous will surround me and crown themselves because of me, for You will deal bountifully with me.”
Near the end of David's life, when he saw that God was faithful over and over to deliver him from the hands of his enemies, David wrote Psalm 18:3-19/ 2 Samuel 22:4-20
"I call on the Lord, Who is worthy to be praised, and I ma saved from my enemies. For teh waves of death enveloped me; the torrents of destruction made me afraid. The cords of Sheol were entangling me; I encountered the snares of death.David knew God was faithful, so even when he had sinned greatly, like when he took a census of the Isrealites and men of war, David would rather trust himself in the hands of God than man. David said to the prophet in 2 Samuel 24:14, "I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercies are many and great; but let me not fall into the hands of man."
In my distress I called upon the Lord; I cried to my God, and He heard my voice from His temple; my cry came to His ears. Then the earth reeled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens trembled and shook because He was angry.
Smoke went up from His nostrils, and devouring fire from His mouth; coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under His feet. He rode on a cherub and flew; He was seen upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His canopy around Him, gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies.
Out of the brightness before Him coals of fire flamed forth. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. He sent out arrows and scattered them; lightning confused and troubled them. The channels of the sea were visable, the foundations of the world were uncovered at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breat of His nostrils.
He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of great waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth into a large place; He delivered me because He delighted in me."
However, David did not always trust Himself to the care of God. There were some times that David's heart became weak. In 1 Samuel 27:3, David dwelt with Achish at Gath living in the land of the Philistines while lying and pretending to serve them.
Commentary notes, “The truth is that David had gone through such a long period of persecution and threatening circumstances that he had fallen into a bit of mistrust of God Himself. God had sworn to make him king, to rid him of his enemies, to give him a sure house; yet here he was in a panic, concluding that God had forsaken him and that if he was to remain alive he must manage himself. It was very dishonoring to God. But God was standing by His stricken child, waiting for the moment when he would realize his own utter helplessness and turn in blessed surrender to the almighty arms of Him who had been watching over him all along.” [3]
Even Abraham, a man of incredible faith, faltered in his belief in the care of God from time to time. In Genesis 12:13, he asked his wife to say that she was his sister when they went down to Egypt during a famine. He was afraid that when the people saw how beautiful she was, they would kill him and take her. So instead of standing in faith and trusting God, he lied and let the prices of Pharaoh take her into Pharaoh's harem (Genesis 12:15).
It is an act of our will and a step in faith to surrender. John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “If we let go of our life and surrender our will completely to God but we do not trust him, then we will be afraid all the time. We will shake and tremble.” He notes that while we may surrender at the time, we will take it back when we are afraid. This was the case with Abraham and David when they stumbled – they were afraid and took back control. [4]
They go on to write, “Instead of figuring out my future, I entrust my life completely to the One who knows the plans he has for me (Jeremiah 29:11). This is a deep place of releasing your life into God's hands. He is the potter and he shapes our lives (Isaiah 64:8). We can trust him to use even the trials of life to shape us into the vessels he wants us to be so that we can fulfill the work he has ordained for us. I trust him to carry me through the fires and the floods because he said he would. There can then be a releasing of my life unto him.”[5]
A few days ago I was half asleep laying in bed thinking of all the things I had to get done at work. As my mind wondered to getting them done, I had this picture of me saying (singing) in my heart, “neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate me from His love.” As I sang this in my half dream/half awake I saw myself stepping out in faith in areas that were very uncomfortable for me and just trusting His love for me.
“I can sing of Your love forever” sings.
Just like it was for David and Abraham, it is fear that sometimes keeps me from trusting God and stepping out in faith. John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “I can tell you from experience that the real root to our struggle to surrender stems from fear, but we must be willing to trust God and let him lead us past our fears. He is taking us deeper into himself, and he will take us through our fears into the place where we really trust him and are able to fully surrender our lives to him.”[6]
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel go on to note that it is love that makes surrender possible. [7] In order to be able to surrender our lives to God, not taking matters into our own hands, we need to understand how deeply loved we are by God and that nothing we could do would ever keep his love from us. It is in an atmosphere of His grace that we grow more into His likeness as we give up control to Him.
They write, “The very foundation of our relationship with God is based on covenant, so to understand the love of God, we must have a deeper understanding of covenant. God formed covenant in human society so that we would understand and be certain of his love, which is solid and not ambiguous, like the emotions or feelings we can have. It is something that is secure and certain; a firm foundation that we can stand on.” [8]
When our hearts are fully abiding in the love of God, we freely surrender over our circumstances to Him and place them in His hands. We trust Him that He knows best and can fully care for us. We fully surrender to Him.
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “A key to abiding, where our focus, love, and hearts are given over totally to the Lord and where we are walking and living in faith, is believing that God is who he says he is and that we are who he says we are. We must fight the fight of faith to hold onto that belief and not yield it to our enemy.” [9]
Sometimes (okay speaking for myself) what happens is that circumstances happen that cause us (me) distress, frustration or fear and then we (I) find ourselves suddenly feeling very 'unsurrendered.' Often rather than surrender our circumstances and the distress or fear to him, we (I) either start going in the wrong direction or try to fix everything so that we (I) can get back to a place of rest.
We need to hand our circumstances over to Him, trusting His care for us. When we are feeling afraid and it is hard to surrender, like David, we can strengthen ourselves in the love of God.
Is. 30:15 says, "For thus said the Lord God, the holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength. But you would not."
1 Samuel 30:6 says, “David was greatly distressed, for the men spoke of stoning him because the souls of them all were bitterly grieved, each man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
Other words for encourage, the Hebrew word chazaq, Strongs #2388, are to make bold, firm, resolute, and prevail in the sense of conquer. The Vine's Complete Expository dictionary notes that this word was used in a personal sense when Moses “was commanded to 'charge Joshua, and encourage him' (Deut. 3:28)” to possess the land. [10]
This commentary goes on to note, “The covenant promise accompanies the injunction to 'be strong and of a good courage': '… For the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee' (Deut. 31:6).” [11]
As we remind ourselves of who God is and His love for us, it strengthens us His in love. It is not that we first loved Him but that He first loved us (1 John 4:19). And as we receive this love and become surrendered to Him, we are free to give our lives away to others.
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write “it is not our life being lived through him, but God's life living through us. When we really learn to abide, a life flows through us that is not our own.”[12]
They go on to note, “The enemy wants to compel us to devour each other so that we are wounded and divided, disunified and torn apart (John 10:10), but Jesus told us that we must love each other the way he loved us (John 15:12)....
As we love one another the way that Christ loved us -with generosity, sacrifice, and abundance of love -we will make an impact on those around us. Jesus said that we are to love each other in that way, and that by doing that – by loving each other the way that he loved us -the world would know that we are his (John 13:34-35). They will see something in us they have never seen anywhere else.” [13]
Rather than judging, criticizing and devouring each other, we strengthen our our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in God's love as we abide in the love of Christ. An example of this is Jonathan, who saw that David needed encouragement and came to him to strengthen him in God.
1 Samuel 23:16-17 says, “And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went into the wood to David [at Horesh] and strengthened his hand in God. He said to him, Fear not; the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father knows that too.”
Jonathan had the rightful position of king as the next in line after Saul. However, by the spirit, Jonathan saw that God was calling David to that position. Rather than be jealous and envious, competing with David for the role, Jonathan came along side of David and called it out of him. He willingly laid down his rights and what would be considered 'fair' by the world's standards to see God's purposes come forth.
It mattered more to Jonathan to see God's purposes come forth for David than have a position or a title for himself. In Genesis 4:9, Cain asks the Lord, “Am I my brothers keeper?” And all through the Bible, God goes to great lengths to make evident the answer to that question for His children.
John Piper notes that God has ordained us as believers to be related to other Christians “in such a way that we can help each other fight the fight of faith successfully day in and day out until the end.” He notes that the biblical basis for this is in Hebrews 3:12–14,
“Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have shared in Christ, if we hold our first confidence firm to the end.” [14]John Piper notes four things we can learn from the passage in 1 Samuel 23:15-18. First, he notes that one of our deepest needs is for brothers and sisters in Christ to strengthen our hands in God. We all need encouragement from others. We need people we open our hearts to and allow to speak into our lives. [15]
It is such an honor and privilege when someone opens their heart and life to you, allowing you to speak into their life. It is a place of great trust. I always feel like I am standing on such holy ground when someone shares their heart with me.
People need other people to call out the life of God in them. I have noticed that when people are struggling with severe emotional difficulties or feelings of depression and hopelessness, they most often have a significant lack of a caring support network. There are either a lack of people to speak into their lives and/or the people that are their support network (such as family) are speaking things that are detrimental to them, causing harm.
Second thing that John Piper notes we can learn is that “strengthening a person's hand in God involves conscious effort.” He writes, “It is intentional. You don't just do it on the fly; you rise and go down to Horesh. Verse 16: 'And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose, and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God.'” [16]
We need to be available to God to be used by Him in strengthening another person. We need to be present to God and present to the other person, allowing God to flow through us and touch their life. Just as indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit gives light, guidance, and counsel to meet our every need, He is available through us to give this light, guidance and counsel to others.
John Mulinde and Mark Daniel write, “He provides the flow of life; it is not our life being lived through him, but God's life living through us. When we really learn to abide, a life flows through us that is not our own.” [17]
Third, John Piper notes, “The strength we are to give each other is strength in God, not in ourselves.” [18]. There is a temptation to draw others to ourselves as their source. However, as friends of Jesus, we are to continually point others to Christ who is their source of strength and life.
We are to call out and name the life of God in others. Encourage others about the plan and purpose that God has for them. In this, they truly become strengthened in the truth and established in what God has for them.
When we draw them to ourselves rather than point them to God, we create a dependence upon us as their source and to provide what they need. We draw them away from God, who is their true source.
I recently ran into a young friend I had not seen for awhile. She noted that she had finally ended a friendship with a counselor who had been directing her for some time. At the time she was seeing him, she was struggling terribly with her faith in God.
What had happened in this relationship, however unintentional it may have been, is that this young lady had become dependent upon the counselor to make her decisions for her. She saw herself as incapable of making good choices and didn't learn to look to God. She began to feel the need to check with her counselor on all decisions. After ending her relationship with this counselor, she began to grow again in the Lord and is doing much better.
What I feel I can learn from this is that while it is life giving to encourage someone in what God has for them, validating their right choices and empowering them, one must be careful not to direct another or to see oneself as having the answers for another. It is easy to be flattered by someone who is looking to us for answers. However, we need to continually point others back to seek God. Our life giving words should strengthen the truth rather than be the source of direction for another.
This leads into John Pipers fourth and final point, that we strengthen each other by reminding each other of the promises of God. [19] As we speak God's promises over another, it strengthens them in them and it pulls them closer to God – who is the source of these promises.
God has an individual purpose and a plan for each of us that He is working into our lives. As we see the hand of God moving in another's life and speak it forth – identifying it and calling it out, we confirm and affirm them in the promises of God. It is only in fulfilling His purposes that people obtain genuine fulfillment in life.
Lord, forgive me where I have at times chose fear over trust and surrender. I pray that we would be a people who fully trust in you and are surrendered to you in every circumstance. May we daily abide in your love. Fill us with Your Spirit and give us the freedom to step out in faith to give your love away freely to all we encounter.
1, 4-9, 12-13, 17. Mulinde, John with Daniel, Mark. The Wake-Up Call: To Radically Abandon Our Lives To God. World Trumpet Mission. Orlando, Fl. 2011
2. Surrender Definition. Encarta® World English Dictionary[North American Edition] © & (P) 2009 Microsoft. Located at: http://www.bing.com/Dictionary/search?q=define+surrender&qpvt=surrender+definition&FORM=DTPDIA. Last Accessed: 11/1/11
3. Commentary. The Amplified Bible. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI. 1987.
10-11. Vine, W. E. ; Unger, Merrill F. ; White, William: Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville : T. Nelson, 1996, S. 1:250
14-16, 18-19. Piper, John. DesiringGod. “Strengthen Each Other's Hands in God.” Located at: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/strengthen-each-others-hands-in-god. Last Accessed: 11/1/11.
Most Scripture quotations take from The Amplified Bible. Copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
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